Woman pulling a shrimp larvea net in Burigualini , Bangladesh, April 2014/Shutterstock
Food has always been more than merely sustenance—it is a reflection of our cultural, religious, and societal values. Dietary laws play a central role in both Judaism and Islam, or kosher and halal respectively, which dictate what can and cannot be consumed, and one food that has long sparked curiosity and debate is shrimp. Let's find out more about this seafood's curious status in these religions.
In Israel, shrimp is neither served in kosher restaurants nor sold in kosher stores. The Tanakhi
This prohibition, though, is quite understandable even without religious justification. Indeed, most toxic marine creatures—jellyfish, starfish, pufferfish, sea anemones, et cetera—indeed mostly don’t have scales, and most seafood, if improperly caught, stored, or prepared, can lead to such allergic reactions that they would put the effect of many poisons to shame. And especially in times when there were no refrigerators or sanitary controls, it was better not to take any risks.
The word ‘feathers’ in relation to fish means fins, and these very fins became the main obstacle in the relationship between the Jews and shrimp. On several different occasions over the years, kosher certification commissions have discussed the possibility of recognizing shrimp as kosher food since their shell is essentially a form of scales, and their tail clearly has a fin. However, the rabbinate, although in doubt about the scales, have categorically refused to recognize the shrimp's tail as a fin.
For Muslims, shrimp are considered permissible food, as are all sea creatures, because various hadiths, including those of Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, repeatedly state that everything that lives in the sea is pure.
Muslim Woman Perusing The Fish At Market Jimbaran Jimbaran Is A Thriving Fishing Village Between Kuta And Nusa Dua Famed Throughout Bali For Its Fish Every Morning At Dawn The Fishermen Return With Their Catch/Alamy
So where does the belief that Muslims aren’t allowed to eat shrimp (or sharks, mussels, oysters, and other exotic sea creatures) come from? The thing is, in Islam, the idea of haram in food doesn’t refer to only animals and plants that are explicitly prohibited for consumption. It also includes many other factors—such as how they were slaughtered, the health of the animal, and so on. Specifically, Muslims are not allowed to eat food that can cause disgust or rejection, or what appears inedible or frightening.
However, food traditions vary significantly among different peoples, and they are influenced by the climate of a region, its features, and traditions. For example, in the case of an Indonesian living in the warm environment of the seaside, shrimp or scallops are natural and familiar food. But for a Kazakh, shrimp were, for obvious reasons, not encountered for centuriesi
And thus nowadays, when supermarkets are stocked with shrimp, the once-powerful significance of the taboo has faded, and it is hard to scare a modern Kazakh with shrimp. Nevertheless, the Hanafi madhhab, the legal school to which most Kazakhstani Muslims traditionally belong, requires that halal restaurants clearly indicate which dishes contain shrimp, allowing individuals to decide for themselves which tradition they wish to follow regarding seafood.
Muslim Woman Selling Dry Shrimps And Squids At Crab Market/Alamy