Why do people still eat animals?

Question

It seems like this would be something of a barbaric past that we would read about in history books, yet it's still actually going on.

People don't need animal flesh for anything anymore and it takes 16 pounds of nutrient-rich grain to create just 1 pound of flesh, so we're actually hurting ourselves really bad by eating it.

Not to mention the extreme pain we inflict on the animals.

So, why are people still doing it?

Answer 1

most people are still in the stone age!

it's like smoking, people have been doing it for so long that it just seems like the okay thing to do. also, i think some people don't want to give it up because they are being selfish and/or they think it would be "too hard"

...it's so foolish. that's why we're here to educate the public :]

Answer 2

Because it's the natural cycle of life! We eat animals. This is how human beings are made.

Answer 3

Plants were made for animals

to eat and animals were made for humans

to eat. It's just the circle of life.

Now get your vegie,un-barbaric hands into

some BBQ ribs.

:D haha.

Answer 4

If you think eating animals "inflicts pain", imagine what would happen to all the animals that are raised for meat if no one would eat them? Guess what the farmers and ranchers would do if they couldn't make money selling them? They would STOP SPENDING MONEY TO FEED THEM!!!!

Or ,, they would go out to the lot and shoot them all.

Do you really think ranchers would spend thousands of dollars a month to feed the stock just to have them as Pets? You haven't thought this whole thing through.

These animals only HAVE A LIFE to begin with BECAUSE BARBARIANS LIKE ME EAT THEM!!!

Feed stock are fed good, watered good, and treated good. Any business that sells meat for consumption is monitored all the way from the feed mill to the slaughter. These animals live a good life and never know what happened when they die. They are not tortured or whatever you have been told.

Meat is spoiled by slow death.

Truly you are soooo miss informed. I'm sorry you feel horrified by us meat eaters. The bible says I can eat meat,,

and it tastes so good.

Answer 5

If we didn't eat animals (meat) then we'd be over populated with animals.  It's the food chain....and because we have a right to choose, to be carnivores, vegans, or vegetarians.

Answer 6

They taste good, and it's part of the perks of being the dominant species on Land.  

When you go in the ocean, I think sharks trumps people.

Answer 7

They are delicious.

Answer 8

Primarily because it contributes to a well-balanced diet, and, in moderation, does NOT "hurt ourselves really bad".  That meat is bad for us is foolish, unsupported propaganda by self-righteous  people who need a good hobby.  As for pain to the animals - animals slaughtered in this country for food are humanely killed.  Any pain they experience is very brief.  

As evidence of the self-righteous attitudes of those who forswear meat, I point to your own characterization of the practice as "a barbaric past".  When you get over the idea that you must call us names, come talk to me.  Meantime, I'm fixing fried chicken for this evening, and will feed my family beef tomorrow.  I eat just as my grandfather did, and he lived a long, healthy, loving life, passing finally at age 94.  Somehow, eating meat didn't seem to hurt him really bad, now did it?

Answer 9

because God put it hear for us to eat...

it's called the food chain look it up

Answer 10

Because it's natural, orginism to orginism, if we ate plants we'd be cows! WE EAT COWS! And it taste good :P

Answer 11

Because we developed our technologies so we could eat meat - not to eat meat would be dumbing ourselves down (not that you're dumb or anything, it's just because humankind needs MORE technology, not less) Basically, Jenny, if we all stopped eating meat, we would also burn all of our clothes and start to walk on all fours again.

Answer 12

I can't believe there are people who don't eat animals.  They taste good and anything in moderation is NOT bad for you actually it would be GOOD for you.  Not to mention who in the h**l got to the top of the food chain to eat carrots.  Most doctors discourage the practices of vegans and vegetarians unless you are willing to spend unruly amounts of money to buy the nutrients that meat provides.

Answer 13

It tastes good. Duh.

Answer 14

Because we can.

Answer 15

We were made to devour animals. I am not ashamed to say I enjoy the flesh of a good cow or pig. Does a lion apologize for eating a deer? No, it is nature. Just because you prefer not to, doesn't change nature.

Answer 16

it tastes great. we worked our way to the top of the food chain and that's where we'll stay. go eat a veggie burrito, hippie.

Answer 17

Because thats the way its supposed to be. God wouldn't make animals and put that thought in our mind to kill them and eat them if we werent supposed to

Answer 18

Because people choose to, there can be problems if you don't eat meat, you might have to take pills, etc.

I've tried to be a veggie head, it didn't workout, and when your a teen you need meat or you can hurt yourself.

I might be vegan in the future, cause veggie chicken nuggets and sausage is really good, but I'm not ready to abandon meat.

Answer 19

because they want to,pure and simple.....so,get over it and eat what you want and leave others to eat what they want

Answer 20

because animals were created as food for man. Nourishment.

Answer 21

because we can. its called a food chain. is a shark eating a seal barbaric or nature?

Answer 22

Yeah, I'll go with one and 2...cause they taste so tasty and delicious.. I've eaten a BOCA burger (veggie burger), and let me tell you, it's disgusting.  My whole family are veggies, but i can't deal, cause I love a good burger more than I love my mom anyway... so where's the beef?

