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Eating Animals
Eating Animals
Eating Animals
Audiobook10 hours

Eating Animals

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

Part memoir and part investigative report, Eating Animals is the groundbreaking moral examination of vegetarianism, farming, and the food we eat every day that inspired the documentary of the same name.

Bestselling author Jonathan Safran Foer spent much of his life oscillating between enthusiastic carnivore and occasional vegetarian. For years he was content to live with uncertainty about his own dietary choices but once he started a family, the moral dimensions of food became increasingly important.

Faced with the prospect of being unable to explain why we eat some animals and not others, Foer set out to explore the origins of many eating traditions and the fictions involved with creating them. Traveling to the darkest corners of our dining habits, Foer raises the unspoken question behind every fish we eat, every chicken we fry, and every burger we grill.

Part memoir and part investigative report, Eating Animals is a book that, in the words of the Los Angeles Times, places Jonathan Safran Foer “at the table with our greatest philosophers”—and a must-read for anyone who cares about building a more humane and healthy world.

Editor's Note

On the screen…

Through a combination of memoir and investigative journalism, Jonathan Safran Foer asks the hard questions about the morality of eating animals without ever being preachy. A documentary based on the book, narrated and produced by Natalie Portman, is out now.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 6, 2009
ISBN9781440763397
Eating Animals
Author

Jonathan Safran Foer

JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER is the author of the novels Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and a work of nonfiction, Eating Animals. His books have won numerous awards and have been translated into 36 languages. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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Reviews for Eating Animals

Rating: 4.074830041788144 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,029 ratings88 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This did not make me a Jonathan Safran Foer fan, but it effectively reminded why I don't eat meat and should be a vegan. I was not really all that interested in the bits about his grandmother. It is a good book for a starting vegetarian, and covers a lot of ground.It made me realize that those times when I stood in the local grocery and watched the butcher cut up a quite dead pig are things of the very much past. Quite probably, the reason why cooking shows don't copy Julia Child's casual display of whole chicken carcasses is because they dare not anymore, those carcasses would look a whole lot scarier than they used. Ditto for fish.Jonathan Safran Foer gets quite direct when he discusses what he considers the evasions in "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and he can turn a phrase.This is a good book for any vegetarian or would-be vegetarian but is unlikely to be a welcome X-mas present for the determined meat-eater.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was so informative, not trying to persuade you either way.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The best book I read during 2014
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    As a vegan, I assumed what I knew about the animal ag industry was all I needed to know. While it was a hard listen, this book is so important.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a really good read. I picked it up because it sounded interesting and I liked his writing in Everything Is Illuminated. I did not expect it to change my mind about what I eat, but it did. Even more than the treatment of animals (which is horrible, but on its own, probably not enough to make me want to give up tasty animals), the stuff that's in them and the environmental effects of the "farms" are what did it. I don't want all that stuff in my body.I'm not going to go totally vegan or even totally vegetarian, but I am going to limit my meat-eating to an occasional thing. I don't think it will be hard, and I was already planning to limit meat just for financial reasons (plus already limiting dairy and eggs and red meat).
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Cursed book. Now I'm a vegetarian. I bought Eating Animals because a friend highly recommended it. I was fascinated by how dramatically it had changed his eating habits so I was curious to see what effect it would have on me. I was skeptical I would be converted and mainly wanted to read for the gory details. A few pages in, I quickly grew concerned that I would soon be put off meat altogether so I quickly ran to the kitchen to eat as much meat as I could. Yes, I was eating freak-meat while I was reading this book. I am a BIG meat-eater and most of my meals contain a lot of meat so I'm now obviously devastated. :( It might take a long while, but I'm hoping to work my way towards veganism. Please stay away from this book if you want to continue eating meat. But don't. Everyone should read it. I'm making everyone I care about read it. Writing style is passable. Still, 5 stars for converting this carnivore.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of the most thought provoking books I’ve ever read. This book covers philosophy, science and culture, and really open up your eyes to things you may not of thought about before, all in a very interesting style.
    Highly highly recommend 10/10!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Moving, concise, not overly graphic but specific enough in language to convey experiences in order to jump start a tragic movie in your mind. Read the book and listen to the audiobook. Incredibly written and performed.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Full of terrifying statistics that I wasn't aware of: that for every 1kg of shrimp, 26kg of other fish species are killed; that an omnivorous diet is responsible for 7x the greenhouse gas emissions of one vegan diet; that agricultural farming is responsible for 40% more pollution than all forms of transport combined — including air travel. Complemented by tales of toxic agricultural waste and chickens getting 'washed' in fecal soup.. christ. Terrifying. He was preaching to the choir but still a good read.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Enlightening. Disturbing. Truthful. Well researched. Pro’s and con’s let’s the reader decide. Highly recommend.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A must read for any ethical consumer. Full of facts and stories that paint a picture of the American food production industry and force us to look our food in the face.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Backing up the idea of carnism - meat eating is just as much of a choice as not eating it - Foer gives a stark look at how animals are raised for food. Being blind consumers of an industry that deals in living, breathing, feeling creatures is how an industry can go wrong.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Strong balance of fact and narrative. Presents a convincing case for veganism despite only broaching the ecological and ethical arguments.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Repetitive, and personal opinions and beliefs! One sided! Thank you.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    alright alright I’ll eat less meat
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was a really engaging book. I appreciated the firsthand accounts and commentary from people who work in the industry. I also appreciate that the author is coming from a perspective of compassion and welfare while not being PETA-level rabid regarding ethical consumption.

