We (humans) are all too often emphasizing that we are superior to the other “real” animals because we have a consciousness. Yet people often say, when I mention that I eat vegetarian food, that animals also eat other animals. That is true, but here we do equate humans with other animals.
Humans are the only species that can ask questions about morality and other important themes when eating other animals because we are aware of ourselves and the world. That makes us the only species who can decide not to do this, also because other animals cannot go to the supermarket to get a meat substitute. In addition, we cannot kill each other (other people), if we do, we will be punished. With other animals this is not the case, in their lives something like that simply passes. Does that mean that our system cannot exist because all other animals do it differently? Of course not, because we are simply different. And we remain different when we talk about vegetarianism.
*Of course I do not oblige anyone to eat vegetarian food, but I do think that people can only judge vegetarianism with the full picture in mind. *
The Idealist 