[lzwha]

But then again you run up against the fact that the Buddha ate meat and did not forbid his followers form eating meat. Which would make the Buddha a hell of a hypocrite.

You seem to be misrepresenting the Buddha here, on two accounts

The Buddha and his monks were mendicants. They were required to accept what they were given. The Buddha made an explicit rule that if it was known or suspected an animal was killed specifically to feed to monks, that food was to be declined

In regards to the five precepts, they are training rules. The Buddha was not in the business of making prohibitions for laypeople, as you seem to be inferring by using the word "forbid". The five precepts are not prohibitions. The five precepts are training rules to be used with reasoned reflection and, for those intent on higher training, for a spiritual (rather than legal or religious) purpose

In short, your speculations about the Buddha being a "hypocrite" and about "prohibitions" are non-sequitur

The Buddha taught: "Develop the meditation of compassion. For when you are developing the meditation of compassion, cruelty will be abandoned"

Thus the empathy many modern Buddhists have with vegetarianism abides in developing compassion & the precepts

Regards