    I've mostly watched documentaries about poor farming conditions in the past. My wife and I were vegetarians for over a year but started eating meat again. Having read this, I'm reminded of many of the reasons why we started eating vegetarian in the first place.

    I'm not sure we'll ever eat vegetarian again, but we can reduce our neat consumption definitely. And I'm going to make an effort to be sure that any meat we buy is from animals that were mistreated as little as possible.

    Factory farming is just disgusting. I can't imagine the health impact of eating animals that were tortured or slaughtered while still alive.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I got what I needed out of this book. It’s a great intro but didn’t really give me any new information.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Amazing, horrifying, worth reading
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Eating Animals is a cultural, social look at farming and factory farming and how we eat meat and why we eat the way we do, why certain cultures have taboos around eating meat and others do not, interspersed with Foer's personal narratives.

    Before I do my review of the book, I feel like I should provide a lil context into my own life, which I don't normally do.

    I fully believe that we, as humans, pick our battles. Some people feel passionately about ethically-sourced clothing, some about environmental advocacy, some about education for the underprivileged. This does not mean that we are uncaring or callous but we can only focus our energies in a meaningful way in so many things at a time.

    What I’ll talk about in my review are my beliefs and my beliefs alone and I have no right to change anyone’s mind or to force my view on anyone else.

    You can eat whatever you want. If I, a sometimes-vegetarian were to judge you for your diet, that would be a lil hypocritical, considering how often I get criticised for sometimes eating tofu even though I still regularly eat meat.

    Not everyone has the time, the money or the mental energy to the access to eat a vegetarian, vegan or ethical diet. I also want to say that I fully believe in indigenous sovereignty when it comes to hunting and food access so if you hunt animals and provide for your family and identify as First Nations or Aboriginal — you have every right to access land and what it provides in the way you’ve been taught to.

    I had toyed with the idea of vegetarianism for a long time and finally entertained the idea in 2017. I could not reconcile the concept of eating meat that was entirely anonymous to me. Raw meat gradually transformed from something inert to something bloody, something odd. I didn’t like that I was so complacent in eating meat for so many years and what right did I have to be at the top of the food chain? Aren’t humans just a part of the world, not the pinnacle?

    I started discussing vegetarianism with my vegetarian friends, all of whom were very supportive and were more relaxed about said diet than most of my omnivore friends. They suggested trying the diet for a week, or eating more ethically-sourced meat.

    The people who protested my diet change were often omnivores, who said they loved bacon too much, or could never do without turkey at Christmas dinner. Throughout 2017, and into 2018, I still struggle with vegetarianism. I don't want to be an inconvenience to anyone else and I have odd attachments to things with meat in them (like pepperoni pizza).

    And so I came into the book with much the same mindset that Foer has or had: I wanted to eat meat, but I didn't want to feel guilt for doing so.

