Do you know how sometimes you randomly hear of a book title over and over again? Through sudden coincidences and general word of mouth, it starts to get embedded in your brain? Recently, this book for me was
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. I've heard of it before and then suddenly it seemed that it was solely turning many Hollywood starlets into vegans overnight. Both Natalie Portman and Anne Hathaway had mentioned this title in interviews and how it affected them. Obviously, one can deduce what the book is about so I decided to read it.
In the book, Foer explains that he was an occasional vegetarian throughout his life but since becoming a father, this book was his way to learn more about eating animals and what the right decision for his family would be and why. He does a lot of extensive research, visits some farms, ponders why we eat the animals we do and not others, and speaks to different types of farmers to provide a varied perspective. What is interesting about Foer is that it isn't brainwashing for vegetarianism, but what the reader will get is awareness about where our food comes from. I think it is important that we recognize what happens behind the scenes and not just take for granted that meat comes cleaned and packaged at the supermarket and ignore all that comes before. Just like being an educated voter, I am interested to know all sides before I make a decision and this is a general introduction is not so in-your-face like those PETA YouTube videos of animals thrown in death machines.
Let me also add that I myself am not a vegetarian and I am not sure if I can be one because I enjoy the variety and convenience of food as an omnivore. I didn't eat lamb for almost 15 years because I liked sheep until someone introduced me to Greek lamb souvlaki and I still feel guilty about it every time. As Foer also points out, eating is a social experience and because people don't like being the table outcast, they must either firmly stand ground or cave. We were raised to eat whatever is on our plate, and likewise we don't ask the host if the Thanksgiving turkey was humanely raised in a privately owned farm that only uses organic feed. Today we are definitely more respectful of food choices of our family and friends and do our best to be accommodating, but it still does not mean it is easy.
Despite being a very small way, I do however, try to draw the line and don't eat the shark fin soup that so many Asians adore or order the fresh seafood still swimming in their tanks. That immediacy of having a life taken away to please my taste buds is a bit too much, but even that is often mistaken as an excuse for being a cheap diner at restaurants. I'm also not a very daring eater, but the thought of eating foreign delicacies like rabbit or veal sweetbread makes me want to vomit (look it up, you will too).
By the end of the book, it made me think about my decisions to eat eggs after knowing how they are produced, what food to eat, and what to avoid from now on (KFC). What truly deserves our concern, both health and environmental-wise, and what are marketing gimmicks (ie. What exactly does free-range mean?) Suddenly I was unconsciously turning into one of my righteous pro-vegan friends and making remarks at others at the table as they cut their steaks (and feeling like a super hypocrite at it). In the end, I did not turn vegan overnight and throw all my leather shoes away, but the book did make me stop and think about how I can go towards that path, maybe not now, but later and someday. Eat more veggies, be a smarter shopper at the supermarket and take baby steps.
