The Book I Am Reading and Why You Should Too...

Eating Animals. It's not propaganda. In fact, it's not about being or becoming vegetarian. It is facts. Great facts. Sad facts. Simple facts. Hard facts. Facts people should know about "food", or the animals we deem are food. Where they come from, how they are treated and how to, in all manners of effort, we can assist in curbing the immense issues present in America's farm industry today.  From the most loving of meat eaters, to the most militant of vegans, it is a damn good read.

It is plainly and painstakingly honest in its facts. Hilarious in prose (also read: Everything is Illuminated). Thought provoking and poignant. It is relatable and it is considerate. This is a proud work of literature. Bravo. I haven't been this excited about a book in a long while.

I have read passages aloud to anyone that will listen, have laughed out loud alone and have recommended it to complete strangers as they pass through my life.

I will not bombard you with the details in the book, but I am bound to it thus far.  The "case for eating dogs" or the "seahorse devastation" or for that  matter "Tyson foods slaughter of billions upon billions of birds annually" are only the tip of the ice burg in the first one hundred or so pages. What I will say is that, knowing what I already know, and being privy to this new information about the food industry really has made me consider myself even less a part of the problem. It is a hope of mine that anyone who reads this book will not only curb their taste for meat, but, probably just like the author Jonathan Safran Foer, really begin to reconsider its appeal at all. (Or at least muster up the courage to have a conversation with me about it.)

The information in the book is a telling sign that humanity is at the brink of extinction, so isn't it time for all of us to reevaluate what we deem appropriate for consumption? Deem appropriate as treatment of living things? Deem healthful, for that matter? Because it certainly isn't healthy for the planet.

I will quote one line from the book....

"Our situation is an odd one.  Virtually all of us agree that it matters how we treat animals and the environment, and yet few of us give much thought to our most important relationship to animals and the environment.   Odder still, those who do choose to act in accordance with these uncontroversial values by refusing to eat animals (which everyone agrees can reduce both the number of abused animals and one's ecological footprint) are often considered marginal and radical." 

- Jonathan Safran Foer (pg. 74) 

If you make an effort to care, know and evaluate your place on this earth and your relationship to other beings, fish and pigs alike, you can begin to appreciate the immense suffering caused by eating animals.

I'll give you a challenge for 2010, try the book on for size, you will be surprised by, not only the information in it, but the long term effects of the information on your psyche.

     Remember, that chicken you're eating came from an egg, that was a little fluffy yellow chick and chirped its way to your dinner plate.
The "species barrier" is totally bizarre.

Thanks Mr. Foer. So happy to have your book in my hands and on my mind.

Upon, taking a look at these pictures of raw vegetables growing in our garden, doesn't it seem a far far prettier thing than looking upon a slab of raw meat?  Think about it.

PS: Check out the Pick's, Flicks and Good Licks Slideshow section on the right!! There are more Backyard Winter Wonderland pictures. I love how all of our lettuce looks like undersea coral.
...It tastes delicious with a little Red Wine Vinaigrette too!