    So, I think that's why Foer's writing stuck with me so much and was so accessible, particularly in the beginning of the book. I think it's an excellent book to start with if you want to read more non-fiction because of the interspersed headings, reasonably-sized chapters and many headings.

    I did, however, find it a little repetitive at times and certainly felt his bias in others. While I never really disagreed with his bias, sometimes I felt its presence was unwanted, as though he were trying to convince me of a point I already agreed to.

    I didn't particularly enjoy the chapters on Thanksgiving and I wished he'd explored the topic of eating and our relationship with food more, not just factory farming. Perhaps then there might've been a more in-depth look at First Nations peoples' relationship with food and that complex, ever-winding web of life -- but that might be another book in and of itself.

    The aim of this book is not to shame you or curse you for your ignorance, which I greatly appreciated because I find that activists can be often militant in their causes and ignore other contexts in a person's life.

    Foer is a writer, and so he writes. He writes a book filled with searing truths, littered with little sentimentalities that I often find myself guilty of. He asks important questions that are worth thinking about, and asks them in a really thoughtful way.

    If you made it to the end of this review, I am impressed. <3
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Best for: Anyone looking for both a philosophical and a reality-based discussion about the decision to consume meat.In a nutshell: When he realizes he is going to be a father, Mr. Foer decides to examine the food he eats and the morality of it.Worth quoting:I underlined and starred so many lines that I could put here, but I think this one sums the entire question up for “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.”Why I chose it:I’ve been vegetarian (and even vegan) at a few points in my life. I pretty much never cook meat at home. Lately I’ve been wondering if I can justify my decision to even intermittently eat meat, so when I saw this book at Shakespeare and Co in Paris, I decided it was time to jump in again.Review:What does it mean to choose to consume meat in the US (or UK) these days? What has it meant for the last 50 years? Realistically, unless you are raising your own meat or purchasing it from one of an infinitesimally small number of family farmers, your meat is coming from a factory farm. And even if you do purchase it from a ‘humane’ farmer, that animal is still being killed in an unimaginably cruel slaughterhouse. We know this, and yet we (unless the person reading this is vegetarian or vegan) still consume meat. And eggs. And dairy.Why? This book explores the reasons we give, in beautifully written prose. Seriously, I’ve read many a book in my day about vegetarianism and veganism, but none have affected me in this way. They all have some variation on the same statistics, the same horror stories. The same glimpses into slaughterhouses, the same reminder that the workers in these facilities are often paid poorly and treated horribly. They tell us how pigs are much more like dogs than we’d probably feel comfortable knowing as we bite into our BLTs. How fish are much more intelligent than we’d probably imagined, and how both farmed and wild-caught seafood are just utterly horrible for the environment. How ALL of this factory farming — on land and sea — is destroy our world.The book doesn’t provide an easy out, and I love that. Mr. Foer opens and closes his book with anecdotes about family meals. He describes the best (and only) meal his grandmother — a holocaust survivor — makes: chicken with carrots. He recognizes, and explores deeply, how food matters to us all culturally. How so many of our memories involve meals. And he asks if that is enough to justify consuming meat? What about if we are 100% certain that the meat was raised humanely (which is nearly impossibly to do)?I’ve gone back and forth on this. I’ve read many an article about how pushing a vegetarian — or vegan — life on everyone can be culturally and economically insensitive. When vegetarians and vegans point out how poorly factory farm (e.g. all farm) animals are treated, they’re often responded to with the fact that people who pick our fruits and vegetables are treated poorly, so why don’t we care about them. Which is a completely insincere comment, given the shit labor standards that cover slaughterhouse workers. Here’s where I’ve landed, once again, and after reading this book: I cannot justify consuming meat. Me. A woman with no medical issues, who has access to sufficient money and time to prepare an all-vegetarian diet. I do care about the welfare of animals. And I do care about their rights. I care about the environment. I care about public health (side note: Mr. Foer’s section on antibiotics and flu pandemics is one area that other similar books don’t cover nearly enough). And by choosing to not eat meat, I can be closer to living my values. I just had become complacent, and this book helped push me back on the right path.As I write this review, my cat Tigger keeps jumping in my lap. My partner and I adopted him and his brother Jameson 6 1/2 years ago. They’re our buddies, our friends. We love them dearly, and even brought them with us when we moved to London. I can’t imagine life without them, and I certainly can’t imagine eating them. So how can I justify eating their animal friends? And why do I keep trying to? Because burgers are tasty? Sure. But, as Mr. Foer asks, is that taste more important than the life of another animal? Of course, this raises the question of how to feed them humanely. Cats are obligate carnivores, so chances are that the meat I need to feed them was procured in an inhumane fashion. I don’t know how to square that circle, but I’m going to try.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A complete eye opener. This book affected me much more than Food, Inc. I loved that JSF touched upon all topics concerning the meat/dairy industry including health, ethics and environmental concerns. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the meat/dairy industry.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Finally finished reading this. I started it so long ago.

