How a book changed the way I eat
Disclaimer: This post contains graphic/disturbing information and images.
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Over the past couple of weeks I read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. It took me longer than a normal book to read because it was a lot to process. I would often read a paragraph several times or have to literally sit back and process something after reading it.
In a nutshell, the book is about the American food industry (I’m currently doing research on the Canadian food industry – it’s not much better) and factory farming. It’s a combination of his interviews with animal activists, factory-farm workers, traditional farmers and his own opinion and thoughts on factory farming and eating animals.
First, a history of how I eat (or ate):
- I used to eat meat like it was my job. 2-3 times per day minimum.
- Since becoming healthier a few years ago I would reduce my meat intake but not cut it out entirely, I still felt like I needed it for dinner every day.
- Since starting to read healthy living blogs in the last 6-12 months, this one in particular, and seeing Food Inc. a few months ago I have been trying to eat a meat-reduced diet, only eating meat 3-4 times per week
- Note: Despite the information in Food Inc., I still ate meat pretty regularly. Something about this book clicked with me in a way that Food Inc. didn’t. Words really are powerful.
Crucial things I learned by reading Eating Animals
- Animal Agriculture (Factory farming) is the number one cause of global warming. It contributes 40% more to global warming then all transportation in the world combined.
- Organic and free-range means nothing when it comes to animal welfare.
- It’s not good for the animals – they are treated inhumanely and tortured.
- It’s not good for me – I am eating animals that have been pumped full of drugs and antibiotics and that haven’t even been processed properly so they are often shipped for sale covered in feces or other disgusting things.
- It’s not good for the planet – see point above.
- The “I need my protein” argument means nothing. Check out this blog about an ultra-marathoner who is a vegetarian. Or have you heard of Scott Jurek? The vegan ultra-marathoner who ran 165 miles in 24 hours. The “needing protein” argument is a weak one at best.
So, who is it good for? That’s the question he addresses in this book and, as it turns out, it’s not really good for anyone.
I’m now going to quote a few parts of the book that really, really stuck with me. WARNING: Some of this content is disturbing.
The following passage probably had the most profound effect on me. Whenever I think about eating chicken, I think about this and then I don’t want to eat the chicken anymore:
PG 47: “The typical cage for egg-laying hens allows each sixty-seven square inches of floor space…Step your mind into a crowded elevator, an elevator so crowded you cannot turn around without bumping into (and aggravating) your neighbor. The elevator is so crowded you are often held aloft. This is a kind of blessing, as the slanted floor is made of wire, which cuts into your feet. After some time, those in the elevator will lose their ability to work in the interest of the group, Some will become violent, others will go mad. A few, deprived of food and hope, will become cannibalistic. There is no respite, no relief. No elevator repairman is coming. The doors will open once, at the end of your life, for your journey to the only place worse.”
PG 134: “…He conducted interviews with nearly a hundred USDA poultry inspectors from thirty-seven plants. ‘Every week,’ he reports, ‘millions of chickens leaking yellow pus, stained by green feces, contaminated by harmful bacteria, or marred by lung and heart infections, cancerous tumors, or skin conditions are shipped for sale to consumers.”
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How it’s killing the environment:
PG 174: “All told, farmed animals in the United States produce 130 times as much waste as the human population – roughly 87,000 pounds of shit per second. The polluting strength of this shit is 160 times greater than raw municipal sewage. And yet there is almost no waste-treatment infrastructure for farmed animals – no toilets, obviously, but also no sewage pipes, no one hauling it away for treatment, and almost no federal guidelines regulating what happens to it…typically found in the shit of factory-farmed hogs: ‘ammonia, methane, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, cyanide, phosphorus, nitrates and heavy metals…”
PG 181: “But the power brokers that matter most – those who choose what to eat and what not to eat – have remained passive. So far, we have demanded no national moratorium and certainly no phaseout. We have made Smithfield (the largest pork producer in the U.S.A.) and its counterparts so wealthy that they can invest hundreds of millions to expand their operations abroad.”
This, an interview with a factory farm worker, is perhaps the most disturbing account I read in the entire book. It brought tears to my eyes.
PG 253: “Down in the blood pit they say that the smell of blood makes you aggressive. And it does…One time I took my knife – it’s sharp enough – and I sliced off the end of a hog’s nose, just like a piece of bologna. The hog went crazy for a few seconds. Then it just sat there looking kind of stupid. So I took a handful of salt brine and ground it into his nose. Now that hog really went nuts, pushing its nose all over the place. I still had a bunch of salt left on my hand – I was wearing a rubber glove – and I stuck the salt right up the hog’s ass…I wasn’t the only guy doing this kind of stuff. One guy I work with actually chases hogs into the scalding tank. And everybody – hog drivers, shacklers, utility men – uses lead pipes on hogs. Everybody knows it, all of it.”
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What am I trying to achieve with this post? To educate people, the way this book educated me. To encourage people to get out there and research this topic and learn the facts. I’m not trying to “convert” anyone into being a vegetarian or vegan. Read the book, I’d be happy to mail you my copy. Go poke around the books website, it has some great resources and information. Educate yourself on the system.
Then make a decision when it comes to how you eat – whether it’s to continue eating meat, eat less meat, or not eat meat at all. At least make an informed decision. Don’t be ignorant to the problem. I was ignorant to the problem for a long time and millions of people still are, we can’t start to solve this massive problem until more people know about it and understand it.
