Other than the fact that “we can” and that “meat tastes good,” is there any satisfactory justification for our killing of animals for food?
-(especially considering that we can get all the necessary nutrients from non-animal sources)-
Are cultural traditions enough of a justification for you? It might help if we knew what criteria meat eating was to be judged by. Consuming the flesh of animals has been a human tradition for more then a hundred thousand years whether we’ve scavanged for it, hunted for it, or domesticated animals for it. To be honest I really don’t see why anybody needs to justify eating the charred flesh of animals.
Marc
Um, didn’t you just post this in GQ?
Yup. And since this is more debate fodder than a question, it’s over here now.
First I’d like to give a hearty welcome to jelasafork before I scuttle out of the way for the more argumentitive bunch in GD. (That’s why I’m not here much - I’m quite willing to agree to disagree, which rarely satisfies anybody when they have an agenda)
It’s a source of valuable protein. Just because we CAN get all the nutrients from plant sources doesn’t mean that that’s the easiest place to get it, or the place that provides the most dietary variety. Meat is a heckuvalot more convenient as a tasty source of such nutrients than vegetables. And it comes in these nice prepackaged portable units called “animals”… 
So, in short, “it’s easier than all that mucking around with soy”.
Note: I eat meat, but try not to eat mammals. I have close friends who are vegetarians and close friends who think that vegetables are what food eats. Ordering pizza is fun!
Meat taste good, and besides, that cow would eat you too if it got the chance.
i don’t know wther that image is funny or disturbing. oh heck it’s both.
beef, your whats for dinner 
The way I see it, responsibilities and rights go hand in hand. The day a pig or cow can be trusted to fulfill human responsibilities (understand and obey the laws as much as possible; be trusted to not violate others’ personal space, property, etc., as well as understand the reasons for such rules; pay taxes and so forth) is the day I stop eating them.
OK… Reasons…
[ul]
[li]We can[/li][li]Meat tastes good (if you like it)[/li][li]We want to[/li][li]It is generally a more ‘compact’ form of nutrition, so it is more convenient (to the consumer, I’m sure the consumed finds it an intolerable interruption to the daily schedule)[/li][li]There is evidence to suggest that our bodies are adapted to accept a wide variety of foods, including animal protein (I’m not sure if you’d consider this merely a special case of ‘we can’)[/li][/ul]
How many reasons do we need?
Actually, I think it is this part of the argument that troubles me most;
Is it necessary to have chocolate ice cream? -(especially considering that vanilla is OK)-
Is it necessary to have houses? -(especially as one can survive in a tent)-
Is any one thing really necessary? -(in view of all the alternatives)-
I find it rather disturbing that there are minds out there that (seem to)feel that absolute conformity is a good thing, especially when the object of that conformity is…arbitrary.
God told me to eat the flesh of the animals. I must go to the zoo and grill me up some panda burgers! They’re finger Ling-Ling good!
Perhaps the OP should tell us why we shouldn’t eat meat, and we can work from that.
the simpsons
I’d also be rather interested to expand the view a little:
Suppose I am convinced that it is wrong to be harming animals in order to eat them.
What should I do about the mice and rats in my grain store, the pigeons in my fruit bushes, the snails on my lettuce, the caterpillars on my brassicas, the aphids on my broad beans?
There is actually one nutrient that is NOT naturally found in non-animal foods. If I recall correctly, it’s B12. Your body stores it, so you can go a long time without eating it, but eventually it catches up with you and the lack of it wrecks all sorts of havoc.
Vegans get theirs from, I think, fortified yeast or some other items that are fortified with the stuff - but it’s not exactly natural. Which is OK - neither is jello or raspberry ice cream.
Traditionally vegan or near vegan cultures get theirs from lack of sanitation and pesticides - true organic-grown vegetables, fruits, and grains contain a certain amount of insect infestation. People pick off the larger bits but some amount remains and provides enough B12 for health. When these same folks move to a western country with lower levels of insect parts permitted in food and more stringent pest control they can, after a certain number of years, get B12 deficiency.
But it’s proof that human can not live long term with absolutely NO animal source nutrition whatsoever though you can get darn close to it.
Itwould appear that B12 is available from several natural non-animal sources, particularly yeasts and other microorganisms.
God said so.
It is natural.
not eating meat causes you to jump through hoops to get the nutrition you need
Not eating meat is unnatural
There is a lot of hubbub about the effects of carbohydrates, esp. highly processed ones which arguably rob your body of nutrition. I would wag that a vegan diet consists largly of highly processed carbs. Low carb diets would be almost impossible.
It’s easier then eating them alive
We are hungry
We will be hungry after we kill this beast
(they taste good too)
I believe I mentioned that.
However, those justifying veganism as “natural” by saying we evolved to be herbivores (already a debatable topic) would have to explain how our ancestors evolved to eat fortified brewer’s yeast or the like since it is not present in pre-agricultural societies in any significant amounts.
In addition, these yeasts and such must be carefully cultivated in the proper medium in order for them to absorb B12. It will not simply just happen that they have high levels of this nutrient without human intervention.
This is in no way to say that a true vegan diet can’t be healthy - it can - or that it isn’t possible to live without animal source foods - it is. I just would argue that we didn’t evolve that way. We’re omnivores. We don’t have to eat animal derieved foods but we certainly can.
Most of the personal reasons given on this thread explaining why they eat meat sound perfectly fine and dandy. However…
So is the concept of humans flying in airplanes. Wearing shoes is “unnatural” (we weren’t born with them). Kittens probably provide a good source of protein. It is “unnatural” to not eat them, I should think. And so on. A million things we do each day are “unnatural”.
You did mention it, but you seemed to be saying that B12 was only present in foods as a result of fortification or contamination and furthermore that B12 was not found naturally in any non-animal food. I don’t believe this to be factually accurate (although it may at some point have been true to the best of everyone’s knowledge, and simply repeated since then) - Spirulina contains B12, tofu contains B12; that these might require care in the preparation doesn’t seem terribly relevant - a lot of things need care in preparation.
Low-carb vegan should be possible - but you have to eat a LOT of stuff. Which is one of the health benefits of the vegan diet, foods that have a low calorie density (I should point out that, until the latter half of the 20th century “low calorie density” was NOT considered an advantage in foods) and lots of bulk, keeping you both regular and lean.
From my investigations into the subject, most vegans also seem to avoid high processed forms of any food. Therefore, their carbs would tend to be of the complex variety. Vegan eating isn’t simply western-traditional eating with the steak removed, it’s a very different manner of consuming dinner.
For exaple, salads are certainly a feature of the diet they are not the couple-handfuls-of-iceberg-lettuce-and-some-carrot-shavings type of salads most meat-eaters are accustomed to. Vegan salads tend to have a variety of green leafies, slices of vegees like peppers and zuccini and the like, and are often topped with things like nuts and seeds - a much more nutritionally varied sort of thing. They eat a LOT of vegees. They eat a LOT of fruit. This is by no means a “bread and water” routine.