I don't think you need to feel as thought you're "looked down upon" for not being vegan/vegetarian. It's a personal choice.
There are numerous belief systems associated with conscious food choices for some of us. I ate meat for the better part of my life. Therein may lie the contention for some.
As to the theory that our brains got bigger because of eating meat... well, I'll just say that all of my biology and neurobiology classes suggested otherwise. Meat itself doesn't provide nutrients that would cause brain growth. Brain evolution is thought to have taken place because of 3 factors: 1) Physiological change 2) Neoteny (slower rate of maturation), and 3) Lifestyle change. Lifestyle change relates to the development of food gathering behaviours including hunting that required a new skill set and thus shows potential to have increased the rate of brain evolution- but that means that eating meat helped the brain evolve because of the skills required to catch meat, not the consumption of meat itself.
I don't think you need to wrestle with the decision to eat meat nor do you need to defend it, just as I don't feel the need to defend being a vegetarian. For me, not eating meat came about from a pursuit of more conscious living and spiritual growth. I also disapprove of the environmental/humanity issues of mass meat production, but if everyone actually got their meat from a local, organic source I'd be very happy. It wouldn't make me want to eat meat as I have no desire to do so, but I don't judge those who do. I am not sure why this turns into a meat vs non-meat eaters battle when there really is none to be had.
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