A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to listen to Jonathan Safran Foer speak in Brookline. He is the author of two successful novels, Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Both are awesome and are highly recommended. His most recent release, however, is non-fiction and it’s called Eating Animals. It’s a book that confronts the meat eating practices that we have in the country, with the opinion that we have gone far astray of a moral and ultimately beneficial relationship with meat. It’s more than just a diatribe against factory farming, it’s an emotional and literary appeal to reform our eating practices and pay more attention to what it is we put into our bodies and where it comes from.
Foer became a vegetarian after he discovered he was going to be a father. He had dabbled in it on and off for a number of years but when he was reflecting on the world that he wanted to leave his children, he decided to commit to the endeavor. The book alternates between figures and descriptions in regards to industrial agriculture practices as well as anecdotes from his own upbringing in relation to meat.
I came to vegetarianism through a year and a half of browbeating while living with my good friend Scott of the band Cahill. Just kidding, Scott.
I went whole hog (or should I say no hog) about a few months ago and am still adjusting myself. For instance, I caved a little bit while home for Thanksgiving and I only resolved this week to give up fish and eggs. I still have a ways to go. Either way, I think the true costs of factory farming (on our environment, our health, and our farmers) need to be questioned by more of the population. I think Foer will appeal to a wider audience and it heartens me to see him working so hard to make an impact.
The clip below is from Ellen in early November. I got a kick out of the end of the video when Ellen gave everyone a copy of his book as well as perfume and a CD from Mariah Carey.
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