The Butcher and the Vegetarian: One Woman's Romp Through a World of Men, Meat, and Moral Crisis

The Butcher and the Vegetarian: One Woman's Romp Through a World of Men, Meat, and Moral Crisis

3.11 of 5 stars 3.11  ·  rating details  ·  363 ratings  ·  106 reviews
Growing up in a family that kept jars of bean sprouts on its windowsill before such things were desirable or hip, Tara Austen Weaver never thought she'd stray from vegetarianism. But as an adult, she found herself in poor health, and, having tried cures of every kind, a doctor finally ordered her to eat meat. Warily, she ventured into the butcher shop, and as the man behi
...more
Hardcover, 240 pages
Published February 2nd 2010 by Rodale Books
more details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael PollanFast Food Nation by Eric SchlosserIn Defense of Food by Michael PollanEating Animals by Jonathan Safran FoerAnimal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Food Politics
38th out of 41 books — 32 voters
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael PollanKitchen Confidential by Anthony BourdainAnimal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara KingsolverFast Food Nation by Eric SchlosserIn Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Food-Related Non-Fiction
373rd out of 469 books — 976 voters


More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 952)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
Schmacko
Wow…you’d assume that if you had Anne Lamott write a comment on your book jacket, you also might have an editor. Tara Austen Weaver has a cute idea – and she has a cute voice – but this book is marred by narrative aimlessness, writing errors, and word misuses.

A strict vegetarian raised Weaver, so Weaver has little or no insight into the world of meat. As an adult, she’s told to start eating meat to combat weight gain and fatigue. Sure, she had some misgivings, but she wanted to feel better.

Her...more
Cara
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Rachel
Fun, quick book. I almost wish I had waited to read this until I was on vacation. The cover and title are misleading (must every book written by a woman need to look/sound like a romance novel?) but I knew what to actually expect so I wasn't surprised by the content. I was surprised that she went from never cooking meat to her first (or at least it seemed like the first, chronology was not the book's strong point) forays into cooking meat all involving tricky/very meaty dishes like crown roasts...more
Donna Jo Atwood
This is a nonfiction foodie-type book (my library has it in the Biographies?) by a woman raised as a vegetarian who, when she decides for health reason to start eating meat, investigates why we make such a production of meat--in many senses of the word. She examines the economic and moral implications of eating meat, especially from the standpoint of eating locally.
The cover is very misleading--makes you think it's going to be a light-hearted romantic romp through the meat market. While it is...more
Christine
Rife with ethical dilemmas, The Butcher and the Vegetarian follows author Tara Austen Weaver’s struggle with eating and health. Raised on a strict, vegetarian diet she’s been happy to follow into her thirties, Tara suddenly finds meat-eating the doctor’s orders. And then multiple doctors’ orders. What to do? How to start? Weaver’s meandering tale is pure foodie flip-floppery, as she eats in ways that defy a label, trying to take her waning health in hand.

What we’re eating is a charged choice the...more
Kat
What this book isn't:
- A book bringing new information to light about factory farming and why eating local happy meat is the way to go. There were one or two interesting tidbits that I might not have known before (as well as fairly graphic descriptions of slaughter on small farms), and most of it's been covered in other meat-related books.

- A romance about a woman who meets a butcher and falls in love while she's experimenting with eating meat. Disappointing, that. There are butchers and cowboys...more
Jeannette
The cover is so deceiving that it's criminal. It's not a chick lit book at all nor is it really about men or morals. There's meat and there's Tara and the book is about navigating her way back to health and learning a lot about herself in the process. Growing up in a hippy Northern California enclave as a vegetarian, Tara didn't know the first thing about eating meat, except that not eating it made her feel like she was the weirdo. But when a few doctors and health practioners tell her to start...more
Debbie
Staci recommended this book to me, and I found out this past weekend that Martin has read it as well. It starts out a little slow but once you get past the first few chapters it picks up speed.

