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Eating Animals

by Jonathan Safran Foer

4.14 · rating details · 11,284 ratings · 2,252 reviews

Jonathan Safran Foer spent much of his teenage and college years oscillating between carnivore and vegetarian. As he became a husband and a father, he kept returning to two questions: Why do we eat animals? And would we eat them if we knew how they got on our dinner plates?
Brilliantly synthesizing philosophy, literature, science, and his own undercover detective work, Eat...more

Hardcover, 341 pages

Published November 2nd 2009 by Little, Brown and Company (first published 2009)

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Lists with This Book

Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

books for Vegans, Vegetarians, and those interested in Animal Rights

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Food-Related Non-Fiction

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Community Reviews

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Jul 06, 2011

dara rated it

Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to dara by: Jonathan Safran Foer's previous writing

Shelves: read-in-2009, favorites, reviewed, sparc

This isn't as much of a review of Jonathan Safran Foer's latest book as it is a reaction to it--a reaction to the reactions of others, even. The title of this book garners a reaction from people who haven't read it and who may never read it. Just carry Eating Animals around for a few days and you'll understand. There's an assumption that a book about eating animals is going to tell you that it is in some way wrong to eat animals--whether for the welfare of animals or for your own welfare--and mo...more

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Oct 14, 2009

brian rated it

TO SERVE MAN

i can't review this book. can't even finish it. the page-count to tears-shed ratio is just too high. and my head's not in the right place for this shit. (and talk about preaching to the choir…) -- i haven't read jonathan safran foer's novels and fuckoff what he's ever written or what he ever will write: he's a great man for this book alone. he's a great man by default, perhaps, because most people are such evil and miserable cunts. but, no. set apart from a race of misera...moreTO SERVE MAN

i can't review this book. can't even finish it. the page-count to tears-shed ratio is just too high. and my head's not in the right place for this shit. (and talk about preaching to the choir…) -- i haven't read jonathan safran foer's novels and fuckoff what he's ever written or what he ever will write: he's a great man for this book alone. he's a great man by default, perhaps, because most people are such evil and miserable cunts. but, no. set apart from a race of miserable cunts he's still a great man.

the problem, really, with hitler and stalin and mao and all those other guys is not what they did... but what they didn't do. a bad case of extreme short-sightedness. they set their crosshairs on specific targets when what they really should have gone after was the destruction of the entire human race. (logistically i know this is problematic; you need to start small. but i can dream, eh?) if i found a magic lantern, before the genie uttered 'and your first wish can't be for a million more wishes', i'd already have made my only wish: that every human being on the planet be instantly transformed into a dog except for me (and rosario dawson. or marisa tomei. decades of silence and masturbation and i'd probably end up throwing myself off a bridge after a week-long romp with a border collie). and i'd hang out with all of 'em. i'd toss a few hundred dogs into a swimming pool and do laps. i'd play tag in forests with 'em. i'd take 'em swimming in oceans and lakes. and then i'd retire to my cabin, start a fire, pour myself and rosario a cold beer, stuff about 3 or 4 hundred dogs into a large room, and me and my woman'd take a long nap with/on them.

the human race is capable of such beauty and goodness, and life is not easy -- there's little clarity: it's seldom easy to know what is truly right or wrong. but factory farms? the torture and intense suffering of creatures weaker than us? no brainer. and all the war and peaces, all the mona lisas, all the moonlight sonatas, all the oskar schindlers and MLKs cannot possibly justify what we've done to one another, what we've done to the planet we inhabit, and most offensively, to the rape and utter destruction of the animal kingdom.

my dream scenario: as a result of the evil actions perpetrated on animals, a variant of swine or bird flu gets ultra-deadly, goes airborne, and wipes us all out. yes. we have reached the point in which the kanamits should come and 'serve' us. we've earned it. and we should know what it's like to be on the other end.

as human beings we simply must lie to ourselves about much -- but not about this. it is not necessary. but we do. and for what? for the least interesting of our five senses? because stuff tastes good? we tolerate factory farms because stuff is 'yummy'?
evil and miserable cunts.

do i sound too angry? hyperbolic? unstable? juvenile? like some blood-throwing PETA nut? am i 'not going to convince anyone with this tone'? good. i don't want to convince anyone. i just want the human-eradicating disease to come.
and come soon.

and if considering a vote for this review, understand that it's almost totally certain that if i knew you i'd wanna toss you in a woodchipper.
keep your vote, miserable cunt.(less)

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May 20, 2010

Sparrow rated it

Recommends it for: Michael Pollan

Recommended to Sparrow by: JSF? No need for a recommendation

Shelves: non-fiction, disturbing, reviewed

I don’t mean this dismissively, but I feel like I finally get what Charlton Heston meant when he cried out, “Soylent Green is people!! It’s peeeeople!” Just . . . I don’t know. That movie’s pretty silly, but I keep walking around the house feeling like all those years that I ate meat, I was really eating human souls. And I even knew almost all of this information before reading the book. I know I’m being dramatic, as per usual, but there really is something about food that brings out both t...more

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Nov 06, 2009

JSou rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, first-reads, owned

I am not a vegetarian. Honestly, I've never even tried to be a vegetarian at any point in my life. I love steak. I love bacon. I love sushi. I could go on, but you get the idea.

