“Eating Animals”: A review

Before I begin…

More busyness ensued today! I’m just non-stop!  

The first part of my day ended in this:
 

There’s some apartment sprucing up going on around here, and we needed some new stuff!

Spring Winter cleaning!

Also, I got a lovely little package in the mail from my friend Ashley.

She said that she noticed on my blog that I wanted to try more raw foods and thought I may like this Raw Revolution bar! I’ve actually been meaning to try these, but never got around to it!

So THANKS ASHLEY!!! I will let you know when I give it a try! 

EATING ANIMALS; A Review

During my trip to Florida, I finished reading Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer.  It has been on my reading list ever since it came out.

To preface: Although I never saw “Food Inc” or read any other books about how animals get to our table, I had a pretty good idea what went on through blogs, articles and videos.

In Eating Animals, Foer, inspired by the birth of his son, decides to take a closer look at what he eats and what he will inevitably feed to his child.

The book takes a hard look at the economical, environmental and especially the moral costs of eating animals in today’s society.

Many of us still imagine happy animals being tended to by a farmer, grazing on pastures, roaming free to their heart’s content. Foer sets us straight. He tells us that today’s “farming”, if it can even be called that, is very very different.

The treatment of animals in today’s factory-farm system described by Foer is simply revolting. I won’t get into it here, you’ll have to read for yourself. But, needless to say, it was very difficult to get through some parts of his book.

To think that the animal on your plate was treated humanely or even sanitarily for that matter, is fooling yourself, says Foer.

Foer asks us difficult questions like “Why is it okay for me to eat pigs, but not eat dogs?” Dogs are our pets and we think of them as intelligent beings.  But pigs are just as intelligent and loving as dogs! One thing that jumped out at me was when Foer explained that Dog meat was just as tasty and nutritious as other meat we regularly cosume and then proceeded to provide a  recipe for “Stewed Dog, Wedding Style”.  Puts things in perspective.

It’s an inconvenient truth that most of us don’t want to face. In fact, explains Foer, the entire factory farming system is designed to help us ignore what really goes on behind closed doors. So it’s easy for us to turn a blind eye and just see chicken as chicken or beef as beef and not as living, breathing, feeling, intelligent beings. But they are. The current factory farming system doesn’t want you to know that the animals you are consuming have been fed antibiotics or they are covered in sores or infected with diseases. Because if you knew, you might not eat meat anymore.

However…Foer gives us a chance to learn about the other side of the meat industry, the much much MUCH smaller side. He spoke to organic farmers and found that, at these places, the animals are treated much better. They are able to go outdoors, they are able to eat things they naturally would and interact with other animals in natural ways. It is satisfying to learn that these places exist, even if they are only a handful.

What do I think?:

I think this book, if anything, will make you think twice before purchasing meat, that’s for sure.  I hope that it makes people reach for foods other than meat more often and make them look into purchasing more “humane” meat when they do buy it.

I was surprised that he didn’t go into detail on dairy or egg farming because as far as I know, the animals farmed for their milk or eggs are treated just as badly as those farmed for meat.

I am still on the fence about my food choices. It is a very personal thing and giving up something that you have enjoyed for so long and holds many memories for you can be difficult. I used to LOVE meat. I’m sure if I still ate it, I would still love it. I’m not one of those vegetarians/vegans who says they just never crave it anymore. I do! I miss it!

But once I learned about how most animals were treated, I just couldn’t do it anymore. I mean, I have considered only eating “sustainable/humanely raised” meat… but it gets complicated. Where do you draw the line? And of course, I still (though not often)eat dairy and seafood, which is somehow easier for me. I don’t know why.

Either way, with all the information out there, you simply can’t say you don’t know what goes on anymore.

In the words of Jonathan Safran Foer;
“What did you do when you learned the truth about eating animals?”