Review: Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
I picked this book up, because I've heard so many good things about it. A lot of vegetarians and vegans talk about this book being a turning point in their lives, so I wanted to see what the deal was for myself.
Foer talks about his own journey into vegetarianism and how he thinks about food and how it can bring us together or divide us. He details a lot of his research into the food industry, particularly the meat industry, and tells us of his own thoughts on every new bit of information he dug up.
In this book we hear from animal activists, vegetarians, ranchers and butchers, so he does bring a complex set of voices to the debate, and he states himself that the book is not out to turn anyone vegetarian. It presents facts of the industry and you can do with that what you will.
He also discusses the philosophy behind eating and coming together for meals, the daily humdrum or special occasions, and I found that quite interesting, but often too short. The main part of the book was taken up with the horror of the meat industry and while I think that information is always important to spread around, I do feel like we have heard most of it before. I really enjoyed the more philosophical parts exploring the emotions behind food, and would have liked more of that.
I also felt like the emphasis on meat was almost exaggerated. Foer talks about himself turning vegetarian mainly because of the evils of the meat industry, but surely dairy and eggs have similar issues. I felt like that wasn't really explored in any depth, and I couldn't figure out if it was implied that any animal product was as bad as the next, and he is actually vegan or if he feels dairy and eggs are ok, if produced under proper conditions for the animals.
I think this book is great for people just venturing into a wider awareness of the way our food is produced, but having already done some reading on the subject, I felt like I was lacking just a little bit extra from this book.
Foer talks about his own journey into vegetarianism and how he thinks about food and how it can bring us together or divide us. He details a lot of his research into the food industry, particularly the meat industry, and tells us of his own thoughts on every new bit of information he dug up.
In this book we hear from animal activists, vegetarians, ranchers and butchers, so he does bring a complex set of voices to the debate, and he states himself that the book is not out to turn anyone vegetarian. It presents facts of the industry and you can do with that what you will.
He also discusses the philosophy behind eating and coming together for meals, the daily humdrum or special occasions, and I found that quite interesting, but often too short. The main part of the book was taken up with the horror of the meat industry and while I think that information is always important to spread around, I do feel like we have heard most of it before. I really enjoyed the more philosophical parts exploring the emotions behind food, and would have liked more of that.
I also felt like the emphasis on meat was almost exaggerated. Foer talks about himself turning vegetarian mainly because of the evils of the meat industry, but surely dairy and eggs have similar issues. I felt like that wasn't really explored in any depth, and I couldn't figure out if it was implied that any animal product was as bad as the next, and he is actually vegan or if he feels dairy and eggs are ok, if produced under proper conditions for the animals.
I think this book is great for people just venturing into a wider awareness of the way our food is produced, but having already done some reading on the subject, I felt like I was lacking just a little bit extra from this book.
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