Book of Foods
It is permissible (1) to eat every wholesome food that is pure and harmless—whether grain, fruit, or anything similar. Impermissible, on the other hand, is anything impure, such as carrion or blood, and anything harmful, such as poison. Among land animals the following are forbidden: domesticated donkeys; every beast that possesses fangs—apart from the hyena—such as the lion, tiger, leopard, wolf, elephant, monkey, and bear; every bird with talons, including the eagle, hawk, falcon, kite, and owl; whatever feeds on carrion, like the vulture, Egyptian vulture, pied crow, and the large black crow; whatever people find repulsive, such as the hedgehog, porcupine, mouse, bat, and insects; and every hybrid born of a lawful and an unlawful species (2) like the simʿ and the mule.
Section
Permissible to eat are horses; the grazing livestock (camels, cattle, sheep, and goats); chickens; ducks; wild asses; wild cattle; gazelles; the ostrich; the hare; the giraffe; all other game animals; and all sea creatures, with the exception of the frog, crocodile, and snake.
Whoever is driven by necessity to consume something forbidden may eat, provided it is not poisonous, only what will stave off death. If a person in dire need requires the food of someone who is not in need, that owner must sell it to him at its fair price. If the necessity is to make use of another’s property while leaving it intact—such as warming oneself, drawing water, and the like—the owner must allow that benefit free of charge.
Whoever passes by fruit in an orchard while it is still on the tree, or that has fallen to the ground, where there is neither a wall nor a guard, is entitled to