With my son not being able to have any sort of gluten or artificial coloring in the food he eats, I've always thought I was doing good by stopping by the actual farmer's stand to get fresh eggs and some fruit & veggies (one benefit of living in a small, hick town) and then picking up my nicely-packaged an...moreI am not a vegetarian. Honestly, I've never even tried to be a vegetarian at any point in my life. I love steak. I love bacon. I love sushi. I could go on, but you get the idea.

With my son not being able to have any sort of gluten or artificial coloring in the food he eats, I've always thought I was doing good by stopping by the actual farmer's stand to get fresh eggs and some fruit & veggies (one benefit of living in a small, hick town) and then picking up my nicely-packaged and already butchered meat from the store. Foer addresses this in the book about how people just don't want to think about how their meat ends up ready for them to purchase, and that's surely the case with me. I have no issues picking up the value-pack of chicken breasts, yet I can't go to Red Lobster anymore since I feel so bad for those damn lobsters on display. I've always assumed operations in a slaughterhouse wouldn't exactly be pleasant, but again, I willingly ignored to really think about what goes on there.

One of the main points Foer brings up in this is factory-farming. Corporations have taken over the aspect of farming, and of course done everything they can think of just to make it as profitable as possible. The majority of all meat in this country comes from this type of farming now, and there is only a very small percentage of actual farmers left. How these animals are treated throughout their short lives in these factory-farms is sickening. I don't think anyone who reads this book will be able to ignore these issues anymore. I know I'm not able to. This book really opened my eyes not only to the ethical standpoint of eating animals, but also to the health-related issues. The conditions at these factory-farms are vile. There is no way I can feed my kids this kind of meat knowing the shit (yes, actual shit) it's been through.

JSF's writing throughout this is never preachy or whiny; he just presents the facts and wants the reader to make his/her own choice on the matter. He talks with ranchers who are still trying as best they can to hold onto the old way of farming, members of PETA, and vegans who are trying to construct more humane slaughterhouses. The book never felt one-sided or that it was attacking people who eat meat. It did inspire me to make a drastic change though, and I think anyone who reads this would feel the same.(less)

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Nov 09, 2009

Lisa Vegan rated it

Recommends it for: everybody 16+; anyone who’s in a position to decide for themselves what to consume

Recommended to Lisa by: Christina Stind

Shelves: animal-rights, non-fiction, philosophy, biography, reviewed

I was torn how to rate this book. It isn’t perfect (I noted many flaws in its comprehensiveness) but it’s amazing enough, so 5 stars it is.

I’ve read so many books such as this but none for a while, and it’s because reading about how humans use animals is so devastating for me. It’s not just the books’ contents, it’s knowing that, at most, only 1% of Americans feel as I do, that my feelings and beliefs are shared by so few (The latest statistics I have are that 3% of Americans are tru...more

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Jun 16, 2011

Joel rated it

Shelves: 2010, 52-in-2010, library-books, non-fiction, add-half-a-star, 30-day-book-challenge

I am floating this again (last time! Swear!), this time for the Facebook 30 Day Book Challenge. Day whatever I am on asks for a book that changed your life. I... don't know that I have ever read a book that really changed my life. But this one comes the closest.

That sounds a little dippy, but really. For years, I had skittered around the margins of vegetarianism. I'd forgo meat the majority of the time, perhaps even the vast majority, but I didn't have really concrete reasons as to why...more

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Sep 16, 2010

Greg rated it

Shelves: general-non-fiction

I’ve been a vegetarian for a few years now, and it was a long process that brought me here (literally too, I didn’t go cold turkey). I’m sometimes surprised by how little I thought about certain things throughout my life. And coming from someone who grew up with a face in a book, and his head in the clouds, I find this interesting. I over-thought and over-analyzed everything (or at least everything I thought about). I spent my days thinking about fantasy worlds and the future, about girls and re...moreI’ve been a vegetarian for a few years now, and it was a long process that brought me here (literally too, I didn’t go cold turkey). I’m sometimes surprised by how little I thought about certain things throughout my life. And coming from someone who grew up with a face in a book, and his head in the clouds, I find this interesting. I over-thought and over-analyzed everything (or at least everything I thought about). I spent my days thinking about fantasy worlds and the future, about girls and relationships (of which I was not very adept at having), about what ifs and what could bes. I thought. I was philosophizing about the universe, and society, and the self long before I knew I was even doing it. And yet even with everything I thought about, there was so much that I never questioned, that I just took for granted.

The state of consumerism in our society makes it very easy for us to not question certain things (though I certainly can’t blame my choices on "the system"). We are so far removed from the process that brings things to our doorsteps and our dinner tables, that it usually takes an effort to even begin contemplating it. How many of us question where our tvs and laptops came from, how that cup of coffee got in our hands, who made the sneakers we’re wearing and how did this food got on our plates? I certainly didn’t. And yet when we start asking ourselves these questions they become hard to ignore. That last of those questions becomes most salient when we start asking, “what” was this food before it got to our plates?

