Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s2.t1.144

c7.s2.t1.144

We will make a passing reference in this connection to the manners of eating and cooking. The Muslims as a rule abided by the prohibitions of their religion in relation to food, for instance, it is forbidden to take pork and some other flesh foods or eat the flesh of an animal not properly slaughtered. Beyond these limits they were free to cook and eat whatever and wherever they liked. They had very few objections to eating from the hands of another person, except perhaps from the lowest.⁴ The Hindus on the other hand stuck to their intricate arrangements of cooking and eating (*chauka*). They generally believed that purity of thought could only be attained by not being seen by others when eating food.⁵