Monday 5 March 2012

Devouring Books: Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

Eating Animals is genuinely one of the most eye-opening books I've ever read, as well as making the best case for vegetarianism I've ever encountered. This is mainly because Foer, as he says many times throughout the book, isn't trying to make a case for vegetarianism, but rather trying to weigh up all the evidence and decide what the best eating choices are for himself and his young family. Obviously I'm in a place at the moment where I don't really want to eat animals anyway (see: giving up meat for Lent) so in a lot of ways this was the best possible book to read at the best possible time. But also, as well as that, it's amazing.

Firstly, there's the writing. I've read both of Foer's novels, and while I thought the writing itself was AMAZING, I always felt like something about the story was lacking (form, or structure, or something). In non-fiction, where there is still a story to tell but it's form is less clearly defined, good writing is a complete bonus, and the one thing that is guaranteed to keep me reading non-fiction (Naomi Klein and Bill Bryson, whilst wildly different non-fiction writers are both amazing). Eating Animals, then, quite aside from the issues it raises, is a really well set out, clearly thought out argument; and it is, of course amazingly written. All of this, then, contributes to the effectiveness of the argument (or, as he claims, not an argument, but merely a lot of statements) that Foer has set out in this book.

And oh, the argument. The dizzying, sickening, stench filled world of factory farming, carefully described (without, I would say, a lot of sentiment) and torn down logically, carefully, and in the way a good philosophy graduate knows how. I realise that might sound like an insult depending on how you feel about philosophy majors (I feel great about them, considering my degree is a joint honours English and Philosophy one) but I mean it in the best possible way- Foer lays out all these facts about factory farming, and then lays into them, with the resulting conclusion being that he doesn't really understand how, knowing this, anyone could still eat meat from factory farms.

Except, he kind of does know how this happens, because it's something that he describes early on in the book. On relaying his previous experience of vegetarianism (which sounded fairly similar to my own- on and off, until he remembered how good bacon, or whatever, was, and started eating meat again) he describes how people have a certain mechanism that means they can forget exactly what they're eating, or at least remember something that seems more important to them, like how good having turkey on Thanksgiving makes them feel. And this made so much sense to me, because meat has been a massive part of my eating life, especially since I'm not a fan of many foods, and so the fact that it makes me feel good and tastes nice is something that mostly overrides all other thoughts when making food choices. But when that lovely experience comes out of something horrible, and I actually know about it (and believe me, I really do know about it now) do I have the right to enjoy it any more? The philosopher in me says no, as does the animal lover, but the vicious carnivore? Well, she's just going to have to shut up.

If I was going to criticise Eating Animals (the book rather than the practice) in any way, I would just have to say that Foer doesn't really go into mass cow-factory farming, which I have to assume is because he has made the decision to carry on eating dairy products. Which is his prerogative, obviously, but it feels a bit like getting fobbed off- he says that he thinks that cattle farming is the most ethical of all factory farming, but since this is like getting the best bed in Auschwitz (I'm not comparing this to the Holocaust. At all. Seriously. I just can't think of another analogy), I would have appreciated a little more investigation there. Also, some of the arguments he makes are a little bit Philosophy 101, i.e. I have heard them before, but I fully understand that most (i.e. normal) people aren't philosophy scholars so I appreciate that he had to kind of start with the basics and then move on to his own thing. He does adopt my favourite ever argument though- if people say 'well, animals are born to be farmed and to be meat for us, and they don't know any other way of life', then you say 'so if human babies were born to be farmed and make meat for us, it would be ok to eat them?' and then wait to see all the people faint. Logically, it's  a top notch argument!

But anyway, in spite of those few niggles, I'm in absolute awe of Eating Animals. I would honestly recommend it to anyone, even if you feel like you'd just shrug your shoulders at the end and continue gnawing on your chicken drumstick, just because it's really so well written. For me, I'm utterly convinced about the inherent and disgusting cruelty of factory farming, and I'm fairly sure I'm off pork products for life (I did make a sausage sandwich for my dad today and was kind of drooling, but that's just learned behaviour, right?) but the important thing for me is to keep remembering the things I've learned- that the chicken on my plate lived its life in a tiny cage, was pumped full of antibiotics and basically couldn't walk, that the bacon in my sandwich was once a piglet that was stacked in a cage on top of rows of other piglets, and that factory farming is the biggest cause of greenhouse gases in the world. By far. If I can just remember all of this, and that there are things that are more important that what I feel like, I think I can really do this not eating meat thing. I really really want to.

And now, some words from our author:
"A British reader who cares about the issues raised in this book should not find any peace in being British." (Damn...)

