Compelling information on animal welfare and great nutritional insights, but a little off the rails with the Freudian uber-analysis of the concept of "denial." ( )

I thought this book was pretty good, but it's easy to feel like you've read it all before if you've read stuff like The Food Revolution or Cook Food and even books like In Defense of Food and Fast Food Nation. What I did really appreciate was the chapter devoted to fish farming and aquaculture. I wish I could just give a copy of that chapter to people who are astounded when they find out that veg*ns don't eat fish. (Why so many people think this, I have no idea, but they're out there.) ( )

Quando compriamo il cibo e lo prepariamo, di solito non ci rendiamo conto che stiamo anche facendo una scelta morale che riguarda l'intero pianeta. Una bistecca sul nostro tavolo significa sostenere un certo uso del territorio per l'allevamento, dell'acqua per la preparazione delle carni e del gas per il trasporto di questo cibo. Da qui la Food Revolution che dagli Stati Uniti ha diffuso un modello di dieta ecosostenibile.

Although the facts in this book were interesting, I liked this book a little less than other “foodie” books I’ve read this year. The author has a vegetarian agenda so the tone of the book gets preachy at times. There were some things I’d never thought about before, such as “stealing” honey from bees.

I was also offended by a part of the book in which the author suggests that people should think above and beyond religious dicta. I would rather think through religious doctrine to see why foods the author wouldn’t eat are, in fact, okay to eat within my own religion.

One part of the book, about farmed fish, was really horrifying. That chapter will certainly have me choosing wild fish over farmed fish if at all possible. It will not, however, stop me from going fishing myself and eating the fish I catch.

One thing I particularly liked that the author suggested was the idea of “informed consent”. Why not let people know ahead of time what animals must endure prior your eating them? I don’t advocate PETA members accosting diners in restaurants, but I do think that information about the animal food industry should be made available to everyone. I also think that slaughterhouses and people within the meat industry should be more forthright and open about the process of raising animals to become food.

The author also mentioned that it would be worthwhile to learn more about the individual species of animals that we do eat. If we understand animals more, we might decide to eat less of them.

This book had its flaws, but overall it gave an interesting perspective of the food industry from a vegan/vegetarian perspective. ( )

This, along with other books by Masson, has helped me move closer to becoming a vegetarian, and I highly recommend it for anyone else who wants to become a conscientious eater. ( )