Sarah's book
reviews can be heard on alternate Mondays on KMUW 89.1. Read a transcript
below or listen at:
http://www.kmuw.org/index.php/book/eating_animals_by_jonathan_safran_foer/
"Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer
(Little,
Brown, 9780316069908, $25.99)
What is meat? Jonathan Safran Foer, author of the popular novels “Everything
Is Illuminated” and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” poses this
question in his first work of nonfiction, “Eating Animals.” A
sometimes-vegetarian, Foer grapples with the mixed messages he gives his
son: yes, we love our pet dog and should not hurt or kill him, and yes we
kill chickens to eat them and yet, they are animals too. Before he can feel
morally qualified to suggest an explanation, Foer must attempt to answer
this seemingly simple question.
He starts with how meat goes from bone to table and traces the production of
over–the-counter beef, pork, fish and poultry. He writes many letters
requesting information but receives few replies. He tours a turkey farm in
Kansas and a cattle farm in northern California, neither of which are
“factory farms”—those he must sneak into under cover of night. He explores
the history, business, and legislation of killing animals, and the stories
we tell ourselves to justify acts that are not comforting but that provide
us with culinary pleasure. He explains why factory farming is the biggest
threat to global warming and how viruses jump species.
In the end, satisfied that he knows what meat is, he presents a rational
argument on whether or not it is possible for him to eat meat and thus
explain with a clear conscience if it is okay to kill a cow but not the
family dog.
Picks by Sarah
Bagby, December 24, 2009
