Vegetarian

When did primates begin to eat meat? Perhaps after they learned to harness fire and cook meat so it became soft enough for those with less-than-perfect teeth to chew and digest. In some areas of the world, there isn’t much of the vegetable world to choose from. The tribes who lived in the Arctic had a short season to gather fruit, seeds and roots. If there was game all around them, and they observed carnivorous species surviving on meat, their logic must have led them to adapt to a meat-only diet. The sea was a plentiful source of food, and with a hereditary knowledge that humans needed protein and fat to thrive, they added fish to their diet and saved themselves from a strict diet of roots and fruit. 

Meat-eating developed from a need to use what was available to combat hunger. Vegetarians contend that they are more evolved than these primitive people and don’t need meat. In richer countries, there is ready access to a variety of food groups, making it possible to live healthily without eating meat, but not all people across the world have the luxury of these choices.  Where is a dweller in the Sahara Desert to find a tomato?  Vegetarians may believe they are superior to meat eaters, but this superiority only applies to those who have a choice.  Having passed many periods on a strictly vegetable diet, I choose to eat meat because it is a ready source of good protein. Like most humans, I was born with a digestive system that can make good use of meat for energy. I cannot deny my biology.

Some don’t eat meat because they believe that killing animals is cruel. Depending on how the act is done, this is more or less true. Death for any living thing is tragic but inevitable. Animals die, plants die, and humans die. Humans perceive life on a limited level. Dogs and cats experience the world differently from us, and so does every living thing. I subscribe to the hypothesis that just because we can’t sense something with our limited faculties, it doesn’t mean the thing doesn’t exist. We can carry on munching carrots, deluding ourselves that nothing died and nothing suffered to feed us. But the carrot died; we interrupted its life cycle in harvest, pulling it up in the best of health. I accept that things die so that we can live. This is true whether I eat meat, vegetables, or both.

I silently say grace with every meal to give thanks for everything that gives its life so I can survive. I don’t argue that vegetarians should change their ways, but I believe they are somewhat misguided. However, if being vegetarian keeps these people’s bodies and consciences clean, they are welcome to their folly. In all aspects of life, it is important to remember that whatever we do or eat, it should be in moderation, with an ever-present awareness of what we are doing and why.