The Face on Your Plate: The Truth About Food

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The Face on Your Plate: The Truth About Food

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 566 ratings · 100 reviews

In this revelatory work, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson shows how food affects our moral selves, our health, and the environment. It raises questions to make us conscious of the decisions behind every bite we take: What effect does eating animals have on our land, waters, even global warming? What are the results of farming practices—debeaking chickens and separating calves fro...more

Hardcover, 288 pages

Published March 16th 2009 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published January 1st 2009)

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Nov 09, 2008 Ron rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: health, nutrition, nonfiction, science, ethics, vegans

This is a straightforward argument for why people should start eating a vegan diet, cutting out eggs and dairy products as well as meat and fish. In addition to the cruelty of "factory farm" food production, Masson also discusses the environmental damage caused by raising animals such as cattle, pigs, and chickens in such massive quantities. For many readers, this information won't be revelatory, but it'll certainly make you stop and think.

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Feb 17, 2013 Fiona rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ethics

I borrowed this book from the library (I was actually browsing cookbooks at the time). I am not vegetarian however I don't eat a lot of meat as I find it doesn't really agree with me and I admit the thought of eating the flesh of a previously living creature does feel somehow wrong. The author quotes Cesar Chavez early in the book who said if you want to lessen animal suffering in the world you would do better to eat meat and give up dairy and eggs. As part of his research for this book the auth...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Shana rated it 1 of 5 stars

To be brutally honest, I was not a fan of the holier-than-thou tone taken by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson in his book, The Face On Your Plate. With a title like that, I should have known what was coming, but I wanted to give it a fair shake and that I did. Masson is a vegan, and he provides a variety of reasons why not eating animal products is good (better for the environment, for your emotional health, for your body, etc.).

I am typically open to people’s dietary restrictions and preferences. Howe...more To be brutally honest, I was not a fan of the holier-than-thou tone taken by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson in his book, The Face On Your Plate. With a title like that, I should have known what was coming, but I wanted to give it a fair shake and that I did. Masson is a vegan, and he provides a variety of reasons why not eating animal products is good (better for the environment, for your emotional health, for your body, etc.).

I am typically open to people’s dietary restrictions and preferences. However, starting with the introduction, this book put me off. Masson’s tone seems to suggest that he is somehow more evolved and better than the rest of us who may consume meat, dairy products, etc.

Sure, some of the reasons are compelling. I’m not a fan of factory farming. I do understand the impact of our meat-eating ways on the environment. And I do get that it seems strange that we teach our children to respect living creatures and then in the next breath tell them to finish their chicken fingers. But the thing is, Masson was inconsistent in a lot of his explanations. For instance, in one section he criticizes someone who grew all of the food her family consumed, and raised some chickens and slaughtered them herself. Then he goes on the praise the chef who serves one vegetarian option per day at her restaurant. I’m not sure what criteria he’s going for there! Also, he extols the greatness of Whole Foods in the same breath as his paragraph on eating locally. Does he not see that a lot of the produce from Whole Foods comes from places like Chile?

I love animals, I really do. But I also love humans, and arguably more when it comes down to it. While in an ideal world (for him) we would all be vegans, I can’t help thinking about the livelihoods of dairy farmers and people whose families depend on the production of meat or fishing. Unless he’s willing to provide alternate means of survival, I don’t think it’s fair for him to ask what he does.

The last chapter was really the rope’s end for me. He describes a typical day’s eating for him which basically goes like this: “Oh, look at me with my healthy granola! And salads! I adore avocado! I’m SO healthy, and so is my family. We’re going to live forever!” I mean, come on! I get that he loves his healthy, vegan foods. But the way he’s trying to push it down the reader’s throat is just too aggressive. There will probably be some who read this and start eating more meat just to spite him!

