Your choice.

Usually when I am asked about whether someone on a spiritual path should be a vegan or vegetarian, or not, I talk about self-responsibility and the wisdom to choose for ourselves the life we wish to empower. However, here because I have been asked, I will say a little more.
I have no hesitation in saying that the highest spiritual principal is Ahimsa. Ahimsa asks that we commit no harm to ourselves or others. This means not only to live in a harmless way in the world,
but also to contribute to the welfare of all beings, and of course, the planet we live on. The meat and dairy industries are huge and uncompassionate and so have no investment in Ahimsa at all, only in the continued cruelty and exploitation of animals. None of these things are secret and so if someone, as an intelligent person, is comfortable with this, there is no reason to stop eating meat. The same reasoning applies to the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. We know that pain, suffering and humiliation are exacted without end to innocent creatures, and this can always be justified by the modern world. However unwholesome others may find it, it is not illegal nor considered immoral by the majority of people in the western word. But here I speak about universal love and the interconnectedness of all beings and so it is not possible to be a meat eater and have Metta for the world! To eat meat must mean that an animal's life has been taken, and even if we say that the Buddha allowed it, the real question is 'knowing what you know, how do you feel about it?' To use the excuse that we don't actually kill the animal ourself, or see it, or hear it being killed, or know that it was killed for us (Buddhist monks' rules for accepting meat in food) seems empty to me. It is like saying 'I don't beat my children but I pay someone to do it for me'. We cannot extrapolate ourselves from the equation. If there is no customer, there is no reason to take a life. If there are many customers money becomes a greater incentive than caring for others. How many people do you know who call themselves animal lovers, yet still eat meat? When we choose to be blind, we truly cannot see. In the end we must decide for ourselves. I do not insist that any of my disciples stop eating meat when we are not together, but trust that the purity and integrity of their heart will eventually shine through and their innate love and compassion for other beings that want to live as much as we do will manifest into their daily life. When I say, 'may all beings be happy' it is precisely what I mean.

May all beings be happy and secure, may their hearts be wholesome.

Whatever living beings there may be, feeble or strong,

tall, stout or medium, long, short or small, seen or unseen,

those living far or near; those who are born and those who are to be born,

may all beings, without exception, be happy minded.

 (Excerpt from the Metta Sutta)

All beings fear pain and death.

All beings love life.

Remembering that we are one like them,

 let no-one harm or kill another.

(Dhammapada. Verse 130)

May all beings be happy.