Meat
While there had always remained a close relationship between animals and human disease, until the mid-20th century however, medical knowledge on the boundary between animal and human health remained blurred. Against this backdrop, this chapter investigates the relationship between cattle plague and slaughterhouse inspection. Diseased animals increasingly flooded markets because Bengali farmers often rejected the “English method” of slaughter and culling as it was economically damaging. It was often cheaper for farmers to sell diseased animals than seek veterinary attention. This chapter thus focuses on how rinderpest subsequently revived the interest in Bengali diet – the debate over safety of meat from diseased animals became fiercer over time and quickly kindled bhadralok paranoia on animal disease, public health, and sanitation, as they now abruptly turned to vegetarianism. Additionally, it examines the interplay between veterinarians and the Calcutta Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (CSPCA) to study the impact it had on the spatial reconfiguration of Calcutta with slaughterhouses being increasingly ousted from the heart of the “sanitary city.”