• Question: Is it natural to be a vegetarian?

    Asked by sands012 to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 25 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      Great philosophical question. Our bodies are very well adapted to catch and eat meat, so it must have been a necessity at some point in our evolution. Also, part of our adaptations include the ability to empathise – so it may feel very unnatural to cause unnecessary suffering.

      I think that you and I would struggle to survive on a meat free diet without consuming farmed foods (eg cereals and beans). Is farming natural? Well, termites do it and humans have done it for a long time so perhaps you could argue either way.

      I personally think that it is natural to eat meat, but could be convinced that it is natural to choose otherwise.

    • Photo: Philippa Bird

      Philippa Bird answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      Not in its purest form (ie going back to when we were cavemen). But we have evolved ethics, which I guess was a natural process, so then again you could argue that it is…?

    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      Humans have evolved to eat meat (we have canine teeth to help chew it), but you can certainly survive without eating any meat.

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