Eating live animals is the practice of humans eating non-human animals that are still alive, rather than animals which have been found dead or killed to be eaten. The practice of eating live animals is known as a cultural diet in many Asian food cultures, but animals are also eaten alive for shock value. Both vertebrates or invertebrate may be eaten.
Eating live animals, or parts of live animals, may be unlawful in certain jurisdictions under animal cruelty laws. Religious prohibitions on the eating of live animals by humans are also present in various world religions.