Although Masson rubbed me the wrong way in this book, I will admit that it once again made me think about food issues. I may try to cut down even more on meat (and by meat I mean fish and poultry) but I don’t think I’ll become a vegan in the near future.(less)

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Feb 11, 2012 g-na rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: food-and-nutrition

Well, I suppose this book does live up to its title as it gives you the truth about what animals go through in order to be the food on your plate, but it doesn't do it well. The author is a militant vegan and his writing is biased thusly. Don't get me wrong - I'm a vegetarian who tries to be as ethical as possible about my animal-based food choices, but after reading this I get the feeling that he won't let up until everyone else is vegan as well, which just isn't going to happen. He anthropomor...more

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Nov 19, 2010 Effie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: food, non-fiction

I'm not a vegetarian; I like meat too much. I had no expectations going into the book, but I found myself getting annoyed with the author's preachiness. If you believe that animals are on this earth to be eaten, you must be a religious fundamentalist. I'm not, but can you blame early humans for taking advantage of all food sources? I don't buy that we are supposed to be herbivores.
His other opinions were rather annoying as well. All animals have feelings and we must respect them. Whole Foods is...more

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May 02, 2010 Alison rated it 2 of 5 stars

I picked up this book at the library, not knowing quite what to expect from it. Some of it was interesting, but it was overwhelmingly poorly written.

About halfway through the book, the author tries to site examples as to why eating meat is like that event. None of these examples quite seemed to make sense. (ie. eating meat is like the Holocaust) Or the part where he sites how his wife believes in the vegan lifestyle. I'm sure she knows lots on the topic through her lifestyle and her medical car...more

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Sep 27, 2009 Mazola1 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson is a thinker of considerable originality, a writer of rather modest talent, and a man of strong opinions who does not suffer from a lack of self confidence in the correctness of those opinions. Masson, a complex and fascinating character, is an accomplished Sanskrit scholar who trained as a psychoanalyst and worked with Anna Freud in London compiling her father's writings. Masson edited the definitive version of Freud's letters to Wilhelm Fliess, a work of considerable...more Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson is a thinker of considerable originality, a writer of rather modest talent, and a man of strong opinions who does not suffer from a lack of self confidence in the correctness of those opinions. Masson, a complex and fascinating character, is an accomplished Sanskrit scholar who trained as a psychoanalyst and worked with Anna Freud in London compiling her father's writings. Masson edited the definitive version of Freud's letters to Wilhelm Fliess, a work of considerable scholarly importance. He also had a messy falling out with Anna Freud, in part over the issue of whether Freud "sold out" on the issue of childhood sexual abuse.

Given that background, it's hardly surprising that when Masson decided to write "the truth about food," the resulting book would be serious, copiously footnoted, and boldly, if somewhat sloppily written. Although Masson comes across as a bit of a fanatic on veganism, nonetheless, The Face on Your Plate is still a good and disturbing, basic book on the subject.

In The Face on Your Plate, Masson explains why he is a vegan, and urges the reader to consider becoming a vegan or a vegetarian, or at the very least, eating less meat. Although Masson writes with a touch of self-righteousness that ranges from mildly off-putting to infuriating, he makes a powerful and even convincing argument for the proposition that eating meat is not good for humans, the animals they eat, or the environment. Masson's argument that these animals are sentient beings who suffer from the way they are treated is hard to take issue with, and the details of the way cows, chickens, pigs and fish are cruelly treated before being killed are graphic and disturbing. Masson also explains how raising animals for food uses a wasteful amount of resources, and why a vegetarian diet is more health that one which includes meat and animal products. In a chapter on denial, Masson draws on his background as a psychoanalyst to try to explain how we use denial that meat comes from once living animals in order to be able to keep on eating them. It's an interesting chapter, but its ideas seem somewhat underdeveloped and pretentious. Masson also includes a description of his diet, which was not interesting.

Really, Masson's book is best when it leaves aside such things as denial and diets, and turns to its central thesis: that "we like our meat disguised," because the more natural it looks, i.e., the more it looks like what it is -- a dead animal that was killed to make food -- "the more likely it is to cause disgust and physical aversion." Masson's chapters on the short, pain filled and sad lives of the cows, chickens, pigs and fish we eat certainly flesh out that thesis.

