Not Eating Animals

I just finished reading Eating Animals.  Written by Jonathan Safran Foer, the book gives an in-depth, fact-filled run down of factory-farming in the United States. Whether vegan or the most hard-core of meat-eaters, I suggest reading the book, if only to give a greater sense of connection to the origins and journey of the food you are eating before it reaches your plate.



For me, learning about the total insanity of factory farms that produce poultry, pork and beef was a lot to stomach.  From the amount of gene-fucking to the ample drugs that the animals ingest (and that we then ingest) to the severely detrimental living conditions in which the animals exist I learned a lot about the industry's goal - to keep the animals just well enough not to die before slaughter. Slaughter, done at slaughter facilities, is more gruesome than you'd think - not because it's sad to see life end but because of the seriously fucked up ways that workers deform and traumatize the animals.

Poking their eye balls out, skinning them alive and slicing off their noses and rubbing salt in them are just a few things the workers do for fun.  But I can't blame them - most are in such dire need of work, many are illegal workers bussed over so that they are completely dependent on the industry and essentially don't have rights to speak up... you've got to go insane working that job.

Foer talks about how humanely raised meat is better but most of it still goes to those slaughterhouses. And he talks about fish, though not as much, as another no-no.  Eating fish, he argues, is more of an environmental hazard (trolling shrimp brings up tons of by-catch that dies on the boat and then just gets chucked back into the ocean dead).  Then again, he does talk about the fish farms, underwater factories, in which fish are kept so close together that the tanks are filled with their shit, which they start to eat.

In any event, it's a harrowing tale. All true. And, though we know his stance, it's relatively unbiased.  He presents facts.  And those speak for themselves.

***HIGHLY RECOMMENDED***