I imagine many children one day suddenly realize they’re eating Babe for dinner and ask their parents why. Their parents probably tell them not to worry about it, and to finish their dinner, and most of them do, end of story…vegetarianism averted. I was recently shocked to learn that as a child I actually went vegetarian for a year or two (I vaguely recall this). Without any real explanation to my mom, I just refused to eat any meat. When I started again, it was sparingly (once a week), and never ventured out past a few staple meats. I never ate pork (jewish schooling gave me an aversion to it, even though my family didn't keep kosher), I refused to eat seafood (it was gross), and mainly stuck with chicken and turkey. Even when I started eating steak I had to eat it well done. Thinking about it now I like to tell myself that deep down I knew what I was doing was wrong. That I didn’t eat seafood because it still too closely resembled the animal it had been before, that I couldn’t eat rare meat because the blood reminded me of what I was eating, and that I felt too sorry for all the other animals to eat them. This probably isn’t that unlikely, but I wouldn’t steak my life on it (pun intended), my general pickiness as an eater is kind of damning for my “I was ethical but didn’t know it” theory.

As an adult, the more I thought about the life and suffering of the animals that were sacrificed for my meal, the harder it became to continue eating them. I never watched any of those horrible factory farming videos, I didn’t have to, though I had some idea of the content. Having seen these videos now, I only wish someone had shown them when I was 15 because I would have been a vegetarian for 15 years now, rather than three. I’m sometimes baffled by individuals that are aware of the practices involved in the meat industry, but continue to support it (with their dollars and their dinners). I imagine there are two types. One intellectually believes they shouldn’t be eating meat anymore, but is held back from making the choice. I understand this state of being. I lived it. I struggled most of my life with acting on, and making a reality, my inner beliefs. How often do we say we’re going to start working out, or stop wasting time on this or that, and we never do it. I fully empathize with this predicament.

Then there are those who understand the system, but who don’t care, or don’t agree it’s wrong in any way. This second case is more baffling, though it shouldn’t be. The human ability to engage in cognitive dissonance (is that something you engage in?) is truly amazing. I’m sure there were plenty of good and kind people who owned slaves, men who value loyalty above all else but cheat on their wives, and though I doubt anyone reading this would rob a bank, how many of us have cheated on our taxes or stolen something from work? I imagine this second case consists of people who understand what’s involved in the meat industry, but don’t think that animals feel pain like us, or that their suffering is like that of a machine or a bug. Or who maybe buy into the fallacy that we need to eat all that meat to fulfill our protein requirements (I should note I’m not a vegan yet). Whatever it is, they feel the positives of eating that food outweighs any negatives involved in bringing it to their plate.

As if this wasn’t enough, the more I thought about the chemicals we pump into these animals, and the damage done to our environment and the resources we consume in feeding, housing, raising, processing, and transporting our food, I just couldn’t justify taking part in it anymore. The only thing left is the “but it tastes good” philosophy, and I really do struggle sometimes to find sympathy for it. It’s worth noting I’m not the kind of vegetarian who is against the idea of eating meat in theory (it’s just dead flesh), but given the realities of our system I don’t find I have another choice for myself.

I’ve always been an animal lover and the happenstance of our willingness to eat Porky but not Skippy strikes me as odd. This has been another tough part of society for me to come to grips with. As someone who wants to work in cognitive science, and who owns and loves two ferrets, I have to wrestle with the fact that much neuroscientific research is done on ferrets. We live in a world of contradictions and hypocrisies and this is not on the verge of changing any time soon. And I guess we each have to ask ourselves, how far are we willing to go to break out of the system and act on our beliefs?

I didn’t intend for this book review to turn into a story about me, but I think it’s a fitting way to write about a Jonathon Safran Foer book. Foer can weave a sad, funny, and heartbreaking story in beautiful prose like it's spilling out of his mouth. His stories are fantasy, but they are also personal journeys. In a way this book was about his personal journey to becoming a vegetarian, and the case he makes for it. I can’t think of a better way to recommend this book than to tell you about the personal journey I took, and direct you to Eating Animals if you want to read a thorough case for it, written by someone with more talent than yours truly, and an amazing ability to be frank, and yet empathetic and non-judgmental at the same time.. I should warn readers though, I only vaguely mention the fact that there are many problems with the meat industry, Foer goes into much more specific detail about these practices. If you're a squeamish person, you may have serious problems getting through this book. One half of me wants to tell you to not read this book to protect you, and the other half wants you to go through that if it makes you take stock afterwards...(less)

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Joshua Nomen-Mutatio I'm still trying to get a handle on what we really even disagree about. Which is funny in a way. 174 posts and still so much is unclear. Oh intelle...more
Sep 21, 2010 11:18am

Greg So, weirdly, for some reason goodreads stopped informing me of replies to this thread, and I only now saw that this conversation continued past my las...more
Nov 21, 2010 09:18pm

Feb 27, 2010

boo. rated it

i've long flirted with vegetarianism. for a few months in the early '00s, i even dated her. but i'd never truly wanted to spend all of my time with her, send her flowers, or introduce her to my parents (and everyone i've ever cared about) until i read this book.

foer claims early on that he hasn't set out to write a book about why people should become vegetarians, an argument that holds zero ounces of water once you actually start reading his descriptions of factory farms. i found it im...more

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Nov 09, 2009

Joey rated it

Recommends it for: everyone!