"For thousands of years, farmers took their cues from natural processes. Factory farming considers nature as an obstacle to be overcome."

"I felt shame for living in a nation of unprecedented prosperity- a nation that spends a smaller percentage of income on food than any other civilisation has in human history- but in the name of affordability treats the animals it eats with cruelty so extreme that it would be illegal if inflicted on a dog."

"Two friends are ordering lunch. One says 'I'm in the mood for a burger' and orders it. The other says 'I'm in the mood for a burger,' but remembers that there are things more important to him than what he is in the mood for at any given moment, and orders something else. Who is the sentimentalist?"

"From 1935 to 1995, the average weight of 'broilers' [chickens we eat] increased by 65%, while their time-to-market dropped 60% and their feed requirements dropped 57%. To gain a sense of the radicalness of this change, imagine human children growing to be three hundred pounds in ten years, while eating only granola bars and Flintstones vitamins" (This is SO disturbing! Also, completely random aside, I'm really sad that we never had Flintstones vitamins in England! They would have been so cool...)

"It's possible that you can't afford to care, but it's certain that you can't afford not to care."

"Whether we're talking about fish species, pigs, or some other eaten animal, is such suffering the most important thing in the world? Obviously not. But that's not the question. Is it more important than sushi, bacon, or chicken nuggets? That's the question."

25 comments:

  1. This is one of those books I absolutely refuse to read because I have made the deliberate choice to be an omnivore, which I believe is the most healthy state for a biological omnivore to live in. I figure every person can choose for themselves of course, but I don't want to read any book that pushes a different way of living on me, you know?

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    1. I get that! I kind of read it for the opposite reason- because I need to constantly reinforce to myself that I DON'T want to eat meat, which I am prone to forget when faced with, like, bacon. I would say that I don't really think this book is *that* pushy, though, but then again I'm reading it from the 'I really want to believe meat eating is bad' perspective, so yeah. Wonderfully written though!

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  2. Ditto to the deliberately avoiding this book thing, but I'm more because 1) Love meat. It is so delicious and I do not wish to stop eating it, and 2) I know I'm EVENTUALLY going to be all vegan and crap, but I don't want to do it until I'm ready. My voice teacher eats raw, so I've gotten lectures from her since I was 14, and I'm well aware that the healthiest thing for me is to eat raw, but SO MUCH WORK IT IS. So for now I will eat my roast beef sandwich and it will be awesome.

    I will MAYBE read this in like ten years. ;) But you're right we should be treating the animals better. 'Cause damn, that's not cool.

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    1. Hey man, can't do things until you're ready! Meat is delicious, but I have been finding I haven't missed it as much as I thought I would, so thumbs up for that! And thumbs up for eventually being vegan (probably)! It's really the best environmental way, it's just... Ice cream and cheese. Man. The thing I'm mostly concerned with at the moment is like overly processed foods, which is basically anything that's easy to make/eat, so it's an annoying thing but one I need to think about healthwise. Which *I'll* do once I'm done with these oreos...

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  3. I like that this book isn't pushy. Like you said, he isn't necessarily trying to make a case, just breaking down the facts. I have to say, I'll never be vegan or even vegetarian (though I do believe in moderation) because no amount of facts can counteract the taste of a delicious steak for me lol. This book looks like something I'd recommend to someone looking for the facts on the matter, which, honestly I'm not. I mostly feed my family through my garden and the animals we raise and hunt (no I'm not living in 1850 on the frontier, just rural Idaho :) Anyway, thanks for the into to this book, great review!

    -Kate the Book Buff
    The Book Buff: Book Reviews for Regular People

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    1. You know what, I reckon you're pretty much exempt from reading this book, and may I just say, go you! I really think that if I could just grow all my own food and maybe raise animals (although I'm fairly sure I couldn't kill them, but... that's not really the point) then I wouldn't ever feel guilty about eating ever! But yeah, I definitely don't think it's pushy, and there's no 'If you don't do this you're EVIL!' which I think would actually have made me go the opposite way. So yeah! It's all good.

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  4. I also read this book and "enjoyed" it (in the you-can't-possibly-enjoy-this-but-it's-good kind of way; see my review here: http://wp.me/p1gPfH-37). As I said back then, one of my main issues with ethical living books is that they preach mostly to the converted or nearly converted. The only way to really make this ethical living thing work would be to force feed (no pun intended) these books to people who wouldn't go near them otherwise.
    Before anyone tells me that I'm sitting on a high horse here, I seem to be quite impervious to such appeals myself, because I'm still eating meat. I love it, and like some others said I believe that in the right measures it's good for a balanced diet. But I am trying to cut down on my consumption and this book definitely reinforced my decision to do that.