Answer 23

I'm a bit more concerned about the four million kids that die each year from not having clean water to drink.  But as long as you don't eat a chicken I guess you can sleep well at night.  I wish the bar for my morality was that easy to cross.

BTW, It's takes 2.5-3 pounds of grain to make 1 pound of chicken.  Cows can eat grasses to get big and strong which we can't eat.  We just feed them corn to fatten them up.  As for pigs, I don't know, but I'd rather have a pound of bacon than twenty pounds of cornmeal.

As for being barbaric, I guess you think six billion people in the world are barbaric including the tens of thousands of tribal villages in the world.  But you're more evolved than those "primitive savages" right?  Besides they have dark skin and eat grubs.  We can't all grow up with the same options.

Get over yourself.

Answer 24

People are ridiculously uneducated and hate straying away from the norm. I'm with you, animals aren't for us to eat. Maybe this is what we thought in our primitive ages, but now that we're becoming more and more informed we should be seriously considering our health. You are right in saying that not only are we being unnecessarily cruel to animals, but we are also creating havock among the environment, including an increased buildup of greenhouse gasses. I don't understand some people, this is breaking news!

Answer 25

I am a vegan and I don't but people eat animals for many different reasons.

Some people still eat animals because they don't really know or understand how animals are produced and killed!

Also some other people still do because they don't care how animals are treated! They don't care that they are slaughtered barbarically and ruthlessly.

Other people are just too lazy to change. They know that animals are treated bad but they don't have the will power to stop eating meat!

There are probably many other reasons people eat the meat of so many creatures but I know it all equals evil and wrong doing!

Answer 26

Assuming you do not have an agenda and are interested in an honest answer:

1. Humans eat animals because in many situations it is more economical to do so. You (rightly) point out that it is not environmentally efficient to do so, but in many cases it is simply easier to raise animals, feed them slop, kill them, and ship 'em out than it is to grow, water, fertilize, protect from insects, protect from blight, protect from animals, harvest, separate, treat, and then ship out large quantities of grain. And because the economics permit it, and the meat is available, people eat it. By and large people do not make rational decisions- plants may be healthier and more sustainable, but people go to McDonalds and buy a burger and fat-fried French fries because it is cheap.

2. Because meat is tasty. People will pay $40 for a rib-eye at a restaurant because they know that they will enjoy the meal. If people did not enjoy the taste, they would not eat it.

3. Because eating meat is really, really, really old. From Turkeys on Thanksgiving to a lamb at Passover, people have been eating meat for a long time. This is simply because hunting an animal, killing it, and cooking it provides a quicker and more filling meal than waiting a whole season for crops to grow.

Old traditions die hard, especially when the only attempt being made to dissuade said tradition is a misinformed statement about "hurting ourselves" on Yahoo answers.

Answer 27

It's just the natural way. Humans are considered to be predators, and we're doing our job-being predators. Wolves and lions have been doing it for years, why can't we? If there are too few predators, the world would would be overpopulated. With this being said, the herbivores, or "prey" would consume all of the veggies. I don't think vegetarians would like that.



There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a diet of specifically vegetables. The reason us meat-eaters continue, however, is that it's just our instinct.

Answer 28

They only have insensitive, selfish reasons for continuing eating animal products.

The only thing they have is that it tastes good to them, and that we're supposedly on "top of the food chain".

They're just apathetic to anything beyond their own lives.

I know because I used to be right there along side them.  Thankfully I broke out of being a meat-eating robot and got a clue!!

Answer 29

Well it is called being the top of the food chain, plus they taste good and are an awesome protein source.  I don't know where you got your facts from, but even if they are true, you go right ahead and eat 16 pounds of grass, not grain.  And the grain that cows do eat in are not digestible by humans.  Cows have that double stomach thing going for them, right up till the nail gun to the brain.  I have seen it, and there is no real pain.  They drop dead instantly.  But, just to make you feel better, I am going to go to a PETA meeting, that is People Eating Tasty Animals.  Please excuse me, but I need to fire up the grill, even though you call me barbaric, I prefer my mammal medium rare!

Answer 30

"If we didn't eat animals (meat) then we'd be over populated with animals."

Actually, Animals are raised to be eaten.

As far as it going down in history, it's possible. Will people willingly become a vegan? I don't think humankind is that compassionate. A wide spread of disease (bird flu, mad cow, etc) could bring it to the end if it was bad enough. Maybe once people start taking global warming seriously, they'll realise that farming has a huge impact on the environment.

When people say "grow up" to questions like this- I really think that they ought to open their eyes and mind.

Answer 31

sounds familiar.

"truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs.  we live by the death of others: we are burial places! i have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as i will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men." -leonardo da vinci

people are still eating meat because they don't care.  they care more about pleasing their palate for 10 minutes than they care about the years of life that an animal has lost for it.  they still eat meat because humans as a species are arrogant.....

oh, and because many people just don't care.  apathy sucks, doesn't it?

by the way, you can thumbs-down the vegetarians and vegans who respond as much as you like, but we are stating the truth.  if you're not eating meat because you think it tastes good (and you obviously care more about the taste than the animal) than why are you eating it?  i used to be a meat eater, and after seeing both sides i feel i can say that the only reason i or anyone else eats meat is that it tastes good.