[lbo-talk] vegetarianism: an eating disorder

[Carrol Cox]

I never read threads aguing the morality/immorality or
propriety/impropriety or healthfulness/nuhealthfullness of vegetarianism
or any other eating habit. But there is one important set of facts
which, though having no bearing on individual choice of diet bear
strongly against vegetarianism as a 'species'-wide adoption of it: (a) A
good deal of the world's protein comes in forms humans cannot digest;
(b) large areas of the planet cannot be indefinitely devoted to grain or
vegetables but to grass, weeds, etc -- i.e. to protein sources which, to
be available to humans, must be first passed through the digestive
systems of other anaimals.

A major example: At some point agriculture must cease completely on the
great plains and only grass can be allowed there. But sad of
steak-lovers: No grain must be used in the feeding of meat animals.
Hence in the long run the human diet must be _mostly_ but not wholly
vegetarian. Goat meat and rabbit meat will be important, because these
animals canutilize protein sources that even sheep or cattle or buffalo
can not.

Grass-fattened cattle or other meat animals will of course be
considerably less tender -- good-bye sooner or later to tender steaks.

Carrol