You probably know people who follow a more or less vegetarian diet and are fit and healthy, not lacking in any nutrients and do not feel they are missing out. You may even be one. Most educated people know that eating meat is bad for the planet, potentially harmful to their health and cruel to animals. But the meat eaters I know can rarely come up with a better reason for consuming it than: "I just really love to eat meat." In Meathooked, Marta Zaraska takes on the task of unpicking why so many people - in the West, especially - seem to be addicted to meat. She finds that there is no easy answer: our taste for flesh is rooted in evolutionary history, dietary requirements, chemistry and taste, big business and the political power it wields, psychology and culture. Our ancestors' transition from herbivory to omnivory was, initially, a positive move. As Zaraska explains: "It enabled us to grow bigger brains, encouraged sharing and politics, and helped us move out of Africa and into colder climates."
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