I've always been of a divided mind about Masson. I hated his book The Assault on Truth, but greatly admired his edition of the Freud letters to Fliess. Some of Masson's worst faults are on display in The Face on Your Plate, but so are some of his greatest strengths. Among those strengths are the ability to write boldly and persuasively. The bottom line is that even though I still find Masson to be irritating and smug, The Face on Your Plate has convinced me to do some hard thinking about what I eat, and to try meatless Mondays. If the definition of a good book is one that gets you to think, and maybe even to change your mind, then this is a good book.(less)

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Jun 25, 2009 Lisa Janda rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

In the vast ocean of books that are currently in vogue regarding the horrors of eating any form of animal product, be it meat, cheese, eggs, this is the one book I didn't want to hurl against the wall. Will I become a vegan or even a vegetarian? No, I'm comfortable with my diet and feel no need to defend myself to anyone. And this is precisely why I got through this book. The author does not lecture, nor proselytize, and it was refreshing to read his arguments for a vegan way of living without t...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Jack rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a short and sweet introduction to animal rights as it relates to our food choices. Masson was 68 when he wrote this but had only been vegan for a few years, so he is well placed to empathise with the understandable reluctance to embrace such a lifestyle while still promoting it vigorously.

This book's strongest asset is that it has been researched rigourously and is rife with footnotes. Masson is a psychoanalyst by profession, which helps him to evaluate the research responsibly. It also...more

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Jul 22, 2009 Caris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: food, 2009

I always like it when someone clues me in about the truth of anything. That way I can be sure I'm not about to read something incredibly biased and selectively researched.

Masson is a vegan. He wants you to be vegan, too. He thinks that this will solve a lot of the world's problems. He has a valid point. He, however, writes and documents the same way PETA does. PETA, in my opinion, has the right idea. They just go about it in the wrong way. Their cause is an important one, but unnecessarily misre...more I always like it when someone clues me in about the truth of anything. That way I can be sure I'm not about to read something incredibly biased and selectively researched.

Masson is a vegan. He wants you to be vegan, too. He thinks that this will solve a lot of the world's problems. He has a valid point. He, however, writes and documents the same way PETA does. PETA, in my opinion, has the right idea. They just go about it in the wrong way. Their cause is an important one, but unnecessarily misrepresenting facts does little to protect them from being labeled as completely nuts.

I wrote a paper in college about the truthfulness of a statement made in the diet book Skinny Bitch. The claim was that milk leached calcium from bones. Now, whether or not that claim is true is irrelevant in my opinion. The authors of that book took that information directly from the PETA website who took it from an outdated, unreliable study. Masson does something similar.

A full quarter of his book consists of end notes. He cites many different studies as he fleshes out his arguments. The trouble is, he frequently interjects his own opinions and unfounded claims into the text - often by piggybacking these claims onto something he's cited. That's not to say that the man should not be able to put forth his own opinion in his own book, it's just that his presentation is a bit misleading.

That said, Masson does a decent job of explaining why folks should go vegan. He explains the health and environmental benefits. He spends a lot of time identifying animals as thinking, feeling, sentient beings who are being tortured and exploited by humans. He rambles in his prose and gets sidetracked fairly frequently, but you really get what he is saying. And you can tell that he really believes it, which helps.

The biggest problem I had with his content was the lack of an explanation of why we sometimes label meat by its animal name (chicken, turkey) but rename others (beef, pork). As a psychoanalyst, I feel that he could have added some depth to this subject. In fact, the book jacket makes one think this will be addressed, as did his public radio spots. In reality, there isn't a lot in this book that one could not get from The Omnivore's Dilemma, which, in my opinion, is the better book.

Masson's arguments really made me think and made me consider what I'm eating. If nothing else, he achieved that much.

(less)

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Jun 27, 2009 Alisa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I was surprised to reach the end of this book and discover this author is 68 years old; the entire book is written in such a nimbus of glorious naivete, that I felt positively old and jaded in comparison. It's nice that he believes that if we outlaw the commercial slaughter of animals for food that society will turn instead to the complex and earth-friendly gardening methods he describes as alternatives. In reality, the commercial farming of plants is every bit as horrible for the environment (a...more I was surprised to reach the end of this book and discover this author is 68 years old; the entire book is written in such a nimbus of glorious naivete, that I felt positively old and jaded in comparison. It's nice that he believes that if we outlaw the commercial slaughter of animals for food that society will turn instead to the complex and earth-friendly gardening methods he describes as alternatives. In reality, the commercial farming of plants is every bit as horrible for the environment (and the consumer) as the farming of animals. And who among us jaded people (in an age where "organic" often does not mean organic at all) truly believe that commercial farmers aren't going to follow the easy and cheap path to food production whether it's of animals or plants?

