Is eating meat moral?
In gan eden, God prohibited Adam Ha-Rishon from killing or eating any animals. (Ramban, Bereishis 1:29; Sanhedrin 59b). Adam Ha-Rishon existed in a state of nature: he did not create a community, feed a family, or have a government. Adam Ha-Rishon thus existed in a state of peerage to the animal world: he was not their equal, but not yet master over them.
However, after Noach saved the animals from destruction, he transformed mankind’s role in the universe. Man no longer looked at the animal as a peer, but as a subject: man assumed dominion and stewardship over the natural world. Consequently, Noach — and mankind with him — enjoyed new privileges. Unlike Adam Ha-Rishon, Noach could kill and eat animals. (Ramban, Bereishis 9:3-6).
Nonetheless, Noach could not eat ever min ha-chai (a limb taken from a living animal) or the blood of slaughter. (Ramban, ibid.) To eat these things would presume too high a station for man. Noach enjoyed dominion over animals, but he did not create them. He could not disrespect or disregard the life he did not give them. These things — the things on which life hangs — are reserved for God. (Ramban, Vayikra 17:11).
Therefore, refraining from eating meat out of a concern for animals' lives would blur the boundary between man and beast. Vegetarianism constitutes a failure to appreciate man’s dominion over the natural world. Vegetarianism is an abdication of man’s stewardship. Adam Ha-Rishon couldn’t eat animals, but that was a long time ago. Much has changed for man has changed.