I haven’t ate meat for 2.5 weeks (with the exception of Calamari, which I’ve ate on two occasions) because I literally have no appetite for it after reading this book. I’m not going to say I’ll never eat meat again, but I do plan to eat a very meat-reduced diet from now on and when I do eat meat I will be paying the extra money to make damn sure I know where it’s coming from. Imagine what a difference it could make if every person in North America gave up meat for just one day a week? One day a week.
So, tell me in the comments, are you a vegan/vegetarian/flexitarian/omnivore/pescatarian? What are your thoughts on factory farming? If you’ve read ‘Eating Animals’, please let me know what you think!
PS: I will be replying to any questions people have for me about my new eating habits or my thoughts on this book in the comments today. I have SO MANY MORE THOUGHTS on this book but the blog post was just getting much too long 
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about giving up meat… or at least lowering my intake. It’s not the first time I’ve heard many of the points that you brought up, and every time I hear the horror stories, my stomach does flip-flops and I completely lose my appetite. I have such a soft heart when it comes to animals, no matter what kind. I honestly don’t know if I’d be able to handle reading the book!
A little off topic but slightly related, my husband grew up on a farm; his family raises and controls the diet of their animals, and they’re not treated inhumanely like described in some of the passages you quoted. (Plus, they only keep a few animals to provide meat for the family; they don’t sell any.) Unfortunately, we now live far away from the farm, but we try as often as possible to buy grass-fed meats from local farmers at farmers’ markets. It costs more, but I feel slightly better about going that route when we want meat.
I can go days without meat. It really has no appeal to me. The only things I ever really crave are seafood or a good cheeseburger. Luckily, our relatives and neighbors run their own farm. We can get farm fresh meat for slightly more, but I also know how the animals are treated. Though, also knowing I am eating my neighbors keeps the amount I eat pretty low! My husband could eat it all day every day and has no care where or how it came to his plate. When I make meat for him I generally can only stomach a couple bites. Chicken in particular gross me out. Howevver, we are contemplating raising our own. Though, then I know I will never eat eggs or chicken again hahaha.
I don’t eat meat very often since I am single. It’s just easier to cook for one when I leave meat out. Once a week I do try to eat red meat so I can get some iron in my diet. My meat, however, comes from a farm near my parents’ house and then is butchered by a local farmer. So I feel much better about eating it knowing where it came from & knowing it wasn’t stuffed w/ hormones and chemicals.
I am working on finding a good place to buy chicken, though.
Thanks for posting. It is hard to read this kind of material, but it’s important to be aware!
I only eat chicken and fish, and I’d say I probably have meat 2-3 times a week max, maybe 4 times a week because I do love canned tuna haha. It’s mostly out of convience for me. Like Lisa said, it’s easier to leave meat out when you are cooking for yourself (which I do because Eric and I eat separate dinners haha). I would never give up meat entirely because there is already so much I can’t eat because of my stomach, but I like the point I am at right now where I don’t eat it too often.
I have not read this book but I appreciate the summary, it’s important to know about this kind of thing so we can do what we can to stop it.
It’s really hard to read/see this sort of thing, but it’s important to stay aware. I really want to be able to go fully vegetarian one day – we don’t eat meat often at all, and when we do (or buy eggs and milk) we ALWAYS go free-range or organic and try and make it as “humane” as possible. Thankfully we have an organic place a few blocks from us.
Amber, I felt the same way after reading Skinny Bitch and seeing Food Inc., Fast Food Nation. The graphic descriptions of animal abuse brought me to tears.
We eat meat 4-5 times a week and I try to buy local farm raised from the Farmer’s Markets/Planet Organic. Seems to be a lot easier to buy during certain months though. I have found that the cost is higher as well, but we only eat a few ounces at a time so it’s not too bad.
This is one of the many subjects I feel should be taught in school. At leas then our children would be aware even if they can’t control what their parents buy.
I’m on the same page as everyone else. I don’t really eat that much meat, but it’s not necessarily because of anything I read. It seems like anytime I read one of those books, I swear off meat (or whatever) for a period and then sort of “forget” about it. And I agree about locally raised livestock. I live in the midwest, so we have lots of local farmers. Better for the environment, better for the farmers, better for the local economy.
I think I’ve purposley been avoiding this book because I knew I would have a hard time with the material. Your post alone may have turned my appitite for meat. I’m not a huge meat-eater anyway, but my husband is – according to him, it’s not a meal unless there’s meat involved. I’d love to see his reaction to this.
omg – that just repulsed me!
I went flexitarian probably 3 years ago… mostly because it was easier to not eat meat for health reasons. I did NOT want to be on cholesterol medicine, and cutting meat out was easier. and it’s much more affordable too! Summer time tends to be the most challenging for me because of all the grilling, i truly love how stuff tastes on the grill (veggies included!)
my fi – he still eats meat, and I will cook it for him. but there are a couple days a week where he doesn’t eat meat. ideally it’d be nice to not have to buy meat! one day, i hope!
I was reading this while Eric and I were driving back from Calgary and I read a lot of it out loud to him – it repulsed him too. He didn’t eat meat for two weeks and has just recently started eating beef here and there. He is giving up chicken and pork for good though!
Maybe the fiance would be willing to eat meat less if he knew this kind of stuff? I don’t know! I just know reading the actual book made a world of difference for me vs. hearing it on a blog or watching movie.
