Did people eat meat before the Flood?
No. Before the Flood, people did not kill anything for food; their diet consisted of things that grew naturally, such as nuts, fruits, grass, and herbs. Permission to eat every moving thing came only after the Flood, in Genesis chapter 9.
Les explains that before the Flood people did not kill and eat animals, but lived on a diet of things that grew normally—nuts, fruits, grass, and herbs. After the Flood, in Genesis chapter 9, God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth. This was a whole different set of circumstances, a whole new ball game. God then placed fear and dread of man upon every beast, fowl, and fish, and gave permission to eat every moving thing that lives, even as the green herb. The King James word “meat” is actually “food.” Les notes this was not the case before; they did not kill anything for food, and even wild animals did not kill to satisfy their appetites. Everything ate what grew naturally. Now God gives man, as well as carnivorous animals, permission to kill and eat. After the Flood God also instituted human government and capital punishment because violence had filled the earth and there was no deterrent.