When did God first allow people to eat meat?
Scripture indicates that God first allowed people to eat meat probably after the flood, when He instructed Noah that he could kill and eat the meat of animals. Before sin and the curse, neither mankind nor the animal kingdom ate meat.
Les explains that God did not give permission, even to the animal kingdom, to kill and eat other species until long after the curse. He places that permission as far as probably after the flood, when Noah was also instructed that he could now kill and eat the meat of these animals. Before Adam sinned, none of the animal kingdom ate anything except what grew naturally. Isaiah 11 describes the coming kingdom where all the ravages of the curse will be gone, and the most ferocious, carnivorous, meat-eating species will cohabit the same pasture with the lamb, the goat, and human children.