Vegetarian vs. Instinct

I'm an avid meat eater, I'll eat just about any kind of meat offered... in fact, I think steak is my favorite food. And when I saw this, via Hot Air, I almost laughed in disbelief.

...experience tells me that meat-eaters will argue to the death (literally) that eating meat has no health risks.

The interesting point, to me, is why so-called natural meat eaters feel the need to disguise their food by cutting it into steaks, cooking it, and covering it with barbecue sauce. If eating meat is natural, you would expect it to make you hungry in its natural condition. Looking at a cow should make you salivate when you are hungry.

I think if we humans were devolved to a state lacking our advanced cognizance, compared to say most animals, I seriously doubt any of us would reject cooked meat; I'll go so far as to say we would probably prefer it over any other food. While I understand eating too much red meat can be bad for one's health, I never understood why the vegetarian's argument must take the result from the extreme and apply it to normal conditions.

Nonetheless, I think the carnivore in us today is completely natural, or instinctive. I have to agree with this comment:

A plant does not have to be chased and brought down, thus at any given time a plant is in its ready-to-eat form, triggering your primal eating instincts.

With an animal on the hoof, there remains work to be done, and your primal instincts understand it as such. There is still a strong instinct in humans to chase and bring down a running animal. I would offer the popularity of target shooting, or even sports such as football which involve chasing, as evidence. When I see a pigeon fly or a deer bolt and bound away, I must admit that a part of me wants to chase it.

And yes, a slaughtered side of beef, even in whole form, does make me salivate. Once the game has been brought down, it's time to eat.

Mmm. Images of beef & venison... Is it lunch time yet?