So you take someone to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

[nfpgasmask]

I am not a vegetarian, nor am I a die hard meat eater. I do believe humans are omnivorous, but that said I think humans were not meant to eat the flesh of other animals, except maybe fish. There has been plenty of scientific research on the subject, much of which has concluded the following major points, which I agree with:

1) No carnivore in nature eats cooked or prepared meat of any kind

2) Carnivorous animals have a significantly shorter digestive tract, which enables them to process meat faster and more efficiently, eliminating the risk of constipation and internal putrification (something that happens to a lot of people who eat way to much red meat)

3) Look at our teeth. Look at a tiger's teeth. Big difference.

4) Apes (our closest mammalian relatives) do eat a "meat" of sorts. But not the "meat" we are used to. They eat insects, along with their fruits & veggies. Although, I do believe there are some lesser Asian primates that are carnivorous to an extent.

Anyway, when it comes down to it, I think we are meant to eat fruit, veggies and probably worms and other inverts, but not pigs, cows, goats and birds of any kind. I really don't know about humans eating fish, but without manmade tools, fish would most certainly not be on the menu either. But then again, why the heck does lobster taste so darn good if we weren't meant to eat it? And if we weren't meant to eat meat why do our brains give us the ability to find a way to do so? But that is an entirely different issue...


Bart

[Chopper]

You're right about the smaller gut...but you are missing a vital point. That easily digestable meat allowed your gut to get smaller, freeing up blood flow for that ever expanding brain you were building. Cooking took the place of the complex gut you would need to deal with the pathogens in spoiled flesh....keeping the blood flow free for that wonderful brain. Meat is good!

[Chopper]

This is an empolyee, not a G.F. I've been married all my adult life

[Ldub]

3) Look at our teeth. Look at a tiger's teeth. Big difference.

4) Apes (our closest mammalian relatives) do eat a "meat" of sorts. But not the "meat" we are used to. They eat insects, along with their fruits & veggies. Although, I do believe there are some lesser Asian primates that are carnivorous to an extent.
Bart

Maybe go check out the choppers on your average chimp or go-rilly.

They look more like tigers than peoples.

[nfpgasmask]

Like I said, I love a juicy burger and a large pepperoni pie as much as the next guy, and I have no plans to give it up, I just find the scientific evidence supporting that humans are more than likely not equipped physically to eat meat, very compelling...

Now, this thread is making me hungry.

Bart

[DarkWing]

Your back teeth are like of elephants and cows, made for eating vegetable matter. Your front teeth are those of a hunter, made to grip and tear meat. (Canines, the closest thing you have to fangs, they are even called that on cats!!!)

Also, any person that tells you that God doesn't want you to eat meat, needs to do a little more research, look at Acts, I think it was Peter, God told him to rise and eat of a bunch of animals he supplied.

But, to keep this light(er), just to set it clear. If I ever join y'all on one of these wilderness trips, and we all break down or some other great tragedy happens that leaves us with little or no food. Well, not being a boy scout and knowing what plants I could eat in the great out doors, Veggies, I wouldn't sleep real soundly, you could wake up with BBQ sauce on parts of you.

D.W.

[Ldub]

If the good lord didn't want us to eat cows, he wouldn't have made the darn things out of steak. (quote, Ldubs Grandpa)

[Chopper]

Chimpanzee's are most decidedly omnivores....they'll take meat whenever it is available. And we aren't talking grasshoppers.

[nfpgasmask]

...but I don't give a crap what god or the bible says. And that is another problem I have with the way people "use" the planet.

Bart

[Chopper]

An amazing amount of the methane and co2 we produce, comes from our feed herds.

[mdwyer]

Honestly, the whole idea of raising living beings for food is really disturbing to me. There's a disturbingly narrow line between eating canines and eating bovines. Yet one is morally repugnant, and the other is delicious! It's better if I I just don't think too hard about where my steak came from...

So, yeah. I understand the vegetarian angle. I know about eating at higher trophic levels. I'll even grant that we're not designed to eat meat. (I don't think we were 'designed' at all. But that's a whole other argument...)

But it is sort of difficult to argue with success. I mean, we got where we are today by, generally, eating meat. Meat offered us the concentrated protein, that allowed us to get off the farm and into the laboratories, factories, etc.

I'd like my meat to be healthy and treated well. It should be raised in an environmentally sustainable way. I'd like it to be grass-fed, thank you, and humanely killed. I'd like it carefully ground, lovingly grilled with a dash of salt, and placed on top of an egg bun with some applewood-smoked pepper bacon, a hint of BBQ sauce, a little lettuce, a slice of tomato, some grilled onions and a slice of mild cheddar cheese. I'd like it parked neatly between a cold wheat beer and a pile of shoestring fries.









But in a pinch I'll settle for a number two combo, no onions, no pickles, medium sized, iced tea, to go.