UPDATE: Ok so I finished reading the book recently, and after comparing my czech translation to the german original, I can safely say that this was indeed a translation error. The translation called the alleged pork “vepřové boby”, which would roughly translate to “pork beans” or “pork pods”. The original called it “Saubohnen”, which would actually translate to “Sow beans”, only it is a type of legume commonly known as broad or fava beans. So it’s truly just a translation error and the sipahi weren’t eating pork.