Erik and I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma last summer, which is equally difficult to read (and from I can tell, is much better written than Eating Animals) and actually covered much more than just the meat industry, but the entire food industry. Even vegetarian, non-meat food items are terrible for us, and our agriculture (fruits and veggies) is also contributing to global warming because most of us get those items from overseas (who’s ever had an orange in the winter?). It’s really a challenge.
Personally, I stopped eating red meat in high school. I’ve had it possibly a dozen times in the last 10 years, just for convenience sake, but I don’t like it. I eat chicken regularly, probably every day. Erik is also a meat-eater. I don’t purchase meat for my home, because I don’t like to cook it, but I eat out at restaurants a fair bit and who knows where that stuff is coming from. It’s definitely something Erik and I talked about last summer, but I think we were so overwhelmed we didn’t know where to start. I think perhaps it is time to revisit and revise our thinking on what we put in our bodies.
I haven’t read The Omnivore’s Dilemma yet, but it’s on my reading list. I want to do as much reading on this subject as I can!
I find I don’t miss meat that much. For example, Eric and I went out for dinner at our favourite greek place last night and I ordered the same chicken wrap I always order only with no chicken, extra veggies instead! I really think that if more people would not eat meat 1-2 days a week it would make a HUGE difference!
Thank you for posting this. I have been considering going vegetarian for a few months now, and this post is what finally gave me the push I needed to just start already! I literally cried when I read the excerpt about the hog. It breaks my heart to think that senseless cruelty like that goes on in the world. I’m someone who has a HUGE soft spot for animals, ALL animals. Animals are so helpless and so vulnerable. The ones that find themselves in our care depend on us to take care of them, not torture them. I truly don’t know if I could make it through a book like this (I cry when I come across a scene in a book with something terrible happening to an animal – ditto for books and television shows) but I plan to buy it, and attempt it. If I can’t get through it I will keep it around for the days when I think I want a cheeseburger.
Now that you’re eating vegetarian, would you consider posting some meal options? Healthy eating tips for vegetarians?
Absolutely! It’s been surprisingly EASY to eat vegetarian! And I don’t find I’ve missed meat at all.
Off the top of my head, vegetarian chili is by far one of the best meals I’ve started eating regularly. Tons of vegetables and the beans make it so you don’t even miss the meat in the chili!
I’ve often considered not eating meat because the concept just… well gross. We only eat organic beef and organic chicken. I don’t think there is such a thing as organic pork. (?) But like you said, just because the animals are not injected with hormones does not mean they are not rolling in feces and leaking puss. *shudder*
I would be interested to know about the seafood industry. Is it better for you and done in a more humane manner and most of all… CLEAN? I think I could live without other food, if I could still have salmon and shrimp, etc.
Eating Animals actually does touch on the seafood industry and it’s not good… With the seafood industry, it’s not so much the fact that the fish are “tortured” or treated “inhumanely” but the number of other sea animals that are killed when they are trolling for, say, shrimp.
Here’s a quote from the book r.e. the seafood industry:
PG 49: “Modern fishing tends to involve much technology and few fishers. This combination leads to massive catches with massive amounts of bycatch. Take shrimp, for example. The average shrimp-trawling operation throws 80 to 90 percent of the sea animals it captures overboard, dead or dying, as bycatch.”
He also talks about Salmon Farms where the salmon are kept in water so dirty that there are problems with sea lice that will literally eat the skin off the salmon’s faces.
It’s definitely worth some research where your food comes from – I’m sure that you could buy local salmon (depending on where you live) but the stuff from chain supermarkets really is no better than other meat it seems.
Aside from the salmon (and I’m HORRIFIED), did it discuss how seafood could potentially affect your body in harmful ways, like the other meat?
I gotta get this book…
Great post. I eat meat, but not super frequently, and want to only eat grass-fed, free-range etc etc, but I know there are much bigger issues than that. i am working towards eating red meat incredibly sparingly and trying to get more protein from veggie sources and fish (which I don’t feel bad eating). I am not yet in a place where I feel necessarily compelled to go veg but I would like to see how my life would look like with almost completely cutting meat out and see how I feel.
I’ve recently cut back on my meat intake for various reasons: compassion for animals, I don’t necessarily love the way I feel after I eat meat, and overall health. I haven’t read this book, or any other for that matter that deals with this subject because I know I wouldn’t be able to handle it.
If I didn’t have insane food allergies that makes it impossible for me to be a vegetarian or vegan, I’d give up all meat in a heartbeat. I still hope that someday my alleriges will go away and I’ll be able to do that for many reasons, including kindess to animals and the planet as well as to my own body.
I’m a girl who cries over road kill on a regular basis, so those images definitely got to me.
I’ve been eating a reduced meat diet for a long time, but not for any real reason other than I’m not a fan of the taste of a lot of meat. After I read Food Inc and the Omnivore’s Dilemma (highly recommend them both) I’m much more conscious of where my food comes from and when I do eat meat, I pay more to make sure it’s locally raised and grass fed whenever possible.
You know I don’t eat meat, not because of humanity reasons or how they are treated (which NOW my thoughts have changed) I don’t eat meat simply because I don’t like it, Its gross. I only eat chicken & seafood. I now am going to do more research into finding good/clean chicken/seafood in my area. I have been to a slaughter house, watched animals be killed to throw on the bbq and it is absolutely disturbing. I do NOT find a pig on a giant kabob rolling over a fire appealing. AT ALL.
