Presence

Metaphilm has a post up called "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit: Fear of a Vegan World." The article expounds upon the deeper meaning behind Wallace's machinations to rid himself of his lust for cheesy comestibles, representing Man's longing to rid himself of aggresion. The article draws a connection between meat consumption and violence:

For us to eat a cow, someone needs to kill a cow. Every slice of meat, therefore, symbolizes residual societal violence, and societally—at least in the West, it would seem—our values are slowly moving toward non-violence. Our hunger for meat is a sign of our aggression or a remnant of the aggression of our forefathers. We distance ourselves by hiring people to do our killing for us, but the killing is still there and we know it. People do our killing for us at the deli and in wartime. Most of us never know the real cost of eating a steak or waging a war.

It reminded me of God's concession to Noach, permitting animal slaughter to slake Man's thirst for blood. Check out the whole article, it's worth a read. Looking back, I'm not sure how we got from cheese to meat, but I think the overall theme of Man's manliness is spot on.