Shelves: animal-rights, veganism, own, non-fiction, 2009, love-love-love

This was a difficult but amazing read and in my opinion one of the most powerful books on this topic. I encourage and challenge you all to read it! Seriously if I could give everyone I know a copy of this book, I would. <3

Jonathan Safran Foer, who is probably most known for his book Everything Is Illuminated, has returned with his first non-fiction book. The topic: Foer's off and on struggle with vegetarianism and what prompted him to make the switch for good (the birth of his s...moreThis was a difficult but amazing read and in my opinion one of the most powerful books on this topic. I encourage and challenge you all to read it! Seriously if I could give everyone I know a copy of this book, I would. <3

Jonathan Safran Foer, who is probably most known for his book Everything Is Illuminated, has returned with his first non-fiction book. The topic: Foer's off and on struggle with vegetarianism and what prompted him to make the switch for good (the birth of his son). Throughout the book we journey with Foer as he sets out to learn everything he can about where our meat comes from and what factory farming is all about - the result, 3 years worth of research on animal agriculture.

This is not a book full of ranting at meat eaters but rather an investigation into something we should ALL be concerned with and educated on. Foer doesn't try to tell you what he thinks you should do or try to make the choice for you, instead you just get the facts. One thing I really liked was the inclusion of stories/letters from all different perspectives, including an animal rights activist, a poultry farmer, a vegan rancher, a PETA representative and even slaughterhouse workers. You hear opinions from all sides of the issue.

"Just how destructive does a culinary preference have to be before we decide to eat something else? If contributing to the suffering of billions of animals that live miserable lives and (quite often) die in horrific ways isn't motivating, what would be? If being the number one contributor to the most serious threat facing the planet (global warming) isn't enough, what is? And if you are tempted to put off these questions of conscience, to say not now, then when?"

One thing I was slightly disappointed in though, was the section on cow slaughter and the beef industry. Foer considers it "the most ethically impressive" out of the bunch but doesn't really address any aspect of it aside from the actual slaughter process. What about the veal industry? What about the life of a dairy cow? I do wish Foer had spent more time exploring the beef industry in general and although I find this section a bit lacking, it was still the hardest for me to read. Yes, I especially have a soft spot for my moo cows. ♥

"We can't plead ignorance, only indifference. Those alive today are the generations that came to know better. We have the burden and the opportunity of living in the moment when the critique of factory farming broke into the popular consciousness. We are the ones of whom it will be fairly asked, What did you do when you learned the truth about eating animals?"

I can't imagine anyone reading this book and still being okay with eating animals. In fact, I refuse to believe it. My brain just can not comprehend that. At all. I'll end with a quote from another review that I fully agree with:

"The everyday horrors of factory farming are evoked so vividly, and the case against the people who run the system presented so convincingly, that anyone who, after reading Foer's book, continues to consume the industry's products must be without a heart, or impervious to reason, or both."(J.M. Coetzee )(less)

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May 31, 2010

Loren rated it

The U.S.D.A. exists to provide nutrition information and guidelines for health to the public, but it also was created to promote industry. The conflict of interest is not subtle: our nation gets its federally endorsed nutritional information from an agency that must support the food industry, which today means supporting factory farms.

I saw Foer discuss his new book at the Chicago Public Library in November. In his opening remarks he mentioned how he used to waffle a lot between eati...more

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May 20, 2010

Eric_W rated it

Shelves: current-affairs

Addendum 2/11/10 at bottom, edited to remove some grammatical errors 5/20/10

For Feb reading club. This NYTimes science article should help heat things up: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/scienc...

Joint review with Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma

Let's see, things we can't or shouldn't eat: butter, steak, meat, spinach because of the salmonella (or maybe it's only the organic spinach that gets contaminated), apples because of the alar, salt, sugar, fat, any food ...more

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Feb 11, 2010

Caris rated it

Shelves: food, 2010

My mother hates that I’m a vegetarian. Well, let me rephrase that: She hates the fact that my younger brother is a vegetarian because I am a vegetarian. See, she has to feed my brother. And she is lost. So, instead of actively finding alternative forms of sustenance for him, she has taken a fierce anti-veg stance. In the last week, she has said that vegetarians don’t get enough vitamins so their bones break more often, they eat more junk food than normal people, and that eating vegetables is dan...moreMy mother hates that I’m a vegetarian. Well, let me rephrase that: She hates the fact that my younger brother is a vegetarian because I am a vegetarian. See, she has to feed my brother. And she is lost. So, instead of actively finding alternative forms of sustenance for him, she has taken a fierce anti-veg stance. In the last week, she has said that vegetarians don’t get enough vitamins so their bones break more often, they eat more junk food than normal people, and that eating vegetables is dangerous because the people who grow them piss on their crops out of spite for the people who will buy them. I shit you not.

