[kahljorn]

"I thought about Buddhism relatively seriously for a while, but I don't wanna be a vegetarian."

You don't have to be a vegetarian. There are, however, a few good reasons for being one, besides health and such. This might sound kind of crazy but I'll try to present it in a normal way later maybe. The belief you shouldn't eat animals has been shared by many people, including pythagoras. Pythagoras declared that no judge should make a judgement after having eatten meat because it impairs the judgement. That's probably the best example of why buddhists don't eat meat-- it impairs judgement.
The idea behind it is that the animal itself had a type of soul or energy, and when you eat it you eat it's energy and everything it's eatten. Including the genetically modified corn feed and whatever else. Also, the energy of the beast interacts with your energy and can cause negative effects. Part of buddhism and yoga is taking a LOT of time to carefully balance and manage your energy so it's at the most balanced point, distributed evenly throughout the entire body. You get the idea! I'm hungover and have to go eat pizza.

So it's not really that you can't eat meat, it's more that you shouldn't because it interferes with your 'inner balance'. Any buddhist, especially a zen buddhist, who tells you to follow the rules isn't much of a buddhist.