I would LOVE to read this book. Thanks for sharing.
What is another tasty meat-less option you enjoy Miss Amber?
xoxox
J
Lately I’ve been considering becoming a vegetarian. I don’t eat meat very often (maybe twice a month and usually when out for dinner) and I doubt I would miss it that often. I have a close friend who is a vegetarian and we’ve chatted about her changes to diet and how she now eats (she used to be a very avid meat eater). One of the interesting aspects of vegetarianism she brought up involved the social aspects of choosing not to eat meat. Essentially she chatted about some discomfort at having to refuse dishes from family and friends, as well as in having to sometimes alter plans to accommodate her vegetarianism. Obviously, these are uncomfortable, but she still goes ahead with it. And I’m starting to think I could swing it too. In the past, I was avoiding the idea of vegetarianism because I didn’t want to feel uncomfortable…but as I’m writing this, I recognize my social discomfort is really nothing compared to the physical pain and abuse many animals are subjected to in processing plants. After some thought, I still think I could eat meat, as long as I knew the animals were treated humanely. Unfortunately I’m not in a position to buy this type of meat right now…so I’m thinking I may just take a break from meat until I can feel comfortable eating it.
That’s another HUGE part of the book that I didn’t mention in my review – Foer talks A LOT about the social implications of “not eating meat” and the fact that EATING is such a social/cultural thing in North America.
He makes some interesting points about how this will likely change for future generations as more and more people are not eating meat and not feeding their children meat.
He also makes the interesting point that when surveyed, NOBODY agrees with factory farming (really, what kind of person would agree to that cruelty?!) yet, North Americans still eat massive amounts of meat. I think it comes down to a problem of people not being educated on the problem.
I’ve been thinking a lot about becoming a vegetarian lately … I don’t particularly LIKE meat anyway, but reading about how the animals are treated just makes me that much more inclined to give up meat! I know my husband wouldn’t even consider becoming a vegetarian (he’s an Alberta boy, he needs his beef!) but maybe we’ll look into where our meat comes from, so we can both feel better about it! Thanks for writing this review!!
After reading Eric excerpts from the book he’s given up pork and chicken entirely but is still eating beef and other meat/fish occasionally!
Wow, Amber. Thank you for this post. I’ve had a friend read the book and she went vegetarian, but she has never really discussed it with me. Factory farming is something that I am doing research on for personal reasons- I really just want to know where my food comes from! I recently watched a tv special with Jamie Oliver on the chicken industry (called Fowl Dinners, I think) and that was certainly eye opening. I will read the book, but I don’t want to eliminate meat entirely as I am prone to anemia and my doctor highly suggests against it. But I do want to make major changes: cutting back to 2-3 times a week and purchasing from a local farmer, etc.
Thank you again!!! I will certainly pick up this book in the near future!
Thanks for your review on this book! I sent the link to my husband because he’s been meaning to read Eating Animals for a while now.
I read Skinny Bitch a few months ago and got some similar info from it. (It was a good education but what a horrible, demeaning style of writing in that book! For that reason I wouldn’t recommend it.) The documentary The Corporation (which is Canadian) had good info about antibiotics in milk in the States vs Canada. It said that they use bovine growth hormone in the US’s cows (thanks to Monsanto) but not in Canada’s, because Canada did its own studies and found it to be dangerous to humans. So at least in that respect our government is watching out for us…
Personally I’m thinking about raising chickens in my own backyard at some point. I have no problems with killing animals for food, but sure wouldn’t mind knowing where it came from! I have a co-worker who raises grass-fed hormone-free cows on his farm, so it’s nice to be able to get meat from a source like that. I try to make a few meatless meals per week just to feel like I’m doing SOMETHING, you know?
Ok, time for lunch. Jimmy Dean sausage links and a family bucket of KFC, here I come! (J/K, *gag*)
I forgot to mention in my review that I honestly BELIEVE that humans are evolved to EAT MEAT. I don’t disagree with eating meat at all, I disagree with the inhumane treatment of the animals AND the fact that they are pumping them (and therefore us) full of all kinds of drugs and antibiotics.
I plan on continuing to eat meat sparingly, from local sources only!
PS: Just got ‘Skinny Bitch’ from the library yesterday and planning on starting it today!
I’m a flexatarian for sure. I don’t love meat so I’m able to go several days without it. Plus, with the right nutritional knowledge, anyone can eat the right amount of carbs, protein and fat w/out eating meat. And when buying meat, buy ORGANIC! I pretty much only buy organic now after watching Food, Inc and reading a bit of a similar book to this one.
Interesting post, thanks. I haven’t read Eating Animals, though I have read The Omnivore’s Dilemma and watched King Corn. Your suggestion that people educate themselves is paramount. But, I also think that mass hysteria must be avoided – and some of these books and movies tend towards hysterics. My personal thoughts about eating have always been “everything in moderation.” After doing my own research, I still eat meat. I still eat fish. I’m not sure I’ve changed how much I eat them. But, I have changed where I buy food and the kinds of food I’m willing to buy (local versus domestic that’s not local versus international). Because I am more educated about what to look for, I feel I can buy the foods I should be eating without supporting those less than ethical approaches. BTW, Kosher foods follow a very strict regimen regarding the treatment of animals – some of the best meat I’ve ever had is kosher.