I was explaining to my family something I had read in this book, the bit about the poultry shit baths. It goes like this: chickens are gutted by a machine (which, often, ruptures their intestines and covers them in shit), scalded to remove their feathers, then thrown in a giant vat of water to cool down. That same water is used over and over (while filled with bacteria and feces). The cooling water is absorbed by the meat, adding an additional 7-11% of weight to the flesh. My grandma, the dear that she is, told me about a chicken farm she worked on when she was a kid and explained that the slaughter process was much different. She was profoundly disturbed by the information I gave her, which is sort of odd because she’s an “old country” kind of gal (she was born here, but she’s first generation). She said that she didn’t think she’d eat chicken anymore.

My mother, who I was targeting with this information (a speech, for which, I received a high five from my brother) was unmoved. That was when the bit about vegetables being dangerous came out. I couldn’t really argue with her because she was reaching for a ledge to place her weight on.

The most important thing about this book was Foer’s argument for tradition. Why in the hell is my mother so adamant that vegetarianism is wrong when there’s evidence to the contrary staring her right in the face? It’s because of tradition and that tradition is not something to be shrugged off so easily. Her family gathered around meat. It is the only thing she knows how to cook. It is what she prepared for her children and what she hoped to prepare for her grandchildren. To take that away from her is to do something as cruel to her as factory farming is to animals.

Foer explains this very phenomenon quite beautifully. He talks about his grandmother (the world’s greatest chef) and her chicken and carrots. His son will never experience the magic of that dish. This bothers him profoundly. And, for the rest of the book, he tries to find a way around it. He does, in a way, but that doesn’t lessen the sacrifice. Because of his compassionate thought, I am now able to feel sympathy towards my mother and toward my grandmother. With my brash words, intended to shock and enlighten, I took away grandma’s chicken soup. If only such words could be forged into a guillotine, I’d feel the need to lop off my head with them.

Ethically, I still think I’m right. I feel sick when I think of animals being raised specifically to be killed for their flesh. I cannot help but put myself in their hooves, feel the panic of imminent death, and know that there will be no one to blow the whistle, know that my death is not a crime. But the issue is so much bigger than that. In saving the animals, we run the risk of killing our traditions. I don’t want to kill my family’s traditions; they’re so few and far between that if any died, I fear I’d have none left. They need to be replaced, as Foer suggests, with the things that really matter. Family should be the center of tradition, something so unshakeable that the absence of a turkey or a pot roast will make no difference. But the resistance is intense and I don’t know that such a change is possible. My mother belongs to the NRA, drives a truck and shoots animals for sport. I eat tofu, carry my own grocery bags and, when the tires have air in them, ride my bike to work. I’m concerned that, presently, my shot at tradition is all but gone, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t start my own with my daughter.

This focus on family tradition, this making personal of the impersonal, it reminded me of why I love Foer’s writing so much. He gets a whole lot of shit for…well, I’m not really sure why, but he gets a lot of it. I’ve read so many negative reactions to his work on this site that I began to wonder if I was simply caught up in the Foer hype. But then I remember how I came across him in the first place. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was due to come out and Foer’s picture was on the cover of BookPage (a library publication). The librarian that the time, a lovely woman who I miss terribly, told me I should read his book because he looked like me. I was like, “Uh…sure.” I went to the shelf and picked up Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel. I was immediately excited upon seeing the cover and I leapt into it headfirst. It was dense and difficult to read. I had trouble keeping track of the time and character shifts. But as I sat there reading it (I remember this distinctly, like an early childhood memory) in a dilapidated, muggy Laundromat, I was blown away. I had experienced none of the hype; I loved the book for what it was.

This book gave me so much to think about. It made me feel both depressed and uplifted at the same time. It is a work of tremendous scholarship as well as sound philosophy. I know that the subject matter is going to split people down the middle, but that doesn’t matter to me. I never want to argue about the content of this book. I think the facts and figures related to factory farming, while informative, take a backseat to the love, attention, and respect that was poured into every page.
(less)

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Feb 26, 2010

Rachel rated it

Recommends it for: people who think vegetarians are idiots or crazy.

OK, I better not die of H1N1 just because of these stupid factory farms! JERKO MEAT-EATERS and FILTHY CORPORATIONS!!! Thanks for ruining our world. DAGGONIT. Actually, I used to be a meat-eater, too, but once I figured out the disproportionately negative consequences of eating a meat-based diet compared to a plant-based diet, I CHANGED MY DIET. It wasn't that hard to do. So now I'm a jerko plant-eater. Yahoo! I hope lots of people will read this book and change their diets, too!

...more

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Jul 12, 2010

Jasmine rated it

Shelves: american

This book is another reason that I might not have liked balzac and the little chinese seamstress. This book is great the seducer is great, it may have been comparisons that actually killed the book. so foer is a violent author who puts down other books.

right just kidding there. This is a horrifying book. I'm not one to fall for all of the animals are not being treated fairly crap, nd am in fact the kind of person that goes to mcdonalds after watching the movie supersize me. However,...more

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Dec 23, 2009

Max rated it

I'm not sure I can say this book was amazing. This is a different kind of five star rating. But it is probably one of the most important. Foer is the first author to (successfully and/or popularly) consider the human impetus for storytelling and forgetting alongside the alarming facts of animal industry. I wish I had written this book (a little differently perhaps, but I still wish I had). But then it wouldn't have the impact that only a bestselling author can have. Condemning, creative, direct,...more

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Nov 23, 2009

Bells rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

Well done, Jonathan Safran Foer, well done.
(your book, not steak)

Look, I love meat. I really do. I hate myself for that, but I love meat. I also deplore seeing living creatures suffer. (I'm the jerk that lets spiders out of the house instead of squishing them.) I also know that if I had to kill the animal myself, I'd be a veggie for sure. I'm a total sucker for animals, but not enough of a sucker, I guess.

