26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
This isn’t going to be a particularly spiritual insight, but what I noticed in the passage is that God didn’t tell Adam he had given him all the beasts of the earth or birds of the sky as food. He gave man every plant yielding seed, and every tree bearing fruit with seed as food. Don’t get me wrong, I love meat, and have no intention of giving it up, but it seems that God originally intended for man to be vegetarian before the fall. Something seems to have happened after that, because even Able, the son of Adam was raising sheep before Cain killed him. Perhaps it was just for the wool, but that seems a bit overkill to raise sheep just for clothing. Even further on, when God was instructing the Israelites in their sacrifices, there was typically a portion of the meat kept for the priests, which would seem to indicate God’s approval of eating meat. What do I get out of all that? Eat more veggies. Seriously, a diet without them can mess you up.