Well, since we were discussing different forms of suffering... They [the state, the company] effectively eat most of my soul and half of my conscious life. In return I get wages and spend them on police protection, medicine etc.

So you're saying it might be moral to eat the unemployed? They don't pay time or money to anyone, yet they still receive some basic level of access to infrastructure. They take more than they give, and that means killing them and eating them could be a viable way to make up the difference.

That's before you get into the fact that we don't give animals a choice in the matter. They can't opt out of our protection and their eventual slaughter. We presume that it's acceptable to agree to that bargain on their behalf.

Like I said, it's a thought experiment, but it's one that leaves me uneasy with the consequences.

A Modest Proposal by Jonathon Swift:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

Are you familiar with it? Obviously, it's not quite the same, but this was the first thing that came to mind from your comment.

I don't get the beef with cannabilism

Well yeah, cannibalism is only beef when cows do it.

This is how mad cow disease spreads.

It might be a bit off-topic, but this is the idea behind one of the most popular episodes of the Twilight Zone.[0]

[0] - https://youtu.be/6g7vz6c2fog