In junior high, I became a "crazy animal rights/env...more

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Jan 29, 2011

Courtney rated it

Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: 2011, non-fiction, books-about-food

I recently read another book about eating animals, by Hal Herzog. You can read my review on this, as well. Herzog is first and foremost a scientist, who first and foremost was just conducting a study. Of course he had his opinions and by the end of the book the reader, of course, knew them. But his book didn't really have an agenda. I would say the final thesis of that book (or at least in my interpretation of it) was, "Hm, humans have at best an interesting and at worst a largely hypocriti...moreI recently read another book about eating animals, by Hal Herzog. You can read my review on this, as well. Herzog is first and foremost a scientist, who first and foremost was just conducting a study. Of course he had his opinions and by the end of the book the reader, of course, knew them. But his book didn't really have an agenda. I would say the final thesis of that book (or at least in my interpretation of it) was, "Hm, humans have at best an interesting and at worst a largely hypocritical relationship with animals. Gee, Fascinating." And, although I was thoroughly entertained and interested in Herzog's book, that was that, for me. This book was far different.

Foer is first and foremost a writer and this book takes that writing and applies it to something for which he holds passion. Not the objective, anthrozoologist, case-study type of passionate interest that Herzog has. But the "please, listen to me, this is important" type of passion. And listen I did.

This book laid out facts I had probably heard before - but in a way I had yet to hear them. It wasn't just a disgusting description of the insides of slaughterhouses - though there definitely is a lot of that. It was a book on morality. Foer's book puts in front of people who otherwise consider themselves wholly moral individuals (standers against torture, opponents of child abuse, lovers of human rights) a question they are going to find it hard to ignore: To what extent can eating animals be rationalized on any moral grounds?

I could use this review to reiterate the argument that Foer makes, but that would be pointless because there's no way I can even summarize it effectively or with any comparable amount of skill and eloquence. But I want to urge everyone to read this book. Not just because it's written well and enjoyable and educational - but because you might be surprised the way it could completely change your view on eating animals.

For the entirety of my life, I have been a carnivore. A happy one at that. For the most part, I kind of sneer at vegetarians. Probably because I connote vegetarianism as a trend that American Apparel- wearing hipsters started so they could appear more ~~~~open-minded. I also happen to like social ease and being that guest over for dinner who passes on the main course because of an ethical reason makes things awkward, to say the least. But at what point does avoidance of legitimate ethical arguments for vegetarianism because of how I feel I will be perceived become incredibly unacceptable? Moral choices at the end of the day are personal compromises with one's own conscience - how do I feel personally about the decisions I am making at the dinner table?

I know this has become a rant. But, it's a rant I feel is important to at least express for myself. Largely because this book may be the catalyst for a large shift in my own eating habits.

There were two arguments in this book that will stick with me:
1) The type of factory farming that goes on in this country - and is expanding to other countries- is no longer about "feeding people." It's about profit. And rationalizing my own Chicken Taco-eating, Burger-Grilling, Steak-Consuming lifestyle because I feel that "human needs come before animal needs" is evading the issue, and I know it. The factory farming that is going on in this country is not compromising animal welfare so that hungry children can have a meal tonight. Factory farming is committing the greatest atrocity against the animal species so that corporations can gain and our palettes can be satisfied - end of story.
2) Vegetarianism is the ultimate form of fighting for the weak - for those who can not fight for themselves. As a good liberal must, I consider oppression of the vulnerable to be immoral in the realm of humanity. Why is it moral in the realm of the animal world? Animals feel pain. They may not have the same complex cognitive abilities that humans have - but they are creatures and they do feel pain. If an unknown but mentally superior being came to Earth, would humans be under the jurisdiction and will of that being solely because they were considered inferior? Is mental superiority a legitimate argument for oppression?

If you've made it this far in my review, know that this book has profoundly affected me and I encourage everyone to read it. Every other idea from this book can't really be done justice unless you read Foer's words themselves.

(less)

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Mar 17, 2010

Lisa rated it

Adding this book to the information I'm learning in my Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Health class, I'm becoming increasingly concerned about my meat-eating habits and the environmental effects. Safran Foer tends to stress the animal welfare angle, but I think the environmental and social effects of factory farming are more important to me. The sheer amount of animal waste produced by these operations is incredible. Until someone can come up with a cost-effective, large-scale solution to the...more

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Jan 13, 2010

Eliza rated it

Shelves: 2010, didn-t-finish, library-book

A lot of reviews I read derided Foer for not taking the leap in this book and actively advocating veganism. Foer defended himself by saying while he may get there, this book is about what he found when he was considering the ramifications of eating animals and raising his son, nothing more.