    It's very informative, and although I knew some of the information already, it's still a pretty good read for people who want to learn about where meat comes from.

    It's not super preachy which is good and it's easy to read and understand.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    If you eat meat, you should read this book. Nuff said?
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've never read Foer's novels, so I don't know how this compares, but I thought this was very enjoyable read--despite the subject matter. I've always been a proponent of eating outside of the industrial system of meat production in the United States, and I'm in the position he was before he decided to become a vegetarian: It's hard to eat meat and be outside of that system. It's a book that is careful not to damn anyone, or alienate meat-eaters--he gives the opinions and testimonies from people inside that industrial system, and he endorses systems that are human and sustainable--but it is also hard to not be horrified and disgusted by the way animals are treated to put meat on the table. Foer also does a good job of bringing light to the way that industrial fishing is destroying the oceans. Usually the topics of animals and fish are separate, but they shouldn't be, since they are part of the same inhumane capitalistic system.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Foer's stated aim in this book is to describe the ways that factory farms operate, and to explore the environmental, physical, ethical, economic and social ramifications of consuming factory farmed animals. Spoiler alert: factory farming is horrible for everyone and everything; it is bad for animals (torture, unimaginable cruelty), it is bad for humans (pig/avian flus, 90% of the animals we consume are sick, increasing resistance to antibiotics), it is bad for laborers (low pay, hard hours, desensitization to pain of others), it is bad for traditional farmers (no infrastructure, loss of genetic variability), and it is bad for the environment (methane gas, amount of grain and water used to produce 1 calorie of animal protein).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book ruined my life (but I appreciate it for it). TLDR; I read this book in an attempt to decide for myself if I want to become a vegetarian, and had already changed my eating habits by page 25. Don't read this book if you don't want to undergo some soul searching and possibly change the way you eat.Jonathan Safran Foer set out to truly learn everything he can about animal farming and the meat industry, and presents the cold hard facts alongside anecdotes and stories (which he excels at writing). I appreciated that he includes writings from the point of view of all sorts of people involved in this, from factory farmers, to family farmers, to PETA members and vegan slaughterhouse builders. He attempts to share a balanced view of the meat industry, but in the end can't deny the cruelty that takes place at factory farms. The details in this book made me nauseous, made me cry, and made me angry. I had a hard time reading this but am so glad that I did.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Foer tells stories, but this time it's more about the facts he's presenting. Which might be shocking for some. Which will prpbably include something new for everyone. Or at least a new perspective. Maybe it's more about the perspectives than the facts. Facts, lighted from different angles by the stories that make this book. To be taken seriously, still an enjoyable read.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    At a recent visit to my friend's place, First Root Farm, I read "Eating Animals," a book by Jonathan Safran Foer.

    Basically, it's a book about meat, and how Jonathan's [I'm on a first-name basis with the world now; let's be friends, not politicians] not into it.

    Overall, I'd recommend the book, just because it's an issue that everyone needs to be talking about, but I also didn't really like it. It - meat - is a big deal because it's part of this bigger deal called food. And food's about as central as we can get. Everything relates to food, as it's a fundamental human need. What types of things am I talking about? Culture. Energy. The environment.

    So, let's get down to business.

