by Trapper John » Mon May 21, 2018 5:52 am
Personally I've never been accosted by the meat is murder brigade, vegetarians or vegans or had anyone attempt to convert me or tell me I'm wrong to eat meat.
I have seen and heard quite extreme views expressed by some though, some stating that man was never supposed to eat meat, that it's a cultural thing and not what nature intended for us. I'm no expert but I can't see that really from what I know, we seem perfectly adapted to be omnivores.
Our teeth are a big clue, we have molars for grinding, canines and incisors for cutting and tearing, we are kitted out for the best of both worlds. Whether we eat too much meat or more than we need to is a whole other question, science seems to agree a balanced diet is best so it's up to us to balance it.
Even today, Chimpanzees balance their mainly vegetarian diet with meat, something which was discovered only relatively recently when they were filmed chasing and killing small monkey's, the meat is prized by the troop which suggests they'd eat more if they could.
Herbivores tend to have teeth which facilitate their best way of coping with their diet, cows and many others for instance have no top front teeth at all, their hardened gum allows for their bottom teeth to rip 'stuff' from the ground by it's roots. The rest of the teeth are grinding molars which they need to cope with tough foodstuffs. The horse family are probably a notable exception but that might be to do with the fact they need to bite when fighting for whatever, cows, sheep etc. don't do that.
So I think meat is an integral part of the human diet, ounce for ounce it's the most efficient way of obtaining protein and like Jack, I can't see it changing any time soon.
