I am vegetarian because I can be, because I have the option not to require animals to die just because I happen to like the taste of their flesh.

If I didn't have the option for my survival, I would eat meat.

Decimus, the ideology you describe is similar to mine.

I agree, though, that if one *is* to eat meat, one should savor it. I think it's worse, karmically, to require an animal to die just because I like the taste of its flesh and then not avail myself of its flesh, than it is to eat meat in general. I don't like the idea of throwing away cooked meat: "take what you want, but eat what you take" is the principle I advocate.

On the very rare occasions when I've eaten meat in the last 12 years, I have made it a point not to regret it, but to enjoy it.

aren't you an accessory to involuntary meatslaughter, after the fact? that may save you from a violent felony strike.