In many places, if you are vegetarian, people look at you like you are a monster. A green hairy goobly-eyed monster. And it scares them. Why? I want answers.
In India, for instance, on trains and planes, you have to specially request a non-veg meal if you want chicken. The norm is "veg"
I think most people eat meat for several reasons: 1) it is the way our parents/families have brought us up eating 2) in many places there aren't other options available 3) people are un-imaginative 4) people have no idea that kind of torture and slaughter the poor animals go through 5) the power of advertising (if you grew up in the US, surely you remember the advert on tv "Beef: It's whats for dinner!")
I have been a ovo-lacto-pescetarian for 10 years, and went vegan a few months ago. To be honest, I am tired of "excusitarians" - people who make excuses for eating meat. We live in a day and age where eating a vegetarian diet is as easy as can be. There have been countless studies and evidence which shows that eating a plant-based diet is healthier. If those miss the taste of meat, technology has come a LONG way- there are mock meats which taste remarkably close to the real thing.
If you want to be a vegetarian or eat less meat, you can. Any average grocery store carries a countless number of items that are necessary to make many delicious, nutritious vegetarian meals. And another thing, there is NO SUCH THING as "humane meat." If you eat a dead animal, under no circumstance is that humane.
One thing I am constantly telling my non-veg friends is that they should remember this- non vegetarians can eat anything that a vegetarian can, but NOT the other way around. So when non-veg people refuse to eat at a veg restaurant and insist on going to the place of their choice, they constantly forget how difficult it can be for those veggies among us.
Keep this in mind: if you have enough corn to feed ten people, but you use it instead to raise beef cattle, you will end up with enough beef to feed one person.
Now, my goal is usually not to criticize others nor is it to preach. But aren't I allowed to rant every once in awhile? ;-)