Hi Amber,
I am still holding back tears from that pig excerpt! WOW! That is brutal.
I know even from watching Food Inc, my views of meat are very different. We have beef in our freezer that was raised from baby on my BF’s farm, free range, fed barley, unlimited water, and I am still hesitant to eat it, and we had it butchered. I am sure that will pass soon for that beef. Chicken.. not sure about that.
Oh you mentioned farmed fish… the salmon are actually injected with color to make them pink! They are only fed corn (full of GMO’s) and not only that, but they are spreading disease to the natural fish runs.
I grew up 10 min from a natural salmon spawning area, I don’t know the stats to be exact, but the natural salmon are dying because they do not have the immunity to fight the disease of the farmed fish. Always check where your fish is from – I even ask at restaurants, and if its farmed – NO THANK YOU!
Meat is a huge part of our diets, but its not the ONLY one. I think that we all need to be aware all the food we put in our mouths and give to our children.
I had an excellent debate with a gal at work today – not everyone can afford local food – farmers markets/ free range meat. My point was that if I start and share with others and they start and do the same, eventually that will be the demand. Her point was that people are forced to eat what they can afford – very valid yes. But it has to start somewhere.
For people that HAVE the financial capabilities to choose where to go, start now!
Great post Amber!! I am I really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments!!
Tam.
Hi Miss Amber, just started reading your blog and am enjoying it quite a bit! I am a pescetarian, and slowly cutting out seafood and dairy (though I will probably always eat eggs).
To Tammy, I suggest that you bring up the idea of short-term vs. long term pros and cons with your work friend who thinks people are forced to buy only what they can afford. Sure, it can be expensive in the short term to buy locally or organically grown produce and meat, but isn’t it worth it if in the long-term you’re not stressing over expensive medical/health problems that developed over years of eating a shoddy diet? Personally, I favor my long-term health.
Also, I think that if people lowered their meat consumption and increased their consumption of organic vegetables the price would be very close to what they are paying for an unhealthy amount of industry-produced meat and a smaller amount of imported produce.
My thoughts are this…
Yes, those are horrible conditions that the animals are put in and no I have no idea what they do to the animals or what they inject them with. I do believe that there needs to be more regulations as to what they do to the animals, how the animals are treated, etc.
Now, on the whole PG 174 exert on the animals and how much feces they produce… All animals produce waste, so I think this is just crazy and shows that the author is trying to scare us by crazy amounts of numbers. Yes, I’m sure they produce tons of waste, but seriously the cows in the fields on my grandfather’s farm produce just as much waste. The only difference is nobody is out there in the field monitoring how much waste his cows are producing.
Everything we touch on this Earth and everything we do is causing harm to it and eventually to ourselves. Think about it. Even recycling causes some ecological harm. There is nothing that we do that doesn’t harm the Earth in some manner. It’s impossible. The Earth was perfect when God created it. Then, He created man…..
Hi Shannon – thanks for your comment!
I think his point with the excerpt from page 174 (at least how I read it) was to show us HOW factory farming is so bad for the environment. The waste of the animals is what’s making major contributions to global warming.
As for the waste that is being produced, yes the cows on a family farm would also produce waste BUT family farms tend to have only as many cows as the land can sustain. Farm animal waste makes great fertilizer! But since factory farms are packing HUGE numbers of animals into smaller facilities, the waste that they are producing is WAY more than the land can sustain.
Not only does there need to be MORE regulations, there need to be regulations at all. Think about our waste, it’s not just pumped into some big hole in the ground with the fumes wafting into the air, right? Well the factory farms don’t have ANY regulations when it comes to how they dispose of the waste so they don’t treat it and they basically just dump it into huge lagoons! The toxins then get into the air that WE breathe!
There’s more information on it here if you’re interested: http://www.grinningplanet.com/articles/agriculture/cafo-factory-farming-animals-article.htm
Finally, I agree with you that there’s NOTHING that we do that doesn’t harm the earth in some way. But animal agriculture is the NUMBER ONE cause of environmental problems like global warming. And all it would take is people eating LESS meat to avoid it, it’s just lots of people don’t realize the extent of these problems, which is where books like this come in to educate.
First off, I am a lurker and love your blog. I really enjoy the wide variety of topics that you cover.
My family has what some would consider a ‘factory farm’ for hogs. I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of the barns but I do have some general information which conflicts with the information posted in the book.
Despite their repuatation, pigs are actually one of the cleanest animals. They will not eat where they poop. This is unlike cows, chickens and other animals that will poop wherever they are at the moment. To teach where pigs poop, their food is spread over part of the pen (solid flooring). There is another part of the pen that has slats so when the animals do poop, it is drained and scraped away into a slurry store (will talk more on this later). Pigs roll around in mud (not poop) to keep cool and keep away parasites.
In regards to how pigs are ruining the environment, my family had to have a certain amount of land in order to even build these barns. We had to prove to the state (South Dakota) that we could get rid of the hog waste in a manner in which it would not hurt the environment. The book is right in the fact that LOTS of hog waste can be very dangerous and even deadly. Yes, we know of several people that have been killed by methane gas in hog waste. However, when used in moderation, hog manure is actually great fertilizer. My family has a huge above ground storage tank (slurry store) where all of the manure is stored until the fields are ready to be fertilized. At that time, we are able to drain the slurry store and spread the manure across many fields. My famliy cannot over fertilize the soil with manure or else it will kill the current crops that being fertilized & ruin the soil for future crops. So, that is motivation to keep things safe for the environment. They will not have a good crop if it isn’t done correctly.
