Should Humans Eat Meat? [Book Excerpt]

What can & should be done about human carnivory? Vaclav Smil answers in this excerpt from his new book. Editor's Note: The following is an adapted excerpt of Should We Eat Meat?: Evolution and Consequences of Modern Carnivory, by Vaclav Smil. Wiley-Blackwell, May 2013.

There is no doubt that human evolution has been linked to meat in many fundamental ways. Our digestive tract is not one of obligatory herbivores; our enzymes evolved to digest meat whose consumption aided higher encephalization and better physical growth. Cooperative hunting promoted the development of language and  socialization; the evolution of Old World societies was, to a significant extent, based on domestication of animals. 

Salt Meats Cheese in Sydney

This one is just because it appealed to me, reminding me of delis, charcuteries and the shop all over Munich and everywhere in Germany that sell Aufschnitt (cold cuts), cheese and beverages... trying to remember the German name, not Metzgerei, which is for the butcher's, is driving me nuts and no doubt will until I remember. I thought what a delightful place and isn't food about place as well as memories? My father, raised on a dairy farm outside Canton in northern New York State was a lifetime cheese lover. Food is still as much about memory and associations as it is about nutrition. A different kind of nourishment.