Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf: The Story of One Man, Two Cows, and the Feeding of a Nation

by Peter Lovenheim

Four years ago, journalist Peter Lovenheim was standing in a long line at McDonald’s to buy a Happy Meal for his little daughter, which would come with a much-desired Teenie Beanie Baby—either a black-and-white cow named “Daisy” or an adorable red bull named “Snort.” Finding it rather strange that young children were being offered cuddly toy cows one minute and eating the grilled remains of real ones the next, Lovenheim suddenly saw clearly the great disconnect between what we eat and our knowledge of where it comes from. Determined to understand the process by which living animals become food, Lovenheim did the only thing he could think He bought a calf—make that twin calves, number 7 and number 8—from the dairy farm where they were born and asked for permission to spend as much time as necessary hanging around and observing everything that happened in the lives of these farm animals.

Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf is the provocative true story of Peter Lovenheim’s hands-on journey into the dairy and beef industries as he follows his calves from conception to possible consumption. In the process, he gets to know the good, hard-working people who raise our cattle and make milk products, beef, and veal available to consumers like you and me. He supplies us with a “fly on the wall” view of how these animals are used to put food on America’s very abundant tables.

Constantly vigilant about wanting to be an observer who never interferes, Lovenheim allows the reader to see every aspect of a cow’s life, without passing judgment. Reading this book will forever change the way you think about food and the people and animals who provide it for us.

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Animals

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Peter Lovenheim is an author and journalist whose articles and essays have appeared in the New York Times, New York magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Parade, Moment magazine, The Washington Post, and other publications.

His book, In the Neighborhood: The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time, won a Barnes & Noble Discover Award and the First Annual Zócalo Public Square Book Prize.

Lovenheim holds a degree in journalism from Boston University and in law from Cornell Law School. He teaches narrative non-fiction at The Writers Center in Bethesda, MD and splits his time between his hometown of Rochester, NY, and Washington, DC.

Reviews

[sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, if you're a bleeding-heart vegan like I am, you might find yourself a sloppy crying mess throughout the final chapter of this book, clutching your pet cat to your metaphorically bloody bosom as you read the description of a cow being killed at a small slaughterhouse and wonder what will happen to Lovenheim's two calves.

To backtrack... this book is about what happens when Loveinheim decides to investigate where the meat he eats (specifically, his McDonald's burger) comes from and watch the life cycle of a cow from "conception to consumption." He wants to know what really goes into the production of the beef Americans eat and how there got to be such a huge disconnect between that process and actually eating the meat. He buys two calves (after watching the artificial insemination process- eeugh) and pays a local farmer two years to raise them. During that time, he gets to know lots of farmers and others who work in the cattle industry and gains great respect for the often invisible and underappreciated work they do.

Lovenheim is not a vegetarian (although he admits he was a member of the Humane Society when he was younger), and he approaches the project intending to watch his calves raised and then have them slaughtered for beef (and maybe eat them). Not surprisingly, though, as he watches his calves grow, he becomes attached to them and wonders about their feelings, thoughts, and lives. He questions whether he can go through with having them slaughtered.

And that's how we get to me being a weepy, anxious mess at the end of the book, but I won't ruin it by telling you what he decides to do.

I liked it. Lovenheim writes in a casual, conversational style and keeps it moving. There were times when I found his tone a little callous, and I didn't like his characterization of the people he met on the ashram (who came across as totally CRAZY), but he kept me wondering what he was going to do, which made him come across as much more realistic and relatable than some other people he describes. A good read for people interested in where beef comes from, animal rightsy people, farmers, cows.

[Joni · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf, the author decides to take a closer look at the dairy industry after his daughter wants a Happy Meal from McDonald's in which the prize is a cow Beanie Baby. The toy cow prize in hamburger meal causes him to wonder how far removed we are from our food. Because a large portion of fast food hamburgers comes from dairy cattle, he chooses to follow a Holstein calf from conception to consumption, thus uncovering some hard truths about the dairy industry.

The book was published in 2002 and I think some of the things he discusses aren't current issues such as use of BST injections in dairy cows. Also, beef prices were low at the time, which may have been the reason for some of the dairy farm's treatment (mistreatment) of its stock headed to the salebarn. It was quite an alarming read for me as a need cow/calf operator. I think the author was unbiased as he could be and simply reported what he saw but in the end he felt emotional about his calves. I think only those with the most hardened of hearts who spend any time with cattle won't come to like and appreciate the animal. Even though it was a tough read, I feel it was fair and honest and hopefully led readers to pay more attention to where their meat comes from.

