Doctor Bill; maybe you don't have a flat learning curve after all. Looks like you have discovered the problem with the 'preflood vegetarian theory,' it is a very popular misinterpretation. Here is what I wrote on it.
However many believe that man did not eat meat until after the flood, but this is clearly in error. Even the Bible itself contradicts the preflood vegetarian theory. Abel is reported as being a herder of sheep, and at Genesis 4:4, he offered one of his sheep as a sacrifice to God along with its fatty pieces. The fact that the fatty pieces are mentioned strongly implies that Abel butchered the sheep, he cut it into pieces. This butchering of sacrifices and offering their pieces on an altar was later made into part of the law given through Moses and this is how offerings were made at the temple. Now butchering is a skill as any butcher will tell you. So where did Abel learn to butcher sheep? As a matter of a fact, the main reason shepherds raised sheep was for meat. They were the cattle ranchers of their day, wool was a secondary consideration, and at Genesis 4:20, Adar is even mentioned as having cattle. If our founders were vegetarians at one time, they apparently changed their diet once they were expelled from paradise. Considering the difficulty in getting adequate nutrition in a vegetarian diet, the fact that man ate meat before the flood should come as no surprise.
There is also of course the mention of Noah putting 7 of each clean animal and only 2 of each unclean animal, which are dietary descriptions. Apparently at some point before the flood, God gave man the dietary guidelines that were later incorporated into the Mosaic law code. The command given to Noah at Genesis 9:3 was apparently a restating of earlier expressions of God on the subject and in light of the above references which indicate the eating of animals, does not imply preflood universal vegetarianism.
Why God would prefer the symbolism of a sacrificial lamb over a sacrificial vegetables should be obvious, consider the account of Abraham nearly offering up Isaac. The prophetic symbolism of Abel's sacrificing a lamb for his sins is why at Luke 11:49-51 he is referred to as a prophet.
On Cain's wife, woman are seldom mentioned in biblical genealogies, but that doesn't mean that they didn't exist. Cain's wife was his sister.
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