Question: What will be the food of the united people?
‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Answer: As humanity progresses, meat will be
used less and less, for the teeth of man are not carnivorous. For example, the
lion is endowed with carnivorous teeth which are intended for meat and if meat
be not found, the lion starves. The lion cannot graze; its teeth are of
different shape. The formation of the lion's stomach is such that it cannot
receive nourishment save through meat. The eagle has a crooked beak; the lower
part shorter than the upper. Were it to try to pick up grain it would find it
impossible; were it to try to graze, it would fail. Therefore it is compelled
to partake of meat. But the domestic animals, the cow, horse, donkey, sheep,
etc. have herbivorous teeth formed to eat grass which is their fodder. The
human teeth, the molars, are formed to grind grain. The front teeth, the
incisors, are for fruits, etc. It is therefore quite apparent, according to the
implements for eating, man's food is intended to be grain and not meat. When
mankind is more fully developed the eating of meat will gradually cease.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha,
Questions and Answers following ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Talk at Church of the Ascension,
New York, June 2, 1912; Star of the West, vol. 3, no. 10, September 8, 1912)
