Why Do We Eat Animals? Genes, Memes Or Survival?

As I build my new website, The Thoughtful Athlete, directed towards reducing animal suffering, I encountered the problem of food. And one thing really important to athletes, old and young, is food.

The Chimpanzee Diet, from Raw Food For The Beginner.

“Still the pioneer, Victoria determined to find what was missing and find the optimum human diet.

Every time I watch interesting animal behavior, whether in a video or the World around me, I want to eat them less and less, which is causing my diet to change dramatically. This made me wonder, “Why do we eat animals?”

I never thought it would become a vegetarian, as my brain always said, “We evolved to eat meat, and I [We? My brain and I] really like a good steak & kidney pie.” But did we evolve to eat meat, or was it initially forced upon us by migration, as our population grew, and as farming progressed it became a social habit, in spite of the ready availability of plant materials?

Furthermore, there was the impact of multiple ice ages, purported to account, in large part, for our large brains. In fact, this makes total sense, when you consider the harsh environments thrown upon our early ancestors. Not much fruit around, when hairy mammoths are roaming your back yard.

All that said, it is clear, given my current environment, that I don’t need to master the cross-bow or eat meat.

If I decide to put food away for emergencies, which would you recommend, a pound of salami or a pound of carrots? I guess I’d store salami and rice, with some vitamin tablets, too!

I bet the chimpanzee would take the salami, if it’s about survival under harsh conditions and planning ahead – I would imagine that chimpanzees do plan ahead!

My recommendation is to eat for a healthy body, by listening to your body, according to the conditions under which you find yourself.

So, I’ll stick to veggies and fruit for now.

PS Here’s what I had for breakfast, all veggies, and it was yummy, as I used herbs and fresh garlic, too!