The pigs are fed and watered twice daily. The barns are cleaned & sterlized between each set of hogs. My siblings do the cleaning and barns are routinely inspected.
I don’t know much about what shots are given to the animals other than vaccines so disease does not spread. There could be other things that I do not know about.
I think there are many people who treat animals humanely just as there are those that don’t. Personally, if you are treating animals that way, there is something wrong with you and I would assume that those people wouldn’t hesitate to hurt a person.
I also know of a dairy operation in South Dakota that uses all of the cow manure in a methane generater and is able to run completely off of it’s own waste. How is that bad for the environment?
I just think it should be known that there are people on a family farm doing things responsibly. I just want people to be aware that just as there are people that ruin it for others, there are just as many that are responsible. We all know the saying that it takes one bad apple to ruin the whole bunch.
Hey Crystal – thank you so much for your super informative comment!
Eating Animals DOES delve into Family Farms and how they are different from factory farms – unfortunately my review was getting WAY TOO LONG and I couldn’t touch on it! So thanks for filling in some of the blanks in the comments.
The book does talk about how the treatment of animals on those farms is much more humane than the HUGE factory farms like Smithfield.
Unfortunately, somewhere around 98 or 99% (can’t remember the exact statistic now) of the meat consumed in the United States comes from the HUGE factory farms that are dominated by only a few large companies. And it’s at these farms, where they are processing so many animals as quickly as possible to save money a lot of things go wrong with the slaughter.
Also, in the book he talks about how at some factory farms the pigs simply do not have enough room to move to fulfill their naturally-clean tendencies and that’s why they end up rolling/stepping in there own feces.
Thanks again for your comment, I really appreciate all the information!
I mostly eat free range meats. It’s expensive and I was slow to get there, but I enjoy the taste of chicken way too much. I also eat fish. I do NOT eat red meat. I have been unable to find free range cattle. The taste of a steak now makes me ill to my stomach.
I am still waiting for this book from the library, but I already have my opinions!
Ugh, that was really disturbing about the hog worker. I was watching something on Food TV – they went to a slaughterhouse – and I thought to myself I would probably never eat meat again if I ever had to visit one.
To be honest, I am not a big fan of pork, and am kind of picky about beef. I do like chicken, and it makes me sad to hear about the conditions they live in.
I was never the kind to eat meat multiple times a day, but I do usually have it for dinner every night. BF and I are both big eaters with fast metabs (and when he works, he does pretty physical work) and it would be hard for us to cut back from how much meat we eat now. We have been eating a LOT more veggies lately and feeling healthier for it, though, and making our food go further. I would love to hear some of the vegetarian recipes you’re using!
This book is on my reading list… I’ve been waiting for it to go on sale
Come on Chapters!
Since last summer, and reading Omnivore’s Dilemma and a whole other host of books on this subject, I drastically reduced eating red meat to maybe once per month, and no pork. I still ate chicken. Since the first week in March, I’ve stopped eating all red meat, poultry, pork and 99% of seafood.
I still eat eggs, but I buy them from a local organic farm, that is like 5 minutes from my local veggie market. I wouldn’t buy eggs from a the grocery store though… and I have bought wild BC salmon from a local seafood wholesaler. But I’m super fortunate to live on the west coast and be able to purchase non farmed, wild salmon. I don’t think I’d eat it if I couldn’t purchase it that way either…
I’ve found that I’ve become a much better cook, and I’m trying so many new foods I would have never tried before. I did find that in the beginning I ate a lot of pasta, which wasn’t all that great for me, so I’ve made an effort to eat pasta only once a week and find new grain/bean based recipes.
I find the hardest part of my new eating is eating out or going to friends homes for dinner. There is a ton of resistance and comments from them about not eating meat when they notice my plate is all veggies. that’s been the hardest part.
I am most definitely an omnivore and I think I always will be, no matter what I read. I’m a “See it to believe it” kind of person and I don’t think a book could change my eating habits immediately. Really, I don’t have much of an opinion on factory farms because I don’t know enough about them.
Regardless, I do know that where my meat comes from is not always sunshine a happiness. It’s amazing how many people are unaware of where their food comes from.
I am definitely a flexitarian. My hubby and I have no problem going without meat. This evening for dinner for instance, we are having Greek Pitas with falafels.
Amber! As I mentioned to you earlier today, so happy I found this blog of yours
I am so proud to have such a talented friend.
This discussion was so great, I am glad you did not shy away from this topic and the reality of it. I have been reading information on the treatment of animals on farms and slaughterhouses, and it has made me hesitant when cooking meat as well – I have only cooked chicken once since I moved to Peace River. However, we will see how Tyler feels about that – I am sure you can imagine how that conversation would go.
The future dietitian in me just wants to point out a few things so I know you are still getting enough protein! North Americans generally do consume WAY more protein than their needs (0.8g protein/kg body weight is what we need), but if you do not get enough you may not feel 100%. Especially since you are a runner and need it to help with your muscle recovery. On the days you do not eat meat, make sure you have TWO of these choices through the day ….
-2 eggs
-2 Tbsp peanut butter
-3/4 cup beans or legumes, cooked
-1/4 cup nuts
-3/4 cup tofu
Love your blog dearie, and YOU!
