Page - 118 - in Reflective Cosmopolitanism - Educating towards inclusive communities through Philosophical Enquiry

118 REfLECTIvE COsMOPOLITANIsM mas, Eid al-Fitr or Ramadan, Passover), others are not (National holiday, Worker’s day) and some are both (New Year’s day). In groups of four, take 15 minutes to talk about birthdays. The discussion should focus on two of the following three points. 1) Why are birthdays so important? (or why not?) Is it reasonable to celebrate birthdays? What do we celebrate? 2) How should birthdays be celebrated? 3) Look for at least three different ways of celebrating birthdays, and then com- pare them. Find out what they have in common and what is different. Are there better and worse ways of celebrating birthdays? If so, what criteria do you use to state that one celebration is better than another? Episode 10: Eating pork Leading Idea 1: Pure and impure food. Good and bad food In most cultures there are restrictions on food. You cannot eat everything. Some food is permitted and some is not. There are some well-known examples: Indians do not eat beef, Jews and Muslims do not eat pork. In other cases, even without there being any restric- tions on food based on custom, the Chinese eat dog meat, horse meat is eaten in some countries, Mexicans eat crickets etc. In some cultures, this prohibition has a religious significance and is connected to concepts of “purity”. This is especially so with kosher food, which is customary for Jewish people. However, the idea of purity applied to food is not very common, which is why it is especially important to relate that idea to other approaches that share the same goal: banning food. Although these other approaches are based on different criteria, they are not too distant from the concept of purity. The ban on eating pork has both a religious and sanitary basis and is a good example. Another example is the ban that Hindus have on eating beef, which is based on a respect for cows as a symbol of life. You can find further resaources on the concept of “food culture” in the manual to Ella, epi- sode 3, leading idea 5, “Food Culture”, discussion plan “Understanding the role of food”. Exercise: Banned food, permitted food 1) Religious prohibition i) There are several kinds of food that Jews cannot eat, such as pork and shellfish. ii) Muslims cannot eat pork or drink alcohol. iii) Catholics cannot eat meat on vigil days. iv) Buddhists cannot eat beef. v) Muslims fast during Ramadan. vi) Jainists cannot eat any kind of meat. What are/could be reasons for banning or limiting these foods? 2) Medical prohibition a) When people have stomach flu, there are certain things they cannot eat. When people are alcoholics, they cannot drink any alcohol.