["Being a carnivore is civilization:" Brazilian vegetarianism and discourse about animals, 1902-1940].

This article analyzes discourse on animals from the Brazilian vegetarian movement during the early twentieth century. It provides context for the creation of this movement in the country, positioning scientific and moral arguments that were used to defend vegetarianism. Discourse that compared the biological and behavioral aspects of human and nonhuman animals and considered meat as an element that "contaminated" human nature was analyzed. We argue that the defense of animal life mounted by vegetarians at that time did not necessarily mean abolishing hierarchies and asymmetries between humans and other living beings.