Hi Hawkeye,
That Lappe person
lived and wrote about a half century ago, before the different 'degrees' of vegetarianism went all the way to absolute. I'm back in that era myself, as I think taking out all animal products is too hard on our human physical and mental systems that have evolved with meat. We have responsibilities that other animals don't have--- like feeding and caring for animals--- and I cannot do that on a pure vegan diet. Maybe in an ashram of serentiy one could.
I believe the lifeforms we use as food agreed to allow us that privilege in exchange for us feeding and sheltering them. Any cruelty imposed upon them is intolerable, and hubby and I 'support' PETA, Greenpeace and local animal rescue organizations.
'They say' that the best red meat (not counting red fish) for a person is lamb, probably because it hasn't lived long enough to store up the chemicals that older animals are fed. Greek recipes for lamb are delicious to me. Veal is the only meat I do not eat from guilt. We function well on meat (mostly chicken and fish) 3--4x a week.
Nanner, horsemeat is illegal for human consumption in the US, but due to the drought and lack of hay, many butchers are somehow getting horsemeat and selling it labelled as steak or whatever cut it resembles. The color is different than beef, similiar to buffalo. From my POV, horses are like dolphins, not even in consideration as food !
Dave and Alysia are surely right on when they say meat eaters consume some of the emotional and mental character of the animal. I watched a vivid case of it happen over 15 years to a child whose parents owned a contaniment hog farm.
God help us all.
Bets