I am a regular meat eater. I grew up on a farm and my parents still live on that farm. Sometimes i wonder if i could give up meat but honestly i have never tried. I also wonder if they find the worst case scenarios like the ones you mentioned to put in books and movies that persuade all people to stop eating meat. We had pigs on our farm and i know for a fact my dad and the people he dealt with never treated the animals like that. My boyfriends brother has a cow farm, and all his cows are organic. Everything they eat is organic and they are not pumped full of any kind of medication. I honestly think the organic meat is better anyways. I’m not here to argue with anyone, just stating my thoughts!
Here is a good video on meat: http://meat.org
Holy crap this is a GREAT post! Thank you! I have been struggling with going veg for YEARS. I don’t “label” myself but I suspect I’m more of a flexatarian than anything. I don’t eat meat all the time. Only when it’s available. It’s hard because I’m broke as a joke right now so if I’m eating at someones house and all they have is meat, then I’ll eat it. However, if I cook something for myself, it’s RARE that I use meat (except for shrimp I made recently). Anyways, great post. I’ve been scared to read this book but now I may have to pick it up.
I’ve been a vegetarian for nearly 14 years. Yes, years. Once you make the decision–for whatever reason–and you realize the true meaning of your decision, it’s not hard to do.
I have no desire for meat. At all. I strongly, strongly recommend those of you who have considered going vegetarian to actually take the plunge and do so. It will change your life.
I’m glad you point out the way the animal agriculture industry contributes to the decline of our planet’s health. This is one of the reasons I became a vegetarian. With so much “green” talk these days, going vegetarian is definitely something to consider…and hopefully act on.
I wish you all the best of luck!
xoxo,
Secret Agent L
P.S. This quote by my favorite saint, St. Francis of Assisi, pretty much sums it up for me:
“If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who deal likewise with their fellow men.”
–St. Francis of Assisi
Wow, look at all the comments!
I’ve been a vegetarian for 8 years now and wouldn’t want to start eating meat again. I haven’t read Eating Animals, but I have heard quite a bit about it. It’s not on my reading list, only because I already know most of the information it covers–no need to preach to the choir.
If you’re looking to eat in a more humane manner, I suggest avoiding gelatin as well. It’s in a lot of food: candy, jello, yogurt, desserts. Anything wiggly, jiggly or gooey is susceptible. But if you take the time to read the ingredients, you can usually find products that don’t use it. Jello pudding, for example, generally doesn’t have gelatin (although the no name brands often do.) Certain yogurts also don’t use gelatin, and lots of candy is entirely vegan.
Thanks for writing this post and reminding me why I’m glad to be vegetarian.
I wrote this post back in 2008 about why I decided to go veggie for the second time. http://sarahmariep.blogspot.com/2008/10/veggie-tale.html
I’m hoping that this time I’m going to stick with it for life. Guess we’ll see …. September marks my two-year veggie anniversary! YAY! (I was previously veggie Feb. 2003-January 2005.)
Proud of you for making this change!
I love that going vegetarian is a win-win situation … supports animal rights, supports the environment, can be a healthier choice, etc. etc. And yeah — you’re totally right about the protein argument being quite a poor argument in that people already eat TOO much protein for the much part. And yes, you can get protein from beans, eggs, peanut butter, etc, etc.
I don’t think I could ever be a vegan but I really admire those that do. I’m not a strict vegetarian in that I will often eat gravy with my mashed potatoes, I sometimes eat beans cooked in lard (when I go to the in-laws’ house) and I still buy leather shoes from time to time.
This book is on next on my list – but I’ll admit, after I watched Food Inc in April, I haven’t been the same – and I definitely believe it’s for the better! The movie stuck with me in a way that this book stuck with you. Although, through my education, I already had a pretty decent knowledge of what was going on – so, for me, the *images* were the key thing. UGH. I have had ZERO appetite for meat of any kind since then, and I don’t see myself ever going back. Buying from local farms is one thing, but again, zero appetite! It doesn’t even sound good. So, no thanks!
This is a great post
and, welcome to the club! ha xo
Wow! The images are really disturbing! Makes you think twice about eating meat and especially about feeding it to your children! I was a vegetarian when I was 15 for two years after we sold our steer that I helped raise because I thought it would be in the next burger I ate!
We are raising our own chickens and crap-free beef. It’s so much better because we know that the eggs are coming from free range chickens that are healthy and drug-free! Little harder with the beef cause they are raised from calves and are pets more than anything. We also catch and eat wild fish.
I knew it was bad but I had no idea the extent of the cruelty and inhumane treatment. I will have to read this book in a couple months.
Thanks for this post!
Wow Amber, that is crazy. I’m really glad you shared that with us. I try to eat healthy, but I haven’t even thought about meat and how the animals are treated.
I’m definitely late on commenting on this one (sorry!) but thank you for posting this, and thank you for even reading that book! You’re braver than I am! Those pictures and descriptions stay with me, and they end up giving me nightmares. My empathy response is kind of intense sometimes =)
I grew up with Peta magazines around the house, and flipping through them as a little kid (I quickly learned not to) made a huge impression on me. There were lots of those pictures, lots of those descriptions, lots of “behind the scenes in the slaughterhouse” exposes and beyond the fundamental “I don’t want to hurt animals” feeling I had from a very young age, being aware of what the meat industry was like made the issue very clear for me. I’ve been vegetarian since I was six, and mister is an omnivore (he’s very allergic to soy, which sucks!) but we buy his meat organic, and only buy free range eggs. It’s just one of those things that’s easy to do and rewards the people who care about the lives of their animals too.
