Should Christians Be Vegetarians?

Today I led a Bible study on Genesis 3, and an issue came up that occurred to me for the first time in college. There is a reading of the first few chapters of Genesis that sees the eating of animals by humans as a consequence of "The Fall" (human disobedience of God). See Genesis 1:29-30 - "God said, 'See I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.' And it was so." (NRSV) This seems to be saying that plants were given to ALL animals for food as the initial setup of creation. So, should Christians seek to live in a way that reflects this by being vegetarians?

If not, and to be fair I am not a vegetarian, I think there is at least a responsibility for Christians to offer a response for the way they come by the meat they eat. We are for the most part not a society that hunts our food the way Native Americans did - and there is consequently much less reverence for the animals we eat. Some might claim the way many of our food animals are treated borders on abuse. If we are to eat animals, shouldn't we at least see that they are treated from pasture to plate as humanely as possible?

I have enjoyed reading The Omnivore's Dilemma immensely. The chapter that probably had the most effect on me was the one where the author participates in slaughtering the chickens on a sustainable farm. He argues that every meat-eater should have to do this at some point, and I wondered to myself if I could bring myself to kill my food - at least if not doing so was still an option. I think this will no doubt have some lasting impact on what I eat. And I'll share with you an Emerson quote mentioned in the aforementioned chapter that struck me:

You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.

"Weekly Green Thought"

"We should remain within the limits imposed on our basic needs and strive with all our power not to exceed them. Once we are carried beyond these limits in our desire for the pleasures of life, there is no criterion to check our onward movement, since no bounds can be set to that which exceeds the necessary." Nilus of Ancyra (407-94), Ascetic Discourses, vol. 1, Philokalia