The naivete continues throughout the entire book. He compares eating meat to the evils of slavery, but is happily complacent that just as slavery is "universally condemned" with "no one left to defend it", one day omnivores will disappear as well. Well, I'm sorry to say that slavery has plenty of people left who still defend it. There are more enslaved people today than there were at any other time in history. And not just in countries like India. Slavery still exists in America.

He says that children today are brainwashed not to believe that meat is animals, and that all children have a "terrible awakening" when they discover they have been eating animal flesh. Maybe that happens for some children, but not for me, and not for anyone I've spoken to. I don't remember a time when I wasn't perfectly aware of what "bacon" meant, or that the chicken leg I was eating was an actual chicken's leg. From the time I could walk, I've hand-raised chickens and rabbits for pets while at the same time being perfectly content to eat chickens and rabbits.

He says that being a vegan has kept him healthy and strong and out of hospitals. I've never been in a hospital, never had an illness worse than the common cold. I've been perfectly healthy all my life (and so were/are my parents, siblings, and grandparents) and we are all carnivores. He says his diet is heavily dependent upon soy, and spends several pages convincing us soy is healthy. Look it up for yourself. There are many schools of thought about soy, and the most convincing (to me) say that its a harmful substance and should be avoided.

However, the author is right that the way we raise and slaughter our meat does need to change, and that is the only small value of this book. The rest is pie-in-the-sky environmental dreaming and attempts to cause Freudian-based guilt in carnivores. Come to think of it, it's fairly fortunate for him that he's not some 20-something just out of college. Considering the fact that he went from a vegetarian to a vegan, and now won't eat maple syrup products because gathering the syrup causes the tree "a wound", in a few more years he will be completely unable to eat anything at all. If eating syrup causes a guilt-inducing wound in a tree, what does he think happens when you pick leaves off a lettuce plant? Or uproot a carrot?

(less)

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Aug 19, 2009 Caitlin rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book is being marketed as Fast Food Nation meets Omnivore's Dilemma, and having read both aforementioned works I was tempted to read it. It was beckoning to me from the new Non-Fiction section of my library and I was caught off guard to see a book I would actually consider reading at this library (they always have a bazillion crappy new science fiction books and loads of liberals vs. conservatives books).

That being said, I thought I should check the book out so that my library knows I appr...more

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Jul 14, 2009 Patricia rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am not a vegetarian or vegan, but this book definitely gives me pause and makes me consider.... Actually in the last few years the taste of meat has not been pleasant to me. Animal lover that I am, I dont know why I have continued eating sentient beings. This book gets down to the nuts and bolts of how much of our planet we are using up to feed the livestock which we as Americans love to eat. Now other countries are getting the taste for meat and deforesting in order to raise same livestock. P...more

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Nov 24, 2012 Krissy Obermark rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: random-non-fic

This book was definitely enlightening. For a long-time vegetarian I felt I was fairly well informed about the meat industry, but Masson's chapter on aquaculture was all new information for me. Masson presents a compelling argument to transition completely to a vegan diet, although our family has long struggled with the logistics of this, as we are already challenged with a gluten-free lifestyle. Still it reminds me to keep trying.

This book is definitely not for those who are not open to the idea...more

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May 06, 2011 Julie rated it 2 of 5 stars

He makes a lot of good points about the industrial food system, but some of his information in terms of nutrition, evolution and animal ethics was a bit narrow-minded. One small example: early in the book he argues that the idea of humans having evolved to include animal products in the diet is wrong because we are able to lead perfectly healthy lives without them. However, at the end he explains several instances where a vegan diet is completely lacking in several key nutrients and requires sup...more

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Sep 09, 2010 Marissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

I appreciated the author's psychoanalytic perspective, particularly his discussion of denial. Like Mr. Moussaieff Masson, I think those who consume animals are not completely ignorant of ethical, environmental and societal issues relating to a 'carnivorous' diet. It seems to me (and to many others, including the author) that if we (both individuals and society as a whole) were to acknowledge the exploitation and destruction related to animal consumption, it would be far more difficult to swallow...more

