Avoid eating impure animals?

[Director Michael]

The other justification that an individual Gentile may have for not eating a particular type of animal, is if he dislikes the taste, or if it nauseates him, or he's disgusted by it. In regard to any food, a Gentile can choose on any particular day to eat what he enjoys, and not eat what doesn't enjoy, on account of his personal tastes and appetites at that time.

I really appreciate the clarifications provided above. Especially regarding a Gentile being allowed to voluntarily restrict himself to only eating Jewish-certified kosher meat. Beyond this, I have some further queries that have been gnawing away at me:

Would a Gentile be justified in being disgusted to eat a particular type of animal, just because Hashem has singled the animal out as something to be avoided for Jews?

What I mean by this is that the Gentile would understand that they are not forbidden from eating the animal, only Jews are, but the mere fact that Jews have been advised by G-d to refrain causes a stigma in the mind of the Gentile against eating the animal. In his mind the gentile can not psychologically let go of this stigma being attached to eating it because of a negative implication that has indirectly been inferred. It's not that the Gentile craves eating the animal, and is only holding themselves back from doing so because they mistakenly think they are forbidden to, but the desire for eating it has been taken away by how it has been mentioned in the Torah. Is the solution that the Gentile should try cure themselves of this negative impression or they can continue to avoid those foods because of it? The Gentile would not think anything less of another Noahide for whom such a negative impression/distaste has not risen to the level that they avoid eating.

It is a fact that some Gentiles a have natural sensitivity to this issue. A Gentile does not have to afflict himself, to force himself to eat some species of animal which he's permitted to, but which disgusts him for *whatever* reason. Noah received a general *permission* to eat any species of creature, but this was not a directive that he had to eat any particular species of creature. It was also limited by the precept that a person should guard his life and his health (for example, not to eat poisonous species of animals or plants).

This is a good example of the principle that in G-d's Law, there are some precepts in which a person is judged based on his *intention,* and not based on the physical action that was done or not done.
For example, if a Gentile needs to skip the opportunity to eat pork because it gives him a reaction of disgust, for whatever reason, that is permitted (and he should not expect or seek any reward from G-d because he didn't eat pork). Thus in his own mind, he leaves open the possibility that there may be a time in the future when he won't anymore be disgusted by it, in which case he then wouldn't mind eating it.
But if he has resolved not to eat it as a matter of spiritual conviction, he is transgressing by creating for himself a new ritual commandment that is not from G-d.

Secondly, there is scientific research that shows potentially hazardous health effects of eating non-kosher animals e.g mercury other contaminants accumulated in shellfish, trichinosis in pork. Certain websites and articles have specifically been created by Jews & non-Jews to highlight those aspects. If a Gentile finds this research convincing they may assume, perhaps wrongly, that there are secondary reasons (other than the primary spiritual reason) having to do with physical health that could equally apply to Jews & non-Jews, as shown in the research. However, I understand that if they are deciding based on health alone they should only make a decision with regards to this based on an objective evaluation of the scientific evidence. In such manner I understand that they may find a justification to avoid the non-kosher food for health reasons. However, this Gentile should not look negatively upon another Noahide if they are unconvinced by the scientific evidence, or find the pleasure of eating the non-kosher animal outweighs the health concern.

Would a Gentile be misguided in going out of their way to find health reasons to justify not eating non-kosher foods, in particular?

Yes, that is scientifically misguided. "Kosher" does not mean healthy, and "Non-Kosher" does not mean unhealthy. Many things that are kosher are not healthy, and many things that are non-kosher are healthy. A Gentile should judge the healthiness of all foods, kosher or non-kosher, by the same standard. For example, it may be that both kosher and non-kosher sea creatures from one ocean suffer from contamination, and the same kosher and non-kosher species from another ocean do not have any contamination.

Rejecting pork (a non-kosher species) on account of the remote possibility of trichinosis is hard to justify if the person eats chicken (a kosher species) which has a comparatively higher risk of salmonella.

Even if the original intention was misguided, if they are convinced they found a risk to health in eating the animal they can choose to avoid eating the animal for health? Would this be a form of hypocrisy though if the Gentile does not apply the same degree of scrutiny and research into the health risks of certain kosher foods, especially if they are not generally keeping a healthy regime by avoiding foods high in fat or sugar?

I understand it could all be captured under the prohibition of self-harm 'But your blood of your [own] souls I will demand' Genesis 9:5

Would really appreciate your guidance on this.

Neil
Brisbane, Australia

The obvious appearance of hypocrisy is probably an indication that the Gentile is overly scrutinizing a non-kosher species with the objective of covering over his underlying motivation, which is to take upon himself the Jewish ritual commandment (in whole or in part).