The Gist: Good morning, and Happy Presidents' Day! I am actually reporting from home today, due to the holiday. I hope you guys are enjoying a long weekend as well. It is the last week of our discussion of Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, and I look forward to talking to you about the rest of the book. We will be reading and discussing Veganist by Kathy Freston next week. If you don't have it yet, you can purchase a signed copy on the VN Store.We read the last two sections of the book for our discussion this week. In "I do," Foer tackles the cattle industry, as well as the two competing terms in the animal rights movement today—Animal Rights vs. Animal Welfare. He starts the section by introducing Bill and Nicolette of Niman Ranch, which was mentioned earlier in the book. Niman Ranch is known for its "humane" meat, and Foer visited the ranch while researching the book. The section goes on to tell three different views of the meat industry: one from Nicolette, the "Vegetarian Rancher;" one from Bruce Friedrich, the PETA activist; and one from Bill Niman, the humane rancher. After these points of views are shared, Foer goes on to talk about the cattle industry as a whole, and points out the fact that humane ranches, like Niman's, are fine, but won't make much of a difference as long as cheap, factory-farmed meat is available to the masses. Foer does say that if all meat was raised like Niman's or Frank Reese's turkeys, he would probably eat meat, but at this time, there is no way that you can eat humane meat 100 percent of the time. He explains that this is why he has chosen a vegetarian diet.
The final section is entitled "Storytelling" once again, like the first section, and Foer goes back to talking about family and traditions, specifically Thanksgiving. Americans have made Thanksgiving about the turkey, even though it's quite possible that there wasn't even a turkey served at the first Thanksgiving. He questions this tradition, as well as the treatment of the factory-farmed turkey. He once again mentions the fact about people "forgetting" when it comes to their food, and he really starts to delve into the importance of what we put on our plate. He understands that it is our food that gives us a "sense of self," but also mentions that due to the unfathomable abuses that are now taking place on factory farms, it is time to leave our comfort zone, and actively choose what we eat. He relates it to when his Grandmother said that she would not eat pork even though she was starving while on the run during WWII, and how she said, "If nothing matters, there's nothing to save."
The Discussion: Here are two discussion points to help get the conversation started. I look forward to hearing from you!
1. What are your thoughts on "I am a vegan who builds slaughterhouses," in which the man in charge of Farm Forward talks about helping Frank Reese build his own humane slaughterhouse. Would you still label him as a vegan? Do you think Farm Forward is a good program, or is there a better realistic solution?
2. It is obvious that the vegan movement is catching on—right now there are two bestselling books that deal with veganism, and people in the mainstream like Foer are bringing these issues to more people. Do you think that the movement is moving at the right pace, or does something bigger have to happen?
The Assignment: Please read the Introduction and the first two chapters of Veganist for our discussion on February 28.
~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig
