Was the diet of man vegetarian up until the flood?

Jim, yes, the Bible indicates that mankind’s original diet was plant-based before the Flood. After creating Adam and Eve, God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed… and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat” (Genesis 1:29). The word “meat” here means food. This shows that the first diet given to humanity consisted of fruits, grains, seeds, nuts, and other plant foods.

After sin entered the world, God added “the herb of the field” to man’s food supply (Genesis 3:18). This likely included vegetables and field plants. Still, there is no command before the Flood giving humans permission to eat animal flesh.

That permission is first clearly given after the Flood. God told Noah, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things” (Genesis 9:3). This statement shows a change. Just as God had earlier given the green herb for food, He now permitted the eating of animals.

However, even before the Flood, the distinction between clean and unclean animals was already known. God told Noah to take clean animals by sevens and unclean animals by twos into the ark (Genesis 7:2). This distinction later became important in the laws about food, sacrifice, and worship.

So, based on Scripture, man’s original diet was vegetarian, and this appears to have continued until after the Flood, when God permitted the eating of flesh. The original Eden diet reflected God’s perfect creation, where there was no death, violence, or bloodshed. The post-Flood permission to eat animals came in a changed world, after sin had deeply affected the earth.

This teaches that God’s original plan for humanity began with life, health, and peace, even though He later allowed certain changes because of the fallen condition of the world.