    Issue's with the book:

    1. Vegetables

    Jonathan talks a ton on meat; all sorts of it, and from a few different perspectives. But it seem's that he's missing the point. He's really talking about food, and until he realizes that, his argument will feel really lopsided. What about vegetables? What am I going to eat when I'm not using animals? How about all the violence we do to plants?

    2. Generalizations

    The guy also just generalizes all the time. He's really good at approximating, oversimplifying. I think he felt it might improve his communication skills, but, to me, his appeals sound hollow, not complex enough to accurately model reality.

    3. Negativity

    Part of the issue is that he's a real downer, just pessimistic about the world. Where's some good news? Is there anything right in the animal kingdom?

    4. Big numbers, not big picture

    I'm a percent kinda guy. I like looking at systems. Jonathan, on the other hand, seems to like big numbers. But big numbers mean nothing, unless you start comparing stuff. Sure, maybe there are 50 billion chickens produced annually, but how many grains of sand are there in Cape Cod?

    5. Lack of faith in small farms

    Although he says he's rootin' for 'em, Jonathan never fairly represents the promise that fundamental changes to our food system - industrial to community - have to offer. And yet he assumes that we can all become vegetarians. It's interesting that he pulls out some numbers about small farms, but not once does he analyze statistics on the number of people that don't eat meat...

    6. Assumption that Americans care about suffering

    This is a really big one. He seems to think that Americans [his target audience, apparently] care about the suffering of others, non-human in particular. And I think he's just wrong. People hardly care about themselves, let alone some chicken living a thousand miles away.

    7. Misperception on shame

    On a side note, Jonathan seems to have an unhealthy understanding of shame. It's a tool for disempowerment, so I'm not into it.

    -

    But why is it worth reading?

    Important points:

    1. Food as an intersection

    Yup, everything's related to food. Start fixing food issues, and you've just started saving the world in a big way.

    2. Consumer choice matters

    This world, it's all just people. Stop buying factory meat, and it will stop being produced. It all starts at home.

    -

    So, overall, I wish Jonathan had spent more time talkin' about awesome stuff. Who wants to be gettin' sad all the time? Why would I change the world to make it just less bad. Naw, I want awesome! The motto of the Farm School, an organization of which I'm quite fond, is "be kind." That's distinctly different than "don't be mean." Maybe Jonathan should drop by some time.

    Oh, and did it change my habits? Well, I only learned some new details, not ideas. I'm pretty versed in this sort of stuff already. I'm what Jonathan calls a "conscientious omnivore," and I'm sticking to that. I think that animals [us included] are an important part of any ecosystem, in small numbers.

    Americans have the highest "standard of living" ever, yet they also have an unprecedented dearth of personal connection. Jonathan scratches the surface of this issue a few time, hinting that maybe people would care more about animals and the environment if they had more contact with them. I'd say he's right. So let's get to it! Let's get to regenerating our local communities!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book challenged me to think a little more about the food I choose to eat. Foer gives a good description of factory farming and presents a number of perspectives on the morality of eating meat. Most books I have read recently about food issues pretty much have just confirmed what I already believe, but this book really did make me think. I didn't agree with everything he said, but it was nice to be challenged. His writing made me think about how feasible it is to be an "ethical omnivore." It my experience, it helps to have rules when choosing what to eat. It is much easier say no to all meat than to pick and choose which meat you will eat. Being a vegetarian makes it a lot easier to turn down factory farmed meat.

    The book also challenged me to think about the social reasons for eating meat. Should I honor traditions, community, and the generousity of my friends and family or should I place more value on the health of the world community as a whole? Is it possible to do both? These are tough questions that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to answer.

    This book did not convince me that there is anything inherently wrong about eating meat. Whether we eat factory farmed meat, ethically raised meat, or only plants, things die so that we can live. A vegetarian diet is not free of environmental and moral ambiguity. This book reinforces the fact that choosing what to eat can be a very complicated issue.



  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This books is one of the few books I've come across that I think everyone should read. It is one of the best condemnations of factory farming ever written. Clearly presented are the enormous threats factory farming presents to the environment, public health, local economies, as well as the persistent and terrible cruelty endured by the animals it produces. All of us eat and all of us should have some understanding of what goes on in the production of our food.