I understand that vegetarians have a moral code that says not to eat meat, which is fine. I'm not saying that's bad or they should change what they believe. But as a historical question of human diet, there is no controversy.
We have cave paintings all over the world of men chasing large animals. That wasn't a game of tag, they are going to eat them. We know the development of cattle culture, fishing societies, etc, all over the world. Even in India, the one traditional society in which a sizable minority (%25) doesn't eat meat, there is widespread evidence of meat-eating prior to the introduction of vegetarianism by the Jains in ~500 BC. But ancient Hindu civilization is much older than that, and prior to this ate meat (and sacrificed animals). All other ancient civilizations: Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Central American societies -- all ate meat, just as their predecessors, the hunter gatherers ate meat.
It is of course not the only thing people ate -- meat in the ancient world was much harder to come by than today and diets varied greatly. But we humans are omnivores, and if people think this is controversial, then they are refusing to face facts about our history.
We have cave paintings all over the world of men chasing large animals. That wasn't a game of tag, they are going to eat them. We know the development of cattle culture, fishing societies, etc, all over the world. Even in India, the one traditional society in which a sizable minority (%25) doesn't eat meat, there is widespread evidence of meat-eating prior to the introduction of vegetarianism by the Jains in ~500 BC. But ancient Hindu civilization is much older than that, and prior to this ate meat (and sacrificed animals). All other ancient civilizations: Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Central American societies -- all ate meat, just as their predecessors, the hunter gatherers ate meat.
It is of course not the only thing people ate -- meat in the ancient world was much harder to come by than today and diets varied greatly. But we humans are omnivores, and if people think this is controversial, then they are refusing to face facts about our history.