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Feb 21, 2010 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a very informative and very depressing book. I have to give it three stars because the author has clearly done a lot of research and is very thorough in his approach, depicting the miseries of all livestock, from beef cattle and dairy cows to egg-laying chickens to farmed salmon and more. The difficulty is that I walked away from it feeling that even if I turn to a vegan lifestyle tomorrow (the only type condoned by the author),it would make little difference in the lives of these animal...more

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Jul 15, 2009 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Masson lays out moral, ethical, and practical arguments against eating animals and animal products in a calm, compassionate way. However, I am not sure that the author will reach people who are truly unaware of how their Chick-fil-a arrived on their plate. My guess is that at least 75% of the people who read this book are already pescetarians, vegetarians, or vegans. I wish that wasn't the case, but it seems like the only books about the factory farming industry which reach a more mainstream aud...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Nicola (electroviolet) rated it 3 of 5 stars

After reading "Eating Animals" recently, it's difficult not to compare the two. I found parts of this book engaging, but felt some parts didn't make very concise points - the chapter titled "Denial" in particular. It just didn't seem well written, whereas "Eating Animals" was, although I'm glad this book talked about veganism rather than just vegetarianism. I found the chapter on aquafarming very informative & that was probably the best part of the book. One thing that pissed me off was the...more

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Nov 27, 2011 Jamie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: educational, environmental-health-realated, non-fiction, thought-provoking

I've realized that I was on a slow path to eliminating meat from my diet, but I had just started reading this book when I decided to try to stop eating meat for the second time in my life (the first being almost 2 years ago, but working in an Italian restaurant at the time made it very difficult and unsuccessful). I have now been going strong for almost 4 weeks.
The author is definitely biased, as being a vegan himself, and wants to convince his readers to do the same. But he is never condescend...more

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May 04, 2009 Gregory rated it 3 of 5 stars

I recently reread Brideshead revisited by Evelyn Waugh. It is a story I return to every few years through either Waugh’s novel or the excellent 1981 television miniseries. (Ignore this year’s cinematic adaptation, it is not worth your time.) Brideshead revisited is about the Catholic concept of original sin. The face on your plate by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson too is about an original sin: the sin is carnivorousness, hell is an overheated planet, and the redeemer god is a vegan diet.
The story b...more I recently reread Brideshead revisited by Evelyn Waugh. It is a story I return to every few years through either Waugh’s novel or the excellent 1981 television miniseries. (Ignore this year’s cinematic adaptation, it is not worth your time.) Brideshead revisited is about the Catholic concept of original sin. The face on your plate by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson too is about an original sin: the sin is carnivorousness, hell is an overheated planet, and the redeemer god is a vegan diet.
The story begins with the widely, may I say universally, held myth of humans as natural carnivores. We are all familiar with the tableaux of the prehistoric hunting group bringing down an humongous mastodon with primitive spears, or the stone age family, sitting in their cave around the Sunday fire, gorging on outsized drumsticks of singed animal flesh. From the troglodyte to the Flinstones, the image is ubiquitous. Masson claims that it is all bosh and I agree. Humans are simply not up to the task. Anatomically we are herbivores. From the structure of our jaws and teeth, to the composition of our digestive tracks, we are unsuited to be meat eaters. I have at times tried to argue the same points with my steak eating friends. They, like anyone confronted with a challenge to accepted dogma, dismiss my arguments with a shrug (poor benighted fool), as will Masson’s by the meat consuming faithful, should they even bother to read his book.
Fossil fuels take the brunt of the blame for global warming. Short shrift is given to the vast quantities of methane gas produced by large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and industrial farming. But the methane and noxious oxide emitted by these industries make a significant contribution to the greenhouse gasses responsible for global warming. Add to that the huge water requirements for such operations and you have an environmental calamity. Mason cites World Watch magazine, “the human appetite for animal flesh is a driving force behind virtually every major category of environmental damage now threatening the human future.” Lest you think that swapping that beef steak for a halibut steak will make a difference think again. From overfishing the oceans to pollution from fish farms Masson has few kind words for aquaculture.
There is only one way to eat your way out of this mess. Don’t eat anything from the animal kingdom! Masson indeed has another message here. It is not about the planet really. It is not about you. It is about the quality of the lives led by the animals with which we share the planet. Animals have a right not to be eaten. He spends a good deal of time on this notion in a chapter titled “The lives they lead”. And he makes it personal. In chapter four, titled “Denial”, he takes the reader on what could best be described as a guilt trip. He even brings Freud into the picture as if our appetite for meat were somehow tied to sexual repression. Now Masson was trained as a psychoanalyst so perhaps we should forgive him that little conceit but given the gravity of climate change perhaps his very rational arguments about our over reliance on industrial production of food from animal sources should be allowed to stand on their own merit.
At the end of Brideshead revisited Charles Ryder, the protagonist and avowed agnostic, finally gives in to Catholic guilt and accepts as fate the lonely life he is destined to live. He turns his back on rationality. We cannot do the same if we are to win the fight against global warming. To do so would be a sin.(less)