[Mike Strong · Rating 2 out of 5]

**Spoilers**

Peter Lovenheim follows a single cow from conception to consumption...or, at least that's what the title claims he will do. He never actually follows through. He does watch an animal being killed, but his cows end up at an animal sanctuary. While I thought the book was incredibly informative about the dairy and meat cattle industries, I found the whole "debate" about what to do with his cows tiresome. It spanned multiple chapters. It took multiple pages of him voicing his uncertainty. I don't disbelieve that he legitimately felt any of that nor that he really did spend a decent amount of time thinking on it; however, it felt intrusive to the narrative of the industry. I selected this book because (1) it has an interesting title, and (2) I wanted to learn more about raising livestock without reading a textbook. I appreciated that Lovenheim gives voice to small farmers and you really get to know these people. I found myself looking up Lawnell Farms and reading more about what they do there. While these factors compelled me in the beginning, somewhere midway through reading, it started to feel like homework.

Also...the chapter on Bonanza, the bull stud, was fascinating!

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting read, but as others have pointed out, it focuses a lot on the farmers. It was still nice, but I wanted Lovenheim to get into the cows and ethics of it all. He was very objective, which at some times was beneficial. I wanted to hear his feelings on it more though.

I also thought it was a bit misleading. The idea sprung from a trip to McD's, but he follows calves from a small dairy farm, not an industrial farming operation. The slaughterhouse he visits is also small and run completely by hand. The burgers from fast food places don't follow those guidelines.

[Jeffrey Yoskowitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book when I went to visit Brown in 2002 because I was just getting into reading about the food industry and I had just finished Fast Food Nation. It sat on my shelf for so long and always made me feel guilty. Now I'm slowly making my way through it. It's style is a bit repetitive, though it has nuggets of insight into the dairy cow beef industry, which is something I knew little about. I'll report in later.

[Sherilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I keep changing my rating from 2 to a 3. Overall, I found this book interesting because the author had no agenda. He really just wanted to observe the process of a calf's life from "conception to consumption" so he purchased 2 calves and did just that. He let the pros do it and he observed. It's something I have wondered about as well, and I liked the first third of the book. But the whole middle section of the book was just him going to visit the calves and observing what seemed to be the same types of things. When I eventually skipped to the 2 last chapters as he debated his options for slaughter (consumption), these were the most captivating.

[Sunshine Biskaps · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf: The Story of One Man, Two Cows, and the Feeding of a Nation" by Peter Lovenheim
Reviewed on 27 July 2022

This book was exactly what I thought it would be, except even better. It is very easy to read, interesting, engaging and captivating. Why is it that many previous lawyers become such great authors? This book did not disappoint.

I loved it from the beginning and it lured me in to find out more about how our food comes from a living animal to our dinner table. Overall, a necessary read.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read as an interesting story. Completely failed to convert me to vegetarianism. Disillusioning about the dairy industry for sure. Not for the squeamish or soft-hearted!

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I was going to like it but the end was awful in my opinion.

[Catherine Kelaher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book out from the library not knowing quite what to expect. All I knew was that this book would tell me more about the meat and dairy industry and it would be from the point of view of someone who is not an animal rights activist, a vegan or even a vegetarian.
Despite being written from a carnist's point of view this book was very telling for me. It shows how many dairy calves end up in hamburgers and the process of how they get there. The book focuses on ‘good’ farmers, ‘good’ slaughter houses etc and everything is shown in a ‘good’ light. However this book still has quite an impact.
Lovenheim describes the everyday procedures on the farm such as castration, de-horning and branding. Years after reading this book I still have a powerful image in my mind of a suffering calf whenever I see dairy products. The author talks of the intense fear and pain in the calf’s eyes as the painful procedures were brutally carried out without anaesthetic. The interesting thing is that this book shows the ‘humane’ side of farming and it is still sickening. If you read this book and you are reasonably compassionate to start with you will be put off of dairy products for life. However, keep in mind that the author is not allowed into the big slaughter houses and does not experience true factory farming, so it is somewhat biased and not representative of all the horrors that go on in large scale factory farming.

[Devin Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn’t the kind of book I’d usually read. In fact, the reason I read it at all is because of successful packaging. The title caught my eye as I went past the spine on the library shelf, and that made me pick it up. The rear blurb sealed the deal. Intrigued by the seemingly disparate notion of McDonald’s giving out a bull and cow Beanie Baby toy with the purchase of a happy meal, author Peter Lovenheim sets out to chronicle the life of a cow, as he says, “from conception to consumption”. Through the book, he examines America’s disconnect between the food they eat and the processes it takes to grow, raise, and produce that food. The book starts on a dairy farm, as the author and reader, both agricultural naives, learn about the birthing process. Then we backtrack to a fascinating chapter on artificial insemination (seriously, it’s page-turning and hilarious), and then watch Lovenheim’s calves as they go to be raised on a beef farm. There are also trips made back to the dairy farm to see how those cows are tended to. Lovenheim uses a plain, conversational style that really hammers home the situations and anecdotes, and the reader is brought along with him on his journey of discovery. As the book goes on, he gets more and more unsure of whether or not he will go through with his original plan: as he gets more and more attached to his calves, can he really bring them to the slaughterhouse? At the end, even though the reader may not agree with the author’s decision, the book is successful on its mission to reduce the disconnect the average consumer has with regard to the food he or she eats, and also gives the reader a great deal of insight on the inner workings of the beef and dairy industry. An interesting book that has the power to change the way you look at your hamburger.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well.

