Should We Eat Meat?

Thanksgiving arrives every year with a heated debate over how to best cook that plump and juicy turkey. But the idea of a tofu turkey (also known as a “tofurkey”) has gone from a joke a couple years ago to a reality for many. While vegetarianism has been practiced for over a thousand years in some countries, it is a relatively new concept in the West. And so, with the question cropping up more and more often, should we eat meat?

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“Eating Meat is Biologically Meant to Be”
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Eating Meat is Biologically Meant to Be

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Humans have been eating meat for as long as our history can be traced back. In fact, one of the most vocal proponents of the argument that humans are natural omnivores is himself a vegetarian, the anatomist and a primatologist Dr. John McArdle. As McArdle has argued, “Humans are classic examples of omnivores in all relevant anatomical traits. There is no basis in anatomy or physiology for the assumption that humans are pre-adapted to the vegetarian diet.”

Several studies have also argued that it was our ancestors’ search for animal foods that triggered the expansion of our population across the world.

Other research has shown that it's impossible for prehistoric humans to have been vegetarians, because the plant foods available at the time could not have provided them with enough calories and nutrients to survive. In which case, to some extent, we can thank our meat-eating ancestors for our existence today.