As Benjamin Franklin famously noted, even animals eat animals. The problem is quantity. Never in human history, even modern times, meat was served daily, in mass. For most people, it was an expensive food, affordable once or twice a week. And that before population increase we see. If people consumed meat once or twice a week, the diet, and for those who like it - taste, were OK, yet many many problems would be solved. Much more food, and less cruel industrialisation of animals to food.
That's a good observation by Franklin, but in so many ways we like to think of ourselves as superior than animals. An animal doing something is a poor justification for a human doing something.
(This is probably obvious to you already being a vegan).
Agreed, that's a very flawed line of reasoning. Many animals rape, torture, and kill other animals. Just because they do that purely by nature doesn't mean it's ethical for us to do so as well.
Very fair point! Though, a single-word revision would reconcile both your statements:
> Never in human history, even modern times, fresh meat was served daily, in mass
The Inuit diet contains many heavily preserved or fermented meats. That, and their prey is often very large, sufficient to feed numerous humans for months.
(full disclosure: vegan)