> There is much that is puritanically religious about Veganism; it's
> just another dietary restriction for what it believes are good reasons
> (all religions have had them since time immemorial). Any good dentist
> or gastroenterologist will tell you that our ivories and intestines
> have evolved specifically for an omnivorous diet. We even have certain
> gastric enzymes whose release are triggered by the taste of flesh on
> our palates. What needs to be reduced is our population; if we were
> inhabiting this planet at acceptable levels, all the rest of this would
> never come up.
It is true that we have evolved for an omnivorous diet, but it is
also true that our bodies do not handle meat very well at all (compared
to carnivorous animals), and hence it seems likely that we merely
evolved to eat _some_ (small quantity of meat) in order to supplement
our largely herbivorous diet that may be lacking in some situations.
The fact is that many cultures attach prestige to meat consumption
(probably because it represents an easy and potent source of nutrition
when other sources are lacking), including historically european and
asian cultures, and hence today's richer cultures suffer from meat
lust. Today we eat WAY too much meat (ie too much for our own well
being, let alone that of the planet or the animals) because
evolutionarily speaking we have never had to deal with access to this
much meat before. Hence we never evolved any kind of restraint. This is
all very fluffy because I can't even remember where I have read these
things but perhaps someone can back me up.
The "population explosion" is what the patriarchy want you to
believe. The fact is that this planet can easily support 8 billion
_intelligent_ and _selfless_ beings who do not trash the third world to
produce excess meat. (Again, I'm afraid I've lost the references...
Earth Follies would be a good start.)
Russell
