Religious reason: It's not biblical under the Levitical food laws. In those laws, things like pig, dolphin, catfish, and vultures (to name a few examples) are not considered food to us (unclean foods due to what they eat).
this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2025
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If everyone followed that "law," nobody would eat pigs or catfish.
But most people do eat pig & catfish.
So your explanation doesn't quite hold water.
Japan and other “island nations” doo eat dolphin meat.
Data point: This was addressed in the documentary The Cove, which is about dolphin hunting. Fishing companies insisted that dolphin meat was an important part of the Japanese diet, but when they interviewed folks on the street they looked confused and laughed at the idea of eating a beautiful dolphin.
IIRC since we poisoned our seas the meat is full of mercury
Why does that only apply to Dolphin. Is there something in Mammals that makes them accumulate Mercury more than Fish?
It doesn't. The process is called bioaccumulation and is a function of how long the species live and as a predator, how much of food lower on the food chain they eat.
Sardines are safer than Mackarel because they don't live as long and predate less. Mackarel are better than Tuna because tuna is a longer lived predator that eats more, thus accumulates more mercury. Dolphins are top of the food chain, thus have higher mecury levels.
Ahh!! Thank you!
The dolphins are getting it from the fish. It just tends to accumulate more in the longer living bigger animals. You are actually advised to watch your fish intake due to mercury levels.
I didn’t know so search for it
Understanding Mercury Bioaccumulation in Dolphins
Mercury, a heavy metal, enters marine ecosystems through various sources, including industrial discharge, atmospheric deposition, and natural geological processes. Because dolphins are apex predators, they accumulate mercury through the food chain. Smaller fish ingest mercury, and when dolphins consume those fish, the mercury becomes concentrated in their tissues. This process, known as bioaccumulation, results in higher concentrations of mercury in top predators like dolphins compared to organisms lower in the food web.
https://iere.org/how-much-mercury-was-found-in-the-dolphin-meat-they-tested/
They get much older, I guess?
I'd rather not eat anything sapient. Crabs, chicken, and beef? Fine, but I'm not eating anything smarter than a 5-year-old human. No octopi or corvids for me.
In most respects, I'd rank a five-year-old human mentally above a raven or octopus.
So you're okay with eating toddlers, gotcha 👍
Sure, if they never grew up. But they do, so I won't.
They don't if you eat them first ...
The other white meat
Not defining key terms like "we" defeats the porpoise of the question.
That you, Jacques du Gatineaou?
Speak for yourself. Now someone pass me the speech centre of the brain!
I don't want to eat an intelligent creature!
It's okay. These dolphins spent all their money gambling.
Oh. Alright then.
In the US, looks lile it's illegal to trade in dolphin meat due to the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
It's apparently legal in Japan.
From “so long and thanks for all the fish” to “enjoy being space red-lined, fuckos”
Too fast, I only get halfway through a bite before they swim away.
We do, its just you you don't.
They got great marketing. They act all cute and nice so we don't think of eating them eventhough they are evil.
We fear to make a bad, bad mistake when it turns out that they are more intelligent than we are.
Why don't we eat humans?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalism_in_Oceania
The Korowai tribe of south-eastern Papua could be one of the last surviving tribes in the world engaging in cannibalism.
Sometimes we do.
Cause we are humans
Tasty, tasty humans.
Long pig
Sometimes they bite back.
Because that's our group!
That's not sufficient.
It is for me.
Join me for dinner?