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    1. I guess that this might only work for the converted/nearly converted, but I do feel like a lot of the things talked about would really shock some people who, you know, really really like meat... but then how do you get them to read it? It's a tricky subject!

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  5. I think avoiding a book because you know it will make you feel bad about something you've decided to do is a bit worrisome. Isn't it better to know the facts so that you're at least making an educated decision to live a certain way? For instance, I don't eat meat, so a lot of the chapters in the book just reinforced what I already knew, but I DO still eat fish...and the chapter on fishing practices shamed me. Did I stop eating fish? No. But I'm not putting my hands over my ears and humming while I do it. Don't you think it's always better to know?

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    1. Well *I* do! But I could see how people could not want to read it because they'd rather not feel (extra) guilty about eating animals. I mean, I would actively recommend this to everyone ever so they could think about the way that they eat, but I can't make them want to think about it, you know? Would that I could...

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  6. I think it's great that you're doing the research and really contemplating the no-meat stance and taking baby steps rather than just trying to go cold turkey. I think that's a very smart way to go.
    I haven't read this book but it sounds similar to my own personal stance. I think it's great to understand how something works so that you can make the best choice for you.

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    1. Dude, definitely! I think you'd probably like this book (well, not like, but it'd make you feel really good about not eating meat!). And yay research! Hehe

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  7. Perhaps I am the only person, but if someone pulled that bogus baby argument on me I'd roll my eyes and say "yes, if babies were farmed for meat, and this practice had been going on for long before I'd been born, centuries in fact, then I wouldn't pause for a second before eating one".

    This isn't to say I'm an advocate for the extreme "farming" some factories do in order to produce meat, but it seems ridiculous to expect people to feel bad for doing something that they've spent their entire life doing, and so have their ancestors.

    Personally, I'm not about to give up meat, but then again I actually don't eat much of it, because it tends to be much more expensive than the vegetarian lasagne, pasta, stirfrys or fried rice that I make on rotation. I refuse to eat foie gras (not that the opportunity has ever come up)or veal because of the inherent cruelty in producing the meat, and I do try to buy organic or free range meat/dairy/animal products when possible and educate myself on the dodgy business practices out there, but bottom-line, I like meat and I think there are ways other than vegetarianism/veganism to lessen or halt the terrible farming conditions.

    Anywho, with that said, I'll hop off my soap box! I do want to read this book, and this review puts me another step closer to actually remembering to search for it at the library!

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    1. Ha, you're actually not the *only* person, I once did the 'baby farms!' thing on my old housemate, and she was just like 'yeah, I'd eat babies.' and I was just like NO YOU WOULDN'T! And nor would you!

      The thing is, we really don't eat meat in the same way as our ancestors- the animals they ate were raised on smaller farms, treated with dignity, and killed less awfully (and actually with less human rights violations). So I don't really think this book is at all about trying to make people to feel bad about what they've already done, but just to make them think about what they want to do in the future.

      Go and library search! Even if you don't agree with what he says, there's some damn fine writing here!

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    2. Hi there! It's great that you are open to obtaining more information. There's one blatant truth you will discover in Eating Animals that you mentioned here: "This isn't to say I'm an advocate for the extreme "farming" some factories do in order to produce meat".

      As Foer meticulously researches and validates: 99% of all the meat, dairy, eggs that people consume in the U.S. come from "intensive" farms. These are not just "some" isolated places - It's virtually every bit of it.

      I understand too that you avoid veal for ethical reasons... But the veal industry is driven by the dairy industry. These places have to do "something" with the unwanted males after they are removed from their mothers. So sad... When I found out I was shocked - I always pictured calves nursing from their mothers - That's "natural" right? But instead these babies are stolen within hours... So "unweaned" humans may have the benefit of the milk. That practice was wrong enough for me to not only avoid veal... But cow's milk too.

      Happily there's an abundance of plant based choices that have been able to satisfy me nutritionally and taste-wise.

      Anyway - It's a great eye-opening book... And yes - For good or bad some people actually are motivated to adjust their life-styles accordingly. ~peace~

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    3. I don't know Laura, have you seen how chubby some babies are...ha ha

      I'm sure I'll agree with most, if not everything he says, it's more everyone's outcry that vegetarianism/veganism is the only solution that annoys me. But anyway, I'll let you know what I think when I read it!