My complaint wasn't so much that he didn't advocate anything as that I felt like I was reading his research notes, not a book. It really felt like "what he found" and nothing more. The a...more

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Sara Lynn Paige I am not trying to be rude, but I felt it necessary to point out that a good chunk of his book discusses family farms making a difference. And his clo...more
Jan 25, 2011 08:42am

Eliza Sara Lynn wrote: "I am not trying to be rude, but I felt it necessary to point out that a good chunk of his book discusses family farms making a ...more
Jan 25, 2011 09:02am

Linda I think you didn;t read the whole book :P A few chapter discuss family farming and why/how that is different. I don't know how anyone can say they l...more
15 hours, 31 min ago

Feb 25, 2010

Rebecca Edwards rated it

Shelves: read2010, upwithfood

In his book Heat, Bill Buford reflects (as he prepares to butcher a pig) that he has always respected vegetarians for being among the few who actually think about meat.

In Eating Animals, JSF doesn't seem to respect much of anybody, other than his grandmother and Kafka. For all the promising ethical paths he walks down, from traditional animal husbandry to Bill Niman's sustainable beef to animal rights activism, he's so determined to shit on everyone else's ideas about eating meat th...more

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Nov 15, 2009

thad.miller rated it

If you're at all even slights curious about how the things you eat are produced and what it all means, I highly recommend you check out this book. It is not an over-the-top plea for vegetarianism. It is not a book full of facts telling you how bad things are (though there are facts). It is an effort by Foer (who has written some amazing fiction) to examine the stories we tell about what and how we eat as he prepares to become a father. And it is an effort to see if we can tell new stories about ...more

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Jul 26, 2011

Vincenzo Aversa rated it

Non è certo la lettura più piacevole che io ricordi, ma dovremmo più spesso ricordarci quello che finisce nei nostri piatti. Se non mi ha spinto fino all'essere vegetariano è solo per pigrizia, ma non c'era mai stato nulla, prima di questo libro, capace di costringermi a mettere in discussione il piacere di un buon pasto di carne. Certe immagini, dolorose quanto inammissibili, mi faranno compagnia in ogni futura scelta di supermercato.

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Jan 11, 2011

Les rated it

Shelves: food

I typically rate books and do not write reviews. Why should I throw my two cents in about a topic when everyone else has probably said the same thing--and more eloquently? Do I need to repeat what has already been written just so I can see my name somewhere? It feels narcissistic. Or perhaps that is just a good excuse for not being able to add anything new?

This one is hard to leave without a review or reflection though. I am not even sure what a rating matters in this instance. I could...moreI typically rate books and do not write reviews. Why should I throw my two cents in about a topic when everyone else has probably said the same thing--and more eloquently? Do I need to repeat what has already been written just so I can see my name somewhere? It feels narcissistic. Or perhaps that is just a good excuse for not being able to add anything new?

This one is hard to leave without a review or reflection though. I am not even sure what a rating matters in this instance. I could give it a 3 or a 4 because I thought it was powerful, but felt too emotionally wrenched by it or manipulated by the rhetoric. I could give it a one for forcing me to reconsider my purchasing and eating habits and for making me feel like I have a horrible conscience. A five would signal the transformative power contained herein. Any of these feels arbitrary, so I give it a four based on all of these reasons.

I did not enjoy this book. I found it funny in a few places. I was perplexed by some of his comments (his belittling dismissal of normal consumers who would take the slaughter of an animal's life into their own hands in order to know from where their food came). He is clever and he pushes cultural norms and logical buttons (dogs as a source of food). And yes, he is absolutely rhetorically dastardly.

Why shouldn't he be? The industry of factory farming does not play fair and acts with such stomach-churning cruelty that his rhetorical deviousness is the best approach. Going about our normal lives and presuming that we live in a harmless society or pretending that our consumption is not harmful to the animals, our environment, and ultimately to us (see his connection to pandemics) is as unsustainable as these "farms."

Foer himself is a vegetarian and his ultimate goal is vague. He says that the book is not simply a case for vegetarianism--though this seems ideal because it reduces animal suffering the most. He presents some of the family farmers and ranchers who truly care about animals, try to give them happy lives, and the least-cruel death possible. These real farmers do exist and can thrive (and multiply) if our consumption changes. In some ways, this approach--fully funded and supported through our ethical choices--is more of a blow to the factory farm behemoth (and more realistic) than assuming there will be a mass conversion to vegetarianism. It is also supported by vegetarian ranchers and vegan slaughterhouse builders.

I have known many of these facts and yet have turned away and gone back to my old ways of thoughtless consumption in the past. This feels different. I do not see how my desire for animal flesh can justify the cruelty and suffering that Foer presents in these pages (and is available through many other sources). Rate it whatever you want, but read it and wrestle with it.

Jonathan Safran Foer- Damn you . . . and thank you.

