It really isn't. The "tic tacs" example is deliberately absurd, but here in California it is illegal to eat horses as a result of a ballot initiative, but it's fine to eat cows and pigs, and most people do. You can argue that it's all okay, you can argue that neither is okay, but there is not an argument to be made that eating pigs is okay and eating horses isn't. At least, no argument that doesn't boil down to "ha ha we got the majority of the vote".
This feels very close to a scene from Pulp Fiction:
[VINCENT]
You want some bacon?
[JULES]
No, man, I don't eat pork.
[VINCENT]
Are you Jewish?
[JULES]
No, I ain't Jewish, I just don't dig on swine, that's all.
[VINCENT]
Why not?
[JULES]
Pigs are filthy animals. I don't eat filthy animals.
[VINCENT]
But bacon tastes good, pork chops taste good...
[JULES]
Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfuckers. Pigs sleep and root in shit, that's a filthy animal. I don't eat nothin' that ain't got sense enough to disregard its own feces.
[VINCENT]
How about a dog? A dog eats its own feces.