Interesting, a little disappointing.

I learned a lot of fascinating and horrifying things about the meat industry, but I feel like Lovenheim was holding out on me.

For one thing, he comes across as very pro-farmer. Ok. I get it. These folks just need to earn a living, and as people, they're good people. But they're also part of a system that, I think even in 2002 when this book was written, was generally acknowledged to not be a perfect system.

Yet rBST gets a couple of cursory grafs. "Some people say this hormone is bad for cows, but these farmers like it, and they're such hard workers!"

Diseases: "They happen! But farmers are very careful! And they're such hard workers!" Lots of people are hard workers who work at making bad things happen. Fine. You spend two years with a farmer, you're not going to want to say too many bad things about them. But it's not responsible journalism to get that close to a source.

The book did do a good job of illustrating our culture's weirdly conflicted attitudes about meat. But I already knew that and didn't need a book to figure it out.

And the ending? Total cop-out. I would have loved to see his agent's face when he turned in the final manuscript. "Surprise!"

I read this in a day while stuck in bed with a head cold, dosed up on all the cold meds you can think of, and the book still made total sense. I suspect this means that if I tried to read it while "sober" I would be bored stiff with the language.

That said. The chapter on Genex (the company that collects bull semen for artificial insemination of cows) was FASCINATING, as well as, you guessed it, horrifying. Glad that was in there.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was written before the whole local food movement, and it's really well researched and quite well done. The author, Peter Lovenheim, is a city guy who gets curious and wants to learn more about where his food comes from. So he buys two dairy calves (beef have a long life cycle) and watches them as they are raised for beef. (It's hard for me to write about this book without slipping into farming jargon and writing like I'm writing for work)

Anyway, Lovenheim also spends time with many different types of farmers and people who assist in the process (value chain).

I really enjoyed this book, even though I didn't agree with everything that happened in the book. (There were a few things I found troubling)

I also wish I'd had more time to devote to reading the book and could have read it faster.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! It really changed how I think about food and the people who work so hard to produce it. What I especially liked about the book is that Lovenheim reveals so much affection and respect for the people who work so hard to raise the animals that feed our nation. He is never strident or judgemental about the farmers, veterinarians, and others who work in food industries that require tough--even seemingly cruel--choices everyday.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a typical gruesome animal rights sort of book. Rather, it is less political and more philosophical. A delightful read, actually: well written, absorbing, fascinating. The author is the sort of guy you'd love to have come over for dinner and talk about his ideas. Very much unlike the rash of anti-McDonalds reads out there. A unique book that I highly recommend. Maybe I should have given it a 5 star?

[Anna Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Besides having a very clever title, this book is a great, balanced look at the cattle industry through the lifecycle of a cow that the author purchases. He makes interesting comments on the results of completely compartmentalizing our food supply, so much so that no one thinks it's weird when McDonalds hands out little cow shaped Beanie Babies with their Happy Meals.

[Kecia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's obvious the author is a mediator by profession. He attempts follows the life of a cow from conception to consumption...and does it with amazing objectivity even when it comes to his own emotions. I appreciated his honest and even handed look at every angle of the industry.

[Janet Pants · Rating 3 out of 5]

i've met sam and samantha!!! these are the 2 cows that the book follows... the book is easy to read, but there's a section in there that talks about snickers having mastitis... snickers is a steer, he can't have a distended udder. he probably meant greta - as i recall, they look very similar.

[Spicy T AKA Mr. Tea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. Glad to see that there was a happy ending. My father kept telling me to read it but wouldn't talk about the ending or anything else about it with me. Kind of weird. Accessible and interesting from a geographical kind of perspective since I live fairly close to this farm.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. Good insider's look into the beef industry at small and medium sized farms (not factory farms). The author annoyed me by his inability to eat the animals he bought and raised: this was the stated goal of his endeavor, and he didn't follow through.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredible narrative about following the life-cycle of a hamburger, from calf to slaughterhouse, to better understand just how modern meat in America is created.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book, reads super fast. it was nothing i didn't know already, but still touching nonetheless.

[Lbb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this is not a pleasant book to read, the topic is certainly very important. If I weren't already a vegan, I would become one after reading this book!

[Rebekkila · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't make it through the first chapter, I could tell the book was going to upset me in some way.

[Richard Kravitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good book, kind of unique. Learned a lot about how cows / steers are raised for meat or whatever.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

never eating beef again

[Latha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye-opening. Written by a former boss of mine who I respect and admire!