I want to know what happens to those people that do cruel things to animals, like that man with the pig. You know they are cracking down on people that abuse family pets, maybe part of the answer lies in the punishment for people that abuse helpless animals. Stopping eating meat for one day isn’t going to stop cruelty.
I don’t agree or disagree with eating meat, but I do heartily disagree with cruelty to animals of any type.
Instead of focusing on not eating meat (because that’s not going to stop cruelty) you should focus on making a difference by stopping the cruelty. Education is a key component in stopping certain behaviour.
Those stories are just a few as one of your commenters pointed out there are other methods of raising and slaughtering meat. Consider the fact that the author puts those types of comments in for shock value and the fact it makes his books sell.
How much of the $$$ he made from selling this book gone into stopping the cruelty, maybe someone could answer that question.
I’m currently reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and it’s having the same effect on me. I started with Pollan’s “In Defense of Food”, which is far lighter, and worked my way into Dilemma – it’s incredible.
A large part of my thesis work was done in ethics, and a lot of what Pollan writes about strikes an interesting cord. When we treat animals a certain way, and we treat the environment a certain way, it is hard to treat one another with any more respect or dignity. It becomes a vestigial trait that is no more advantageous than non-opposable thumbs. When you look at the history of factory farming and how the manner in which we treat the animals and our food is closely mirrored in the treatment of workers, migrant or otherwise, the parallels are hard to miss unless you are willfully blind.
I’ve been wanting to read this for a little while now – I’m so glad you enjoyed it, I’ll add it to my list. xo
…aaaaaannnnnddd…. thought you might find this interesting. xo
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/860
It’s taken me a while to comment on this post because I too have very finnicky food views. I haven’t read this one in particular but I have read “the Omnivores Dilemma” and “In Defence of Food” where the premise is the same.
I am in no way a massive meat eater. In fact, in grade 8 after doing a project on animal rights I gave up meat for a year because I was appalled at their treatment. This was over 12 years ago when it wasn’t in the forefront of the media, and as a kid I couldn’t change my parents buying habits to buy ethically produced meat.
However, these days I’m not about to become vegetarian after reading a book such as this, Skinny Bitch (which I thought was crap), etc. The reason for this is because I’m 100% a foodie and live for things like steak and seafood… however, the occasions where I eat huge portions of meat are very rare. Maybe once a month or so. AB and I eat vegetarian at least 3 out of 7 dinners a week, and meat is never the main focus of our meal. Breakfast and lunch for me is vegetarian for the most part unless I’m eating dinner leftovers.
For example: Last night I made a cabbage, apple and tomato slow-cooked dish that had pulled pork in it. Yes there was meat, but I used a total of 2 very small pork ribs for an entire dish that fed 4 people. We had less than 1/2 a serving of meat each, and it was just a flavour addition to the bulk of cabbage. I’ll often add lentils to spaghetti meat sauce or meat balls to stretch it further and 1 lb of ground beef that would generally make 4 burgers, I will stretch to 12 with added veggies and grains.
Even AB (your typical Aussie bloke) has admitted that he doesn’t mind veggie food, and we honestly don’t have a “meat based” (ie meat, potatoes + veg) meal more than once a week max.
That being said, we’re not perfect. I struggle with the cost of organic, local, sustainable meat and fish. Often it’s easier to buy meat at the grocery store than order it through our biodynamic butcher, where it comes frozen. I thought I was doing well buying Free Range pork, until I did a bit of research and realised it was only “Bred Free Range” and not 100% Free Range. So we’re getting better and better, but cutting meat 100% out of our diet is something that’s NEVER going to happen. I will however support the “good guys” and avoid factory farmed meat as much as is possible.
I watched Food Inc just a few days ago for the first time and I was horrified. It’s disgusting. However, as someone who doesn’t live in the West anymore, I find that a lot of this doesn’t apply to me. When I go to buy chicken in the shop, it comes as a whole bird, with all it’s internal organs intact and even some feathers still on. When I want mince, I have to ask the butchers to mince some steaks for me. And when I want to buy veg that’s out of season I’ll have to travel far and wide to get it because it’s so expensive that most people won’t buy it and therefore the sellers don’t provide it. Similarly, meat is very expensive, so it’s really not the bulk of my meal. I feel that this is a more natural way of living and eating.
If, however, I should return to live in the UK or another developed country, I think that now I would seriously consider becoming a full-time vegetarian, especially as it’s so easy to find alternative sources of protein there.
I just reserved this book at the library. I don’t know if I will get through it, but I really want to try. I don’t think I could ever be a full blown vegetarian but I think I can definitely reduce my meat intake. I too want to educate myself more on this subject and where my meat comes from.
What a great post Amber! Thank you!
I will have to pick up this book, it sounds interesting.
My story is a little different…I was a vegetarian for over a decade and actually started eating meat! I lost 100 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. Once I lost the weight I started running. Running changed my hunger in a way I wasn’t expecting. I started to CRAVE meat. Like intense, maddening cravings! I just wanted a big, juicy STEAK! And no substitutes or “fake” meats would satisfy my cravings. I am now a full-fledged meat eater.
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