In nonconformist discourse, animals are to manifest and praise God; Eden had a vegetable diet. Yet, cruelty and suffering are ubiquitous, and it is obvious that they prevent creatures from praising. This was nowhere clearer than in the animal husbandry of subsistence farming which required slaughter and meat-eating for survival. How should humans conduct the song of a groaning creation? In particular, what is the place of animals in the everyday life of subsistence farming communities? How should they be cared for; how should they be killed; and how should they be eaten. Nonconformist discourse addresses these question through the biblical narrative in which they recognised their own farming practices. They found there a deeply ambivalent language of meat-eating which subverted the dominant discourse at a number of crucial points. Cruelty was condemned; moreover, the pleasures of meat-eating were tainted by the sin which had inaugurated it, despite a positive assessment of culinary pleasure generally. Although nonconformist discourse always remained a minority way of speaking, it proved disproportionately influential among farming congregations. However, urbanisation changed the conditions which had enabled it to thrive, and reduced the discursive resources available to tackle new, carnist patterns of eating. This chapter traces these changes, and the silencing of a nonconformist voice during the emergence of the modern meat industry.