ABSTRACT
Eating animals is integral to the deep history of humanity. Human bodies have evolved to eat animals as well as plants: people are heterotrophic omnivores. This chapter outlines a deep history of meat-eating and identifies key moments of transition: domestication, the Columbian Exchange, early-modern selective breeding and the 'Great Acceleration'. It also focuses on four animals: cattle, pigs, chickens, and horses. The chapter shows how eating animals has been mediated through innumerable cultural frameworks and, most fatefully, by the rise of capitalism. Paleoarchaeological evidence suggests that while early hominins were predominantly plant-eating, they were opportunistic omnivores who ate insects and small animals, scavenged carcases of larger ones, and sometimes hunted. During the nineteenth century, these improved European breeds were exported to the New World to create premium herds through interbreeding with the descendants of cattle brought across during the original Columbian Exchange.
