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?

Next question in Animal Rights

Next Argument

“Yes”

“It’s Nutritious (and Delicious!)”
“Objection”

“Meat Is A Sickening Food: There Are Tasty Alternatives”

It’s Nutritious (and Delicious!)

The Center for Consumer Freedom

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Though it isn’t necessary to eat meat in order to be healthy, the nutritional value of meat is well-documented and undeniable.

Lean meat is an excellent source of protein, B vitamins, iron, and zinc. And according to a 2008 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a diet low in carbohydrates and high in protein (such as the much-maligned Atkins approach) is the single most effective diet for both weight loss and cardiovascular health.

Many meat-eaters have decided against vegetarianism for the simple reason that they love the taste of meat. Though it’s a subjective argument (and one which vegetarians consistently reject), the delicious smell and taste of cooking meat is among the most common reasons offered by omnivores for eating the way they do.

Take the case of Sasha Wizansky and Amy Standen, two former vegetarians who returned to omnivorous diets and now edit the journal Meatpaper. (Yes, there's an entire journal just about the way our culture looks at meat.) Standen told The New York Times in December 2007: “We find over and over again that bacon is the conversion meat. Bacon is how vegetarians change their minds.”