Every time we eat a cheeseburger the Gospel is in the act; something has to die for us to live. This goes all the way back to God’s everlasting covenant with Noah’s (all of us) family, and even further to the fall where the sacrifice of an innocent animal was required as payment for sins pointing ultimately to Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross
Plants have to die for us to eat them, too. You don’t consume an apple and then have an apple tree spring out of you . . .
The animal used to symbolize Christ is the lamb, specifically. And there were also plant sacrifices in the First and Second Temples, particularly the grain offerings.