People seem to misunderstand why you 'need' to eat meat. It is to do with Amino Acids which are used to build Specialised Proteins inside the body. [i]'Because your body can only produce 13 amino acids on its own, you need to get the other nine from your diet. These nine are considered essential because you need them to maintain a healthy body. They are histidine, lysine, threonine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, valine, phenylalanine and tryptophan. Although you can get amino acids from both plant- and animal-based foods, only animal protein contains all nine essential amino acids.'[/i] So, no one needs to eat meat as you can get all of the necessary nutrients from other sources. It is really a choice, some people choose to eat meat others choose not to. I find it irritating if either side of this gets preachy, The Bacon Mafia or the Vegan Brigade.