YTD=5(less)

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Apr 24, 2011

Rachel Durkan rated it

This book so far is very interesting. It has contributed to my personal enlightment of the factory farming issue that we have in the united states. This book is part memoir and part research which makes it a good read. I have learned alot about factory farms, specifically the poultry industry. The industry has dramatically changed in just the past fifty years, from small scale family farms and caring about the well being of the animals to factory farms where the animals are just a number. There ...more

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Dec 18, 2009

Davelowusa rated it

It's pretty fabulous, though a bit too biased at times (and I say that as somebody who agrees with Foer's points). What bothers me is that Foer presents this as his exercise in determining whether or not he'll feed his children meat, but he clearly made up his mind well before beginning his research. Therefore it's important to watch out for any agendizing. There's certainly some interesting logic at work in the book, and Foer doesn't back away from talking about ethics and morals. In the end, ...more

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Dec 17, 2009

Chris rated it

Foer is a good writer. As a vegan, I found exploring his process interesting, but also very troubling. More later...

November 22:

I just finished the book and am not at all comfortable with many of Foer's points that seem to to say, "it's OK some of the time." I found many of his rationalizations and the fact that he is not advocating going vegan problematic and disturbing. However, having said that, it is a well-researched book that does a very good job of illust...more

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Feb 02, 2010

Dean Kakridas rated it

Shelves: health, lifestyle-design

This book for me was the final straw that broke the camel's back. (Ouch, probably not a good choice of words based on the theme of this book). Anyway, it was a thought evoking read, that for me, built nicely upon other books I've read like The China Study, Diet for a New America, and Food Rules: An Eater's Manual. Also a good follow to watching films like Earthlings and Food Inc..

I've been a vegetarian before for about 8 months. At that time, I didn't feel like I was fully prepared o...more

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Feb 12, 2010

Brooke rated it

Shelves: nonfiction

It's hard to rate this book in terms of how much I liked it. I didn't like reading it. It gave me nightmares. It made me into an all the time hungry (right now) vegetarian who doesn't know what to eat (and I hardly ate much meat to start with). But I knew what I was getting into when I picked this up. One doesn't read this book unless they are even considering giving up eating animals, because ignorance is bliss. So, I knew. And I'm also a doting Jonathan Safran Foer fan (although you'll never e...moreIt's hard to rate this book in terms of how much I liked it. I didn't like reading it. It gave me nightmares. It made me into an all the time hungry (right now) vegetarian who doesn't know what to eat (and I hardly ate much meat to start with). But I knew what I was getting into when I picked this up. One doesn't read this book unless they are even considering giving up eating animals, because ignorance is bliss. So, I knew. And I'm also a doting Jonathan Safran Foer fan (although you'll never ever hear me refer to him as JSF- come on, really people?). Anyhow, I knew this was nonfiction so I was curious to see how he would do in this area, but mainly I wasn't expecting magical writing. And really, it isn't magical writing. I mean it was certainly more interesting to read than if any non fiction writer or simply vegan activist wrote it, but it wasn't any kind of amazing writing. It was, much what I thought it would be, informative (to some extent about many things I already know- many of which I know on a more subconscious/hidden/don't want to admit to myself level- but also he writes in much more depth). While I could have done without some of the horrible images, it wouldn't have been what it was without them. Also, I like how blunt he is throughout, stating the obvious -we are eating animals people, not meat- the obvious that we somehow convinced ourselves is not so obvious.

Anyway, yes, I am making the changes after reading this. I am not sure I can do them all, as he says (and I know he kind of says not to bother unless you can really make a statement, that buying factory meat sometimes is like buying it all the time) but for now I am committed to not buying any products supporting the industry (but when I am at other peoples houses etc. and the food has already been prepared or bought by someone else, I may on the occasion go with it). I am human. I might slip up. If I allow no room for slipping up than I can't do this. But I am going to really make a concerted effort. I will buy meat and eggs on the occasion from totally ethical and expensive places.

This book isn't for everyone. And certainly some people will come out of it making different changes (just vegetarian, just vegan, ethical only etc. etc. etc.). It will not be one thing for everyone. Also, while I will recommend this to people, I will not recommend this to everyone. I will not bring it up everywhere I go and harass people over dinner or become preachy. But I will spread the word. And I will hope this really does take off and create industry changes, even if they happen slowly.(less)

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Feb 06, 2010

Kat rated it

Shelves: vegan, nonfiction

Ok, I finally finished this. I went vegan over 10 years ago and since haven't bothered much to immerse myself in the factual horrors of factory farming. Factory farming = Really really disgusting and cruel, and I don't need to be constantly reminded of that to stay vegan. But this book is a startling reminder to me that only affirms my decision to not eat animals. I know I wanted to vomit a bit in my mouth when I heard the industry term "fecal soup" being thrown around. And this is not...more

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Nov 13, 2011

Janitag rated it

Recommended to Janitag by: Elisa

I'm not a vegetarian. I have never been and I probably never will be, I love meat too much and think it is important for our health to eat it. I dislike PETA because of their radical ways of dealing with things and I don't like them any more after finishing 'Eating Animals'. But that doesn't mean I love animals any less. I could never kill an animal myself, that's for sure.

This is why I started this book with great caution. I was sure I was going to get blamed for liking meat ...more

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About Jonathan Safran Foer

Jonathan Safran Foer (born 1977) is an American writer best known for his 2002 novel Everything Is Illuminated. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, the novelist Nicole Krauss, and their son, Sasha.

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Everything is Illuminated & Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

A Convergence of Birds: Original Fiction and Poetry Inspired by Joseph Cornell

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