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Jul 14, 2009 Sarah Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars

An eye opening account of our factory farms. I've been a vegetarian for almost ten years, after reading this I'm considering becoming vegan. The animals used for producing animal products are treated worse than the ones simply raised for their meat. Although, my main reason for being a vegetarian is for my personal health it is hard to ignore or as, the author states, deny, the treat of animals and the environmental effects of being a carnivore.
I have visited enough feedlots, dairy farms and ho...more

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Jun 18, 2010 Gayle Gordon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed, non-fiction

Borrowed from Commerce Public Library.
Great book! I am making a committment to try veganism again, and do it right this time!

I liked the conversational style of the book and all of the references. I'm all for "further reading." The bibliographies at the back of the book are reason enough to pick it up if you are trying to learn about vegetarianism.

I've read some of the other reviews and noticed that some people think the author is smug. I don't really think so, but reading about his idyllic life...more

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Jan 12, 2010 Karen O'leary rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've been a vegetarian for 20 odd years, but strangely, never probed further to investigate animal cruelty in producing milk and eggs. I was very disturbed to hear of the horrid conditions and how organic and even 'cage free' means very little in regards to the living conditions of the animals. The ONLY way the average caring human can continue to eat meat, drink milk and eat eggs is denial, denial, denial. I wish we were all required to visit the sites where our meat is produced before we were...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another amazing read that everyone should check out explaining the benefits of an animal-free diet!

Eating Animals set the bar high, and this one didn't carry quite the same shock value; but it was just an informative and thoroughly explained the damage that factory farming, animal consumption, etc. cause for the planet, our bodies, the economy, and more.

The reassuring thing about Masson's perspective is that he's done it all: cut out meat, reintroduced fish, returned to veganism, cut out this a...more

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Mar 19, 2009 Natasha rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found the book insightful and a quick read. A few times I had to put it down to give myself a breather because I found the things that we do to animals are so horrible.

While I already didn't eat cows, chickens, or pigs prior to reading this, I am changing my diet to cut out all seafood as well. The information within actually makes me want to go vegan, but that's not something I think I'll be able to dive into as quickly.

Opened my eyes to a lot of things, most of all how little I'd given thoug...more

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Apr 05, 2010 Katlet rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: buy-me, activism, library, nonfiction, vegetarian

This was an amazing, tough, enlightening book. I've been avoiding reading too much about our food industry because it was easier to ignore. After reading this, I can't ignore it any longer.

I'm inspired to learn more, to eat less dairy, and am recommitted to being vegetarian.

Masson delves into the environmental impact of factory farming and agribusiness. He touches on the suffering of animals necessitated by our meat-heavy diets. He also touches on the denial many of us (myself included) practice...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Kim Stallwood rated it 4 of 5 stars

Some books are written by authors whose biography and personality are seemingly absent. I say seemingly because every book written is, of course, infused with the author’s character and experience regardless of their visibility. Then, there are some authors whose presence is integral. It is impossible to separate them from their work. Sadly, not all authors are good writers. Many are uncomfortable with speaking in public. This, perhaps, should not be too surprising given their preferred medium i...more

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Mar 31, 2011 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-2010, non-fiction, science, social-sciences, animal-awareness, animals

The author of this book was very detailed on the matter of how different kinds of meats are processed for our enjoyment. He stated many times in this book that its more important to be vegan than anything else just because of the economic impact your eating habits have on our country and others. This fact is true just because it does add more stress to many farmers who must provide the food just to raise cattle alone.

