blood as food blood as food many cultures consume blood, often in combination with meat. the blood may be in the form of blood sausage, as a thickener for sauces, a cured salted form for times of food scarcity, or in a blood soup. this is a product from domesticated animals, obtained at a place and time where the blood can run into a container and be swiftly consumed or processed. in many cultures, the animal is slaughtered. in some cultures, blood is a taboo food. bloodpig's blood cakesplace of originvariousmain ingredientsanimal blood media: blood blood is the most important byproduct of slaughtering. it consists predominantly of protein and water, and is sometimes called "liquid meat" because its composition is similar to that of lean meat. blood collected hygienically can be used for human consumption, otherwise it is converted to blood meal. special fractions of animal blood are used in human medicine. methods of preparation sausage blood sausage, before cooking blood sausage is any sausage made by cooking animal blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. pig or cattle blood is most often used. typical fillers include meat, fat, suet, bread, rice, barley and oatmeal. varieties include biroldo, black pudding, blood tongue, blutwurst, drisheen, kishka (kaszanka), morcilla, moronga, mustamakkara, sundae, verivorst, and many types of boudin. pancakes blodplättar, blood pancakes from sweden blood pancakes are encountered in galicia (filloas), scandinavia, and the baltic; for example, swedish blodplättar, finnish veriohukainen, and estonian veripannkoogid. soups, stews and sauces czernina, a blood soup from poland, served in a dutch 'soup of the day' cup blood soups and stews, which use blood as part of the broth, include czernina, dinuguan, haejangguk, mykyrokka, pig's organ soup, tiet canh and svartsoppa. blood is also used as a thickener in sauces, such as coq au vin or pressed duck, and puddings, such as tiết canh. it can provide flavor or color for meat, as in cabidela. solidified blood can also be used as a solid ingredient, either by allowing it to congeal before use, or by cooking it to accelerate the process. blood curd is a dish typically found in asia that consists of cooled and hardened animal blood. in china, "blood tofu" (chinese: 血豆腐; pinyin: xiě dòufǔ) is most often made with pig's or duck's blood, although chicken's or cow's blood may also be used. the blood is allowed to congeal and simply cut into rectangular pieces and cooked. this dish is also known in java as saren, made with chicken's or pig's blood. blood tofu is found in curry mee as well as the sichuan dish, mao xue wang (chinese: 毛血旺; pinyin: máo xuè wàng). chinese people use pig blood, tofu, and vegetables to make a healthy soup. this soup has a reputation as a healthy and tasty meal in china. in hungary when a pig is slaughtered in the morning, the blood is fried with onions and served for breakfast. in peru they use chicken blood. in korea, blood curd is typically made of cattle blood and is often used as an ingredient for different kinds of soups and stews, such as hangover soup. in tibet, congealed yak's blood is a traditional food. in vietnamese cuisine pig blood curd is used in soup based noodles dishes such as bún bò huế or bánh canh, bún rêu, cháo lòng... raw in some cases, blood is used as an ingredient without any additional preparation. raw blood is not commonly consumed by itself, but may be used as an addition to drinks or other dishes. one example is the drinking of seal blood which is traditionally believed by the inuit to bring health benefits. nutrition bars russia and ex-ussr countries produce sweet nutrition bars containing cattle blood, known under the generic name hematogen; originally created for treating anemia, they are also used like regular sweets nowadays. religious consumption of blood the catholic church, as well as the eastern orthodox, oriental orthodox, and some anglican churches, believe that in the sacrament of the eucharist, the participants consume the real blood and body of jesus christ. the post-communion prayer of the 1662 anglican book of common prayer describes the meal as "spiritual food". many other christian denominations symbolically consume the eucharist. remains of a metal ampulla depicting becket's martyrdom. a pilgrim would have acquired it with miraculous "water of saint thomas". the medieval cult of saint thomas becket in england included the drinking of "water of saint thomas", a mix of water and the remains of the martyr's blood miraculously multiplied. the procedure was frowned upon by the more orthodox due to the similarities with the eucharist. cultural considerations some cultures consider blood to be a taboo form of food. in abrahamic religions, jewish and muslim cultures forbid the consumption of blood. blood and its by-products are forbidden in islam, in the qurʼan, surah 5, al-maʼidah, verse 3. in the new testament, blood was forbidden by the apostolic decree due to banning sacrifice of animals before idols, (acts 15:19–21) and is still forbidden among eastern orthodox churches. the catholic church determined on the council of florence in 1438 that "the prohibition of the apostles "from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood and from things strangled" befitted that time in which one church arose from the jews and the gentiles, who before lived according to different ceremonies and customs, so that even the gentiles observed some things in common with the jews, and occasion was furnished for coming together into one worship of god and one faith, and ground for dissension was removed; since to the jews, by reason of an ancient custom, blood and things strangled seemed abominable, and they could think that the gentiles would return to idolatry because of the eating of things sacrificed. but when the christian religion is so propagated that no carnal jew appears in it, but all passing over to the church, join in the same rites and ceremonies of the gospel, believing "all things clean to the clean" , with the ending of the cause for this apostolic prohibition, the effect also ended. thus it declares that the nature of no food, which society admits, is to be condemned, and no distinction is to be made by anyone at all, whether man or woman, between animals, and by whatever kind of death they meet their end; although for the health of body, for the exercise of virtue, for regular and ecclesiastical discipline many things not denied should be given up, since, according to the apostle, "all things are lawful, but all things are not expedient" ."