Tara was raised by her vegetarian mom and while that's what she and her brother would eat at home, they did eat meat when out at restaurants or at friends homes. Once she is an adult, she develops some health issues that causes her to go in search of ways to feel better. Her acupuncturist suggests that sh...more
Evangeline
I was intrigued with the title and started reading the book. I was thinking it'll be more of a love story but turned out to be more of moral/ethical issues. It was was educational and made me question where does my food come from. It gives a personal insight on being a vegan and also the many options we can choose our food. The book dwells on current issues that people face nowadays. From saving our planet, economic crisis, and plain survival. I agree in eating less meat but economically speakin...more
Jeni
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Allison
I suppose it is only appropriate to offer the caveat that having followed Ms. Weaver's blog for the past year, I was overjoyed at the opportunity to support her writing (and food-loving) efforts by purchasing this book and attending her first reading. Hearing some of the background and side stories whetted my appetite to indulge in the book itself, and I was not disappointed (although I am inclined to agree with the author and her agent that a question mark would have better suited the cover in...more
Sandy D.
I almost gave this book 5 stars, but the ending was a little anticlimactic, and her spelling of salami (salumi) just grated on me.

Anyway, it's a very good memoir, mostly about food, by a woman who was raised totally vegetarian in n. CA. As an adult, she decides to try eating meat (partially for her health, as she has some chronic fatigue, and a couple of drs. recommend it). Her exploration into "the world of meat" (why the hell the subtitle calls it a romp, I don't know, maybe it goes with the t...more
Jessica
Based on the title and the cover I assumed this would be more of a love-interest story where a vegetarian meets and falls in love with a butcher who slowly introduces her to eating meat. That was not the storyline at all, but I stil enjoyed the book! Basically the author grew up as a vegetarian and although occasionally ate meat at a friends house or in a restaurant, she still considered herself a vegetarian. Then she starts experiencing health problems and more than one doctor encourages her to...more
Brenna
Gross gross EW gross. NO. Just..no. I have no idea but I thought this was going to be a love story LOL SPOILER ITS NOT. Its about an over-weight woman who quickly grabs the excuse to be come a 'full-fleged meat eater' once a doctor gives her the idea...

GIVE ME A BREAK! If your gonna eat meat just do it, don't blame it on doctors or who the eff its 'CAUSE YOU WANT IT. I can't believe I even made it half way through this thing I wanted to throw up so bad. How could she keep eating it!? No self con...more
Katherine
This was a pleasant read. I related to Weaver's dilemma--before I became a vegetarian, I was always uncomfortable cooking meat, and when I started eating meat again, again twelve years, I still wasn't comfortable about it.

I like her writing about food (I enjoy her blog) and I admire her diligence--the wide range of people she spoke with and foods she tried and so on.

The book felt a little meandering--sort of like having a conversation with someone who's telling you a story, but keeps jumping ar...more
Anderse
I've never bought the "my doctor tole me to eat meat so I had to" routine but since the author was a vegetarian from childhood, it was more legitimate. I admire her devotion to each of the (wacky extreme) diet types she tries out to see what is the best fit for her. I don't think I could eat meat 3x a day for a week -let alone raw vegan!

I was misled by the title as I thought it meant she would end up dating a butcher. And where is this "romp though a world of men" that was also promised? She ha...more
Stacy
What happens when a woman who was raised by a hippie vegetarian mother in San Francisco encounters a lack of energy? A slew of doctors may urge her to eat meat. Thus is the plight of the author, who eventually not only delves into the world of meat eating but the ethics of how meat is produced, how it's sold, and the validity of a range of extreme diets, from vegetarian to raw foodist to supreme carnivore.

I appreciated that this book is intended to make you think about your food differently, to...more
Laura
As a vegan, I was hoping to see more emphasis on the "moral crisis" part of the title, but a large portion of the book is spent romanticizing all things meat as she ventures into the world of flesh-eating that was a taboo part of her childhood.

The vegan part of me was disappointed in the frequent condoning of "humanely raised" and "humanely slaughtered" meat. Personally, I don't think there's a way to humanely slaughter another living creature, nor do I believe meat-eating is necessary for the...more
Renee Bush
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Lady Susan
So this book is not a romance of any sort, unless you want to call it a romance with food. I guess the cover really threw people off based on some of the reviews. (And apparently, the cover is a battle that the author lost).

The book describes the foray of a lifetime vegetarian into the world of meat and the difficulties associated with it from how to prepare it to how to eat it responsibly. There is however, a unexpected twist at the end.

