06 October 2010

To be or not to be...a carnivore? Jonathan Safran Foer on Eating Animals

Jonathan Safran Foer, in his latest book, Eating Animals, asks not whether it is right or wrong to eat animals, but rather, is it right or wrong to raise animals the way we do? Author of two best-selling novels, Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Foer switched gears in his latest book. As a vegetarian, he tackles his own values, as well as his families values, throughout his investigation of the meat industry in the United States today. On September 25, he spoke about his new book at the National Book Festival on Washington, D.C.’s Mall, where Foer asked his readers the question: what is the value of meat? And is it worth it?

The book is about changing the view of food. Foer begins his exploration very close to home, in his own family: his grandmother. He explains that after barely surviving World War II, for her, food was a necessity, sustenance and a source of life. This idea of food is common in past generations, but has been engulfed with today’s opinion that food is enjoyment; it is something we want and not need.

Today, we have a focus on efficiency in our system: we want better food, more of it, at our convenience, and we want it now—oh, and cheap. Many of us know the terrible conditions of the meat industry. It is not only a matter of animal rights, Foer furthers the severity of the matter, stating that it is our most important relation to both environment and the animal world. The meat industry impacts our planet, environment, personal health as we are essentially creating “science experiments of ourselves”.

Foer expressed his desire to help people understand and care about these matters with choices to better reflect their values. It is not necessarily about becoming a vegetarian, but still, “we need to eat less of this stuff.” By making the choice to eating meat for only 20 meals rather than 21 meals per week is the same benefit to the planet as taking 5 million cars off the road in terms of lowering greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

While our own personal choices can make a difference in our lives and on the planet, it is clear that living in the U.S., we already have a plethora of choices everyday when it comes to our food. Foer asks us, are our choices the solution? With our government is in charge of food safety, is it time to turn to it to solve the problem? The United States Department of Agriculture both works to protect consumer safety while also endorsing the farming industry. As far as Foer is concerned, there is little reason not to change laws. The lack of backlash from the meat industry responding to the statements made in his book surprised Foer. There was not an argument to defend factory farming.

As the public gains access to more information regarding the system, a greater movement to change it is developing, 96% of Americans believe there should be laws to protect animals. More college students identify themselves as vegetarians than ever before, 18% claiming to maintain a meatless diet. The concern does not stop at meat; one of the fastest growing food industries is the cage-free and free-range label that is applied to all animal products.

Last week in the Nation’s Captial, Foer spoke with passion about changing the meat industry in our country. He did not preach his vegetarianism, though he did not hide the fact that he was proud of his life choice. He did not condemn the meat eaters in the crowd, he simply suggested that eating less is a better decision on multiple levels. At the end of his talk, his bottom line was not to remove the meat industry from the country, but rather to change the current industry and remove the practices of factory farming.

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