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    4. That's... yeah, that's fair enough! Do let me know what you think when you've read it though, because I am interesterated. (I've actually just thought... I think there might actually be a bit where he says that he's not even sure that all people being vegetarian would solve anything, but that it's a personal choice he's made because he doesn't want to be involved in like animal torture... so you may enjoy this a lot!) Also, omg my cousin's kid (he's like 2, which I still count as baby, but whatever) has the chubbiest little thighs and they're so cute and I could just nibble on one! Only, you know, not *literally*... hehe

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  8. This book had a profound effect on me. I've never been a voracious meat-eater, but I now eat very, very little meat, and then only when I trust the source. (I have to KNOW where it came from, how it was slaughtered, etc.) The subject Foer raises in this book irritates me to no end. I have heard friends and strangers complain about their husbands hunting animals, such as deer, labeling it inhumane and unnecessary. But do they take a second to think about what the animal has gone through that is slapped onto their McDonald's burger? If people would just be consistently logical, there would be a great deal less suffering (of animals and humans) on this planet. I believe it's been a year or so since I read Eating Animals, but my mind is constantly jarred by the memory, and visions of heaping, immeasurable mounds of animal carcasses haunt me; animals are regularly, systematically tortured from the moment they are born until the blessed day they die, an often slow and immensely painful death in an unregulated slaughterhouse. But as one friend pointed out to me, pain is relative. If these animals experience pain from Day 1, then perhaps they are more immune to it than we imagine? It's a small comfort.

    Sorry for the rant...I despise factory farming. Everyone despises it, but most people prefer not to think about it. This issue brings out the Debbie Downer in me, big-time. I'm glad you enjoyed the book. Thank you so much for posting this excellent review!

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    1. I am so in agreement with all the things! I definitely think though that hunting animals is waaaaaay less cruel than eating the animals in packets in shops, just because they've been living in the wild, and have probably had a pretty nice life! Having said that, I know that I couldn't kill an animal myself, and so that's kind of another reason why I feel like probably shouldn't be eating them, you know?

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    2. Hello again... I used to think that hunting was vicious too - It seemed so awful to remove a perfectly happy animal from the face of the earth... In my mind - Much better to "harvest" them from the cellophane meat case. Goes to show how we can delude ourselves when we want.

      I won't go into an exhausting account of where most of the deer come from that are hunted... But I can tell you you've also been deceived that they were born wild - It's just not true. There are over 1500 "deer farms" in the U.S. Most operate just like a "factory farm" - Deer are genetically bred, the young are removed and "hand nursed", does and bucks are fed antibiotics just like "livestock". Then the ones that are out of the breeding herd are released into the wild for "hunters enjoyment".

      You can search "deer or cervid farms"... Or you can see this blog that provides many links to the issues of deer being legislated and commodified just like "livestock": http://animalblawg.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/4638/

      I suppose the harsh reality is to question everything you've come to know as truth. These industries have a very good rea$on for keeping reality out of public awareness. ~peace~

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  9. Oh, well I live in North Alabama, so all the deer that I eat (not much) is killed by hunters around here. Actually, 95% of the deer meat that I eat was killed by my father on his own land. He uses a scope on his rifle to ensure a good shot and as little suffering as possible. I've never been in agreement with him about the whole hunting issue, but at least I know that he, his family and friends eat wild deer that, for the most part, did not suffer. That is interesting about the deer farms though. I've never heard of that. I can't imagine anyone around here needing to buy deer from a deer farm because hunting is so popular and wild deer so numerous. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if local restaurants purchase their venison from such farms...

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  10. I recently got this one out of the library and am going to start reading it soon. I grew up vegetarian, but I do eat a considerable amount of dairy and some seafood now, as well. Mostly, I'm interested in reading about the dairy and fishing industries, in order to see if I'll be able to keep eating dairy and fish after knowing the whole truth. I'm kind of scared, since one of my favorite, favorite things in the world is a mozzarella panini... Mmm...

    Glad to see hear that it's well-written as well as informative (although I would expect nothing less from Foer). Great review!

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    1. I don't want to just tell the whole book to you (are there spoilers in non-fiction..? Hmm....) but he actually doesn't say too much about the dairy industry which I think is because he made the decision to eat all the dairy and so doesn't want to make himself feel bad about it... The fishing stuff is preeetty nasty though...

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  11. Ohhh, I'd never even heard of this before but now I'm dying to read it. I'm not really sure how I feel about Jonathan Safron Foer because I've only read ELandIC so I'd love to read his non-fiction.

    I've always been interested in vegetarianism and other lifestyle choices, simply because it's something I never experienced as a child. I'm off to go see if my library has a copy :)

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    1. Yay! I hope you enjoy :). Well, not enjoy, but you know, respectfully consider his arguments and stuff hehe

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