I agree that you have some great advice here already by Maryea & Hairchick -- I have some similar thoughts as them.
As Christians we do "believe in" the old testament, but we are now freed from the imperfections of the law, through JESUS CHRIST who came to fulfill the law or become a better law or way. As PAUL explains in Hebrews, the law served its purpose: to show us that we are sinners and fall short of the glory of GOD.
Now that the Messiah, JESUS CHRIST, has come and fulfilled many of the prophecies and promises of the OT, we are cleansed by HIS BLOOD and HIS SACRIFICE; and are now FREE from the bondage of sin and death, plus endless rules and statutes and laws.
Paul explains this in both Romans and Hebrews in the NT, which are both very meaty books to read. I love the PSALMS; and the Wisdom in the book of PROVERBS is of great value; and other books like JOB and ISAIAH, and many others have good stuff in them too. There are indeed many wonderful stories in the OT that we can all learn from, so we should read it and be blessed by them.
But be warned -- the OT is blunt and does contain a lot of records and tells us the way things really were ... it isn't "always" telling us the way it should be, but the way it was ~ the way things used to be a very long time ago, BEFORE Jesus came to free us. We are indeed blessed to be under this new grace that Jesus has won for us all.
BOOTSIE ~ yes, there are verses in the new testament where PAUL stated that we can now eat anything in the market place or shambles as they were known then (1 Corinthians 10:25 & surrounding verses). He said it is a matter of FAITH; eat what you want to or believe you should eat. We now have great freedom through Christ; to eat or not to eat ... it is up to each individual. If you want to be a vegetarian, that is OK; if you want to eat meat (or pork), that is OK too.
This issue of PORK keeps coming up -- here in the north, some people eat Bear which is also forbidden in the old testament. We also believe that PORK was forbidden becuz it had hidden health dangers in that day. I think we have to be careful about eating anything today, ie watching out for salmonella in raw meats and foods too; BUT we have to live by faith or we would be afraid to eat altogether.
Paul encouraged us not to argue over this but to be gracious to one another in the "freedom of choice" (I am paraphrasing in general here; not quoting). He even said not to offend anyone in the things that we allow. We respect our sisters and brothers of the Jewish faith as well as other Christian groups, and their right to believe, and do as they see fit for themselves and their lives. As PAUL would say, "Let everyone decide for themselves" ...