Haven’t we always eaten meat?
Saying something is right because “we’ve always done it this way” is a terrible argument. That sentiment has been used to promote slavery, denying women the right to vote, preventing LGBTQIA+ people from marrying, and all sorts of other forms of discrimination. As we advance and evolve we progress as a species and do better. At one point in time, it was perfectly normal to be at constant war, rape women, and keep slaves. But as a species, we have advanced beyond that (with some exceptions).
There are cultures right now that still perform female genital mutilation (FGM), and some that marry off young pre-pubescent girls to adult men. Why? Because “we’ve always done it this way.” Customs. Traditions. Norms. The way that the majority of the world sees FGM and child marriages is the same way that vegans see the exploitation of animals for food and other uses; immoral and wrong. And just like many who grew up in a culture of FGM and child marriages may not think there’s anything wrong with it because “we’ve always done it this way”, the same goes for the vast majority of people who grew up in this non-vegan world and don’t see anything wrong with exploiting animals.
However, some people are able to break free from their cultural blinders. We know that many within those cultures are able to see past the immorality of FGM and child marriages, and they recognize it as wrong. The same thing happens with veganism; every day peoples’ eyes open to the horrors of the animal agriculture industry, and more and more people become vegan. The momentum is here with veganism, and it will keep moving forward.
We have to remember that animal liberation is a social justice movement just like women’s rights, gay rights, civil rights, abolishing slavery, ending FGM, ending child marriages, etc. And just like with all of those, only you can decide if you will be on the wrong or right side of history.
That aside, there is also the literal question of this article “haven’t we always eaten meat?” We’ve been led to believe that our ancestors were ravenous carnivores who ate almost nothing but meat, but recent findings say otherwise. There is a lot of evidence indicating that our ancestors ate mostly plant-based diets, with meat eating being minimal:
New Scientist “Ancient leftovers show the real Paleo diet was a veggie feast”: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2115127-ancient-leftovers-show-the-real-paleo-diet-was-a-veggie-feast/
Scientific American “Human Ancestors Were Nearly All Vegetarians”: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/human-ancestors-were-nearly-all-vegetarians/
The Harvard Gazette “Turns out developing a taste for carbs wasn’t a bad thing”: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/05/study-explains-early-humans-ate-starch-and-why-it-matters/
The Guardian “Hunter-gatherers were mostly gatherers, says archaeologist”: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/24/hunter-gatherers-were-mostly-gatherers-says-archaeologist
Heritage Daily “Europe’s prehistoric mega-settlements were almost exclusively vegetarian”: https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/12/europes-prehistoric-mega-settlements-were-almost-exclusively-vegetarian/150038
Study Finds “Historical stunner: Early Europeans were vegetarians, only used cattle for their manure”: https://studyfinds.org/europeans-vegetarians/
The Telegraph “Forget the paleo diet fad – study shows cavemen dined on plants”: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/29/paleo-diet-is-wrong-caveman-diet-more-vegetables-than-meat/
Nature Ecology & Evolution “Isotopic evidence of high reliance on plant food among Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers at Taforalt, Morocco”: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02382-z
Plant Based News “Early Humans Mostly Ate Plants, Study Finds”: https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/food/early-humans-mostly-ate-plants/
Plant Based News “New Study Of Bones And Teeth Finds Cavemen Were Mostly Plant-Based”: https://plantbasednews.org/news/science/cavemen-plant-based-study/
And then finally, even if our ancestors did eat a lot of meat, do we really want to base our morals and ethics on what cavemen did? I know I don’t. Times were pretty tough back then, and morals were pretty non-existent. This brings me to where I always end up; is veganism the more moral choice?
