[Advaita-l] Question about vegetarianism

[Keshava PRASAD Halemane]

namastE praNaams to all the learned-seniors (jnaana-vRddhaas): 
On the question of meat-eating and animal sacrifice purportedly/allegedly sanctioned by the vEdaas, my humble questions are the following: (1) What are those places in the vEdaas if any wherein it advocates/sanctions meat-eating and/or animal-sacrifice-in-yajnaas? (2) In what contexts/scenarios each of such occurrences appear in the vEda-text? (3) Could there possibly be other interpretations, quite different from what may be conveyed through mere word-for-word meanings etc. ? 
The same kind of questions as above may kindly be looked into the acceptance or otherwise of food items like onion/garlic/etc. Also, is it essential to simply go by 'shishTaachaara' ('tradition'?) without checking on possible sanction or otherwise from the vEdaas? 

praNaamsKeshava Prasad Halemane 
 
>
> What is the proper way to view and explain vegetarianism and how it
> pertains to dharma in spite of meat eating / animal sacrifice in sastras?
>!>
!> The way I explain it is that while eating meat is not evil, not eating 
!> meat is more good.  Unlike many animals we as humans have a choice in our 
!> diets.  We should try and choose not to cause unnecessary suffering when 
!> we can especially when that suffering is only to feed carnal appetites.
!>>
> Also, is it permissible to consume onions and garlic? What is the
> authoritative position on this?
>
!>
!> They are not allowed.  However it seems that most people (Jains and 
!> some types of Vaishnavas are some exceptions) are more lax 
!> about this than other forbidden foods.  Personally I avoid them altogether 
!> during Shravana masa and other vratas and I try not to eat them the rest 
!> of the time but its pretty hard with standard Gujarati cuisine.
!>