Here is the latest blog on my reading habits. Lately, I’ve been consuming a lot of books, and many of them don’t make sense to mention on a gardening/eating blog. But this week’s read definitely does… Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer.
So why did I pick up this book? Actually, it has been languishing in my Amazon basket for years, having popped up as a suggested buy. I’d put it off, and put it off, and then one day it arrived after I did a quick checkout and forgot to ‘save it for later’ again.
I’m so glad it is here. It is excellent, and definitely up there with the author’s fiction work. I wish the subject of this book was a story, but alas, sadly not.
I’ve wolfed down half of the book so far, and am thoroughly enjoying Foer’s approach to the subject. He isn’t sentimental, but he is very honest. There is a particularly interesting aside about being offered ham after visiting a slaughterhouse. Unwilling to eat it, but unwilling to offend, the author excusing himself by saying that the meat isn’t ‘kosher’… the gentle chance to reflect on the strangeness of the situation, without bringing judgement on either side.
This book may convince you to turn vegetarian. Or it may convince you to eat meat. Just like the anecdote above, it gives you the time to reflect and make your own decision. Something that we all should do, regardless of what we eat.
If you missed my other Weekend Read posts, then you can check them out here, here and here. And if you want to suggest a book, leave a comment below.
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