This was a nice book to read after reading "In defense o...more
cat
2011 Book 9/100

Interesting memoir of a vegetarian adult, raised in a vegetarian home, who decides to explore eating meat as part of a solution to an ongoing health issue. She grapples, enjoys, discussed morals and ethics around factory farming, watches a slaughter at a beef-farm, becomes wildly carnivorous at moments, and resorts to raw foods at others, as she navigates this year of opening herself up to meat. As a vegetarian for 15 years who has recently become enamored of bacon, this book was...more
Liz
An entertaining book that looks at not just a vegetarian entering into the world of flesh-eating, but raises questions about quality vs. quantity. Would you eat less of a higher quality meat? Are you okay with knowing the fact that an animal died to put food on your plate, and if so, can you face all the messy and unglamorous work that goes into it?

While the title is polarizing, the book really isn't about unabashed carnivores versus the granola crunchers. Really, it's about finding a happy medi...more
Rebecca
Tara grew up in with a mother that was staunchly vegetarian. The only time she ate meat was while eating out or at friends houses. But after not feeling well for an extended period her doctor told her that she needed to eat meat. For someone who didn't know how to cook meat or have fond memories of it cooking she had a very steep learning curve indeed. This books explores what it means to be a meat-eater or a vegetarian or a flexitarian or any of the other labels that we put on ourselves about t...more
Chade66
While it looks like a romance novel its not. Having read most of the books that she referenced, I spent time skipping large portions of the narrative.

What was interesting to me is that a vegetarian raised vegetarian would start off on this exploration of meat. She was fairly brave about trying new things even with the soul wrestling involved.

What seemed very bizarre to me was her constant division between meat eater as male and vegetarians as female. I thought it was odd and eventually irritati...more
Wendi
An interesting read. Chronologically a bit hard to follow though -- I kept wondering why she told every butcher and meat-guru she met she had never cooked meat before, when she had indeed cooked a steak/crown roast/etc in the previous chapter. Also a bit too "crushy" on cute butchers and cute cowboys. Yet I suppose this is what makes her memoir truthful -- sometimes, even after knowing the health risks, environmental impact, and animal ethics, you still eat meat anyway, just because the meat ven...more
Sarah
I enjoyed this book quite a bit, but it was kind of confusing. The title is misleading, and the book itself was kind of more of a brain dump than a story, but it was still entertaining and interesting. I appreciate that she explored the consumption of meat from many different angles without getting too political. I also appreciate the sort of non-conclusive nature of whole thing- diet is just one of those really personal and mysterious things that we have to explore for ourselves. One of the rev...more
Lisa Lawless
I flew through this book, but then, I have meat issues too. Weaver set out to find a way to feel better and have more energy by trying different ways of eating. Her journey was very interesting to me, and her writing style kept me turning the pages. The story is full of great information about responsible, sustainable farming, ranching, and meat production, but it's never preachy. She carefully explains what ended up working for her, and the end has an interesting twist, and that what works for...more
Gayle
I'd really choose 2.5 stars. After reading some of the reviews I see that I wasn't the only one who was disappointed that there wasn't a romance with a butcher. Seriously, that would probably a better story! (I really did keep waiting for the love interest to appear- I guess I was unclear on the topic.) As for the actual book...I don't have a lot of patience for food angst. Eat what works for you, make decisions you can live with, and spare me the nitty gritty details of your indecision. I may c...more
Godyssey
I loved the book although it wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be when I decided to read it, I was plesantly surprised.

The author Tara was raised a vegetarian by a mother who smartly only wanted the best for her children. I can understand Tara not liking how something as simple as what she ate made her an outsider among her childhood friends, but her mother saw way beyond that. Kudos to her mother who most mothers today should aspire to be like including the lack of tv. But of course a...more
Marsha
When Tara A. Weaver suffered from fatigue and weight gain, her medical caretakers couldn’t diagnose what was wrong with her. But they all told her the same thing: she needed to eat meat. This was shattering news for a life-long vegetarian and entailed a radical change in her lifestyle.

This book describes Tara’s struggles with her conscience, liberality and surprising enjoyment of the foodstuffs she had avoided for most of her life. The very act of consumption came under scrutiny as Tara probed...more
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 31 32 next »
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
The Butcher and the Vegetarian (ebook)
The Butcher and the Vegetarian: One Woman's Romp Through a World of Men, Meat, and Moral Crisis (Kindle Edition)
Uma vegetariana no açougue: A saga de uma mulher num mundo de homens, carne e crise moral (Paperback)
Travelers' Tales Provence: True Stories Tales from High Mountain: Stories and Recipes from a Life in Japan, Part I Travelers' Tales Tuscany: True Stories

Share This Book

Your website