"Since we've not used our teeth much in the manner since the Stone Age, it's logical to assume that evolution would reflect the canine's increasing obselesence." - Skylance

Actually, evolution doesn't just do away with things that aren't used, unless the thing in question leads to early death. Human canine teeth would only get smaller if that made people more attractive sexually, or if big canine teeth cause people to die young.

Anyway, I know your point was that the purpose of canines isn't to chew through meat. It's just a slippery slope to use "evolution" as evidence for either side of what is really a moral issue. Choosing to eat meat or choosing to eat vegetables at this stage has zero to do with cause or effect of human evolution, unless one of the two makes people more fertile or more likely to die young.

This book was also reviewed in another left publication, I think the Nation, which gave it a similar negative evaluation. But it does bring up the topic! Ms. Miller's review still relegates vegetarianism to some oddball backwater, but in the U.S. (like in India) it is becoming more and more mainstream. Many young progressive women take up vegetarianism in high school or even junior high. Both my daughters did. We made meals for them, with meat on the side for us. However, in my "old" age, I've decided eating meat doesn't make sense now, for three reasons.

1.) Human's are animals, but we are able to choose what we do far more than most animals. And given the state of food availability now, we can choose not to eat meat. Animals have intelligence, feel pain and have emotions. Eating them is like eating your pet or a baby, it seems to me.

2.) Meat is less healthy, especially red meat. I am trying to drop cholesterol, as my male parent and male grandparent both died in their 50s of heart attacks. I do not plan to check out so early. This is not to mention the hormones and contamination in much factory meat.

3.) Meat production is not environmentally sound and is somewhat unsustainable. To feed the whole world acres of meat almost requires factory production of meat, and acres of land.

This is the short form. I think eventually vegetarianism will grow more and more popular. You can see it in the ridiculous defensiveness of some meat eaters, like some of the posts here.

Someone said that eating a good piece of meat gave them a deep sense of satisfaction, which told them it was probably good for them. Leaving aside any psychological reasons meat might result in such a feeling (a sense of being at the top of the food chain, of gladness at being able to afford it, of self-worth at being able to indulge in it rather than deny yourself), I'll accept that your body rewards you with pleasure for eating what you need.

That said, I frequently feel similar satisfaction eating a good vegetarian meal. I've felt it after an excellent pasta primavera. In my pre-vegetarian life, I had a filet mignon at a five star restaurant in Banff that was so good I still remember it vividly; and vegetarian Indian cuisine that has left me every bit as satisfied. So I don't think it's an either-or issue. I know, personally, that if someone learns to get what she needs from vegetarianism, and knows how to prepare or find good vegetarian food, she can enjoy it every bit as much as a good steak. And the preparation doesn't need to be laborious.

Personal reasons I do it:

• It's better for my health. Even while a lacto-ovo vegetarian, when I was unrestrained regarding eggs and cheese, my cholesterol was outstanding. Add meat or chemicals such as MSG, and it doubles.

  As a vegetarian I have much more energy, fewer health problems, and less depression. I'm even less prone to body odor than when I eat meat. But that's me, and it may not work the same for everyone.

• I sleep better. It's not the eating of another species that bothers me (I have no problems with being at or near the top of the food chain), it's the cruelty. Today's meat frequently leads a terrible life prior to a horrific slaughter. I simply don't believe that the momentary pleasure of my taste buds is worth months and years of confinement, fright, and pain.

  As a child I helped prepare a hen my grandfather killed, plucking and eating her without guilt because she had led a good life and both she and the other hens led long, free-ranging, contented lives. He took care to take her away from the others, rather than kill her in their sight. But my family felt it was good I see how it was done, and the preparation process.

  Likewise eggs; chickens can be made to lay without providing good conditions, and so now their beaks are chopped and they're crowded together. A far cry from the chickens we gratefully took eggs from when I was a child. Unless I know the sources have a high quality of life, I can't do eggs and milk anymore.

• Another reason I sleep better is that I'm helping the planet. It takes less energy to produce my food. Also, while I used to allow myself non-vertebrate seafood such as shrimp and oysters, I've stopped because the sea is being farmed into extinction. I'm not going to be responsible for that, and if I eat seafood, I am.
• What about pets? some people ask. Pragmatically and morally I think it's wrong to put a carnivore, even one with omnivorous habits like a dog, on a vegetarian diet. But dog food and cat food comes from the cruelly slaughtered, so how do I feed them in good conscience?

  There are two answers to this problem:

  One solution is to prepare food yourself. If you're well-off enough to afford free-range or hunted meat for your pet carnivore, get it. Do a little research on your pet's particular nutritional needs and follow through. Cook rice and meat and veggies in large quantities for your dog (there a tons of healthy pet food recipes that meet dog needs), or provide meat from a good source and grass for your cat, and you're set. You have a healthy friend for life. If you're an omnivore and not a vegetarian, then you can do this as you prepare your own food with dogs (read Smarter Than You Think, about dogs, for good ways to have your dog eat along with you).

  If you can't afford this (I can't, and I'm not an omnivore), remember that the way to fight cruelty is through your pocketbook. Buying the discarded, cast-off meat in dog and cat food is not promoting the meat industry; not buying meat for humans is the key to pushing back. If enough people speak out against cruelty and stop buying cruelly-obtained meat, then the industry will begin to treat the animals better. Your dog's food will then naturally begin to come from the cast-off meat of a humanely treated and slaughtered animal. Making a different species unhealthy by unnaturally requiring their digestive system to go vegetarian is not the best moral choice for an animal lover, in my humble. ;-)

Some argue that cruelty is a part of nature. Of course. So is moral evolution, since we're part of nature. Once you've evolved awareness of the other's perspective, once you've evolved compassion, you're responsible for what you do with that knowledge. I take responsibility for myself and mine, and act accordingly.