Although I can see the other side to those that might read this book and balk a...more

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Apr 23, 2010 Akie rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sciences-etc

I realize that diet is a polarizing topic, & my particular views on the current debate will not help matters. I picked up this book expecting a thoughtful treatment of the problems of modern slaughterhouse practices; instead I was repeatedly lectured about the merits of veganism. I am not a fan of preachy books on any subect, but this in particular irritated me because I know from personal experience that I cannot sustain myself on a vegetarian diet. However, the most aggravating undercurren...more I realize that diet is a polarizing topic, & my particular views on the current debate will not help matters. I picked up this book expecting a thoughtful treatment of the problems of modern slaughterhouse practices; instead I was repeatedly lectured about the merits of veganism. I am not a fan of preachy books on any subect, but this in particular irritated me because I know from personal experience that I cannot sustain myself on a vegetarian diet. However, the most aggravating undercurrent in this book is the idea that suffering must be eliminated. Perhaps I am too cynical, but I firmly believe that life is not fair and that suffering is an intrinsic part of consciousness. I can avoid it to a certain extent, but that doesn't mean my mortality or the pain of others disappears. Masson seems to hint at the idea that there is no way to reconcile one's self to suffering; the only available routes are denial or rejection. I have always held to the idea that life and death are reciprocal and thus both worthy of celebration, so naturally the idea that I am deluding myself is a bit hard to swallow.

I try to follow Michael Pollan's example of eating locally and making as many good choices as I can. As an ethical consumer, I have a certain responsibility to myself and the community; on the other hand, I have a pretty small budget. I've compromised by eating meat a few times a week, & making sure that the meat I buy is the highest quality I can afford. I follow this principle for dairy & eggs as well. Because of my predeliction for carnivorous delights, I feel obligated to go hunting for something that I will consume. Masson's continued insistence that organic is better for you, particularly his laudatory treatment of Whole Foods, is another subject that I take issue with. Organic farming is better than conventional, but it eats up similar if not greater amounts of fossil fuels in production and transportation. I was disappointed to see a whole-hearted endorsement of any industrial endeavor, particularly agriculture.

The book is well-structured, with a particularly illuminating chapter on aquaculture. Masson is very candid about his own faults, particularly his unwillingness to cook or exert himself to a strenous degree. If you are interested in vegetarianism or veganism, I am sure you will enjoy this much more than I did. If you are interested in becoming an ethical consumer, Michael Pollan & Wendell Berry are probably more to your taste. (less)

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About Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

He has written several books books critical of psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and psychiatry as well as books on animals, their emotions and their rights.

He currently lives in New Zealand with his wife, two sons, three cats and three rats.

More about Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson...

Books by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals

Dogs Never Lie About Love: Reflections on the Emotional World of Dogs

The Pig Who Sang to the Moon: The Emotional World of Farm Animals

The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats: A Journey into the Feline Heart

Slipping into Paradise: Why I Live in New Zealand

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“We are not encouraged, on a daily basis, to pay careful attention to the animals we eat. On the contrary, the meat, dairy, and egg industries all actively encourage us to give thought to our own immediate interest (taste, for example, or cheap food) but not to the real suffering involved. They do so by deliberately withholding information and by cynically presenting us with idealized images of happy animals in beautiful landscapes, scenes of bucolic happiness that do not correspond to anything in the real world. The animals involved suffer agony because of our ignorance. The least we owe them is to lessen that ignorance.” — 10 people liked it

“What struck me whenever I visited a farm was how much more sophisticated was the life the animals were capable of living than was assumed by those exploiting them. The more we are willing to see about their lives, the more we will see. Humans seem to take perverse pleasure in attributing stupidity to animals when it is almost always entirely a question of human ignorance.” — 4 people liked it

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