The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter

Like the school bully who gets in his hardest kicks once you're down on the ground and have essentially given up, this book drives home a message in powerful, painful punches. "For modern animal agriculture, the less the consumer knows about what's happening before the meat hits the plate, the better... one of the best things modern animal agriculture has going for it is that most people in the developed countries are several generations removed from the farm and haven't a clue how animals are raised and processed." (p.11) With this, Peter Singer lobs the ball in the air and then proceeds to light the court on fire.Some of it is hard to read. "For ten hours we grabbed and wrestled birds, jerking them upside down, facing their pushed-open [$%&@], dodging their spurting [$%&@], while breathing air filled with dust and feathers stirred up by panicked birds." (p.29) I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit.The dairy cow section was hard to read too, and I admit to my ignorance here. I suppose I thought dairy cows just made milk. I've thought that to be a humane way to farm with cows, and you can imagine a gawky 8-year-old boy straddling a three-legged stool in some ancient barn as the sun rises over the meadow, milking the lone family dairy cow before heading out to school. My quaint image was shattered when Mason informed me otherwise, painting a picture of a cow bellowing for the calf taken from her, and then we're told the calf is dead within a few days, "his body was lying on the farm's compost pile." (p.58) Oh, do I HAVE to keep reading?!I didn't believe the part about the "drop kicking" of chickens (p.27) so I looked it up on the Internet. Not too hard to find the Pilgrim's Pride video... and in watching it, my husband asked of me, "why are you watching this?!" I told him how disgusting this all was, that I could never buy a Tyson food product again (how many "bad lists" are they on, anyway?). For Pete's sake, where could I find a humanely raised chicken to eat? Then my husband asked if we should add fryers to our egg-laying hens this year.The gloves came off in the final round of the book. The last 50 pages of The Ethics of What We Eat delved hard into omnivore versus herbivore - with the authors' call to action clearly being for all us to convert to vegans in order to achieve ethical eating bliss. The language was harsh, reminding us that the industrial food model is "systematically abusive" and that "discomfort is the norm, pain is routine, growth is abnormal, and diet is unnatural." (p.242) Even Pope Benedict XVI is brought into the argument, being quoted on hens becoming "caricatures of birds" (which is also lyrically descriptive - Singer is a very good writer).The pages devoted to freeganism, or dumpster diving, were also interesting, and my mind brought up images of documentary coverage I had seen on TV a while back. While I generally don't have a problem with this - I'm not, say, grossed out by this or repulsed by the idea of eating wrapped food from the garbage... I think most parents have salvaged something incorrectly thrown away at one point or another - but I also posit that it isn't a practical way for a family to eat on a regular basis. I'm not going to pack up my kids late at night (or leave them home alone) to go sort through urban trash bins looking for stuff to pack in tomorrow's lunch boxes - so it's a bit laughable that this passage is essentially included in the call to action on what readers should do to make more ethical choices.The concrete What Should We Eat chapter tries to lay a clear foundation with simply-stated guidelines like "look for farmers' markets and buy directly from local farmers" (p.275). But the authors loaded too many heavy concepts, which shattered the foundation, and for me, rendered the final section ineffective.However, I really loved this: "It's this whole American thing about having cheap food. It's a fallacy. That guy thinks his food is cheap, but you and I are subsidizing that cheap food by paying for the social and ecological issues that are occurring in that community." (p.98) That's the real story behind much of this whole food ethics/politics/sustainability issue, and I hadn't seen it articulated so well until this passage.If you're up for it, this is a fantastic book worth reading. But if you find yourself nauseous, or lacking an appetite while strolling through your local supermarket, or offended by any of the [real] horror stories described in detail throughout the book... I warned you.

very good, accessible book overall, though with some unfortunate typos. but that's just the bored copy editor in me.anyway, as this book has reaffirmed for me, eating meat "fails" on a number of fronts concerning the head & heart, but eating meat produced through industrialized farming -- which in this country unfortunately makes up 90-98% of the meat available, depending on which meat (or eggs) -- fails on every imaginable front: health; ethical for the animals (living conditions, selective breeding, slaughter, etc.); ethical for humans (wages, conditions, environmental concerns, health risks to humans in terms of viruses and chemicals, etc.); and environment (pollution, inefficient use of food/energy used in industrialized farming, etc.).of course, it is possible to eat meat that avoids most of these ethical concerns, but it takes some effort to certify that the meat and eggs are genuinely coming from a responsible, sustainable, humane farm. there are still health questions, however, as well as concerns about energy uses to produce and transport the food (vs. more efficient options), but those can be addressed on a more personal basis. the other ethical concerns, however, should genuinely trouble all persons with consciences and challenge them to re-consider what, and the ways in which, they eat.but rest assured: this book is not a blatant case for veganism, and I'm not suggesting that vegans can read it with little to no ethical stirrings. there are a still a host of ethical issues relating to fruits, veggies, rice, coffee, etc., particularly when it comes to concerns about the environmental impact of buying organic and/or buying local -- this is an issue that I have wondered about, and this book was helpful in addressing some of the ethical concerns in, for instance, buying more locally grown but not organic fruit vs. organic fruit imported from another country. also, is it always better to buy local when the money can go further and do more good in developing countries? actually, this book has only further complicated the picture for me -- but that's because the issues are so darn complex, not because of any fault of the writers. most helpful has been the prod to think and research, and the sources they provide to help are a great start.I do wish that the authors would have been a bit more critical about "dumpstering" and "freegans" at the end. I think they gave a free pass to a phony, garbled revolutionary outlook about consumerism and change. becoming irrelevant to a system you think is destroying the world isn't the best way to work against it -- it's just a way of washing your hands of a problem and going on your way.

Arrived promptly.Item as described.

I just finished reading Singer and Mason (2006) "The Ethics of What We Eat." People should know where their food comes from, how it is produced, and what is the impact of that production. The book explores the production of meat (chicken, porc, beef), fish and seafood, and dairy products in North America, it explains the unethical issues about the production and consumption of these products. It also explores topics such as buying organic, local, free range. The authors' opinions are well thought and carefully justified, they are persuasive but also take into account several limitations people face when trying to make ethical food choices. This book is a MUST!

I first read this book 10 years ago and thought I should read it again. This book gives an insight into where our food comes from. This book has made me change my shopping habits. Will only buy organic in future.

This book, as the title suggests, is about the impact of what we eat on the lives of animals in the food production industries.It adopts an interesting approach to this task. Three families, differing in their food choices, are visited by the authors and their preferences discussed and where possible the foods they buy traced back to the origins of production. What follows is a detailed discussion of the various husbandry practices regarding cattle, pigs, poultry and fish. The reader is left in no doubt about the mistreatment and exploitation of these animals under the broad heading of factory farming. Also the description of some slaughtering procedures,the final event in the lives of food animals, is very disturbing and reflects an inexplicable lack of compassion.The only conclusion one can come to is, that the principle motivation in factory farming is maximum production for maximum profit, and to hell with the animals. If the goal of this book, is to encourage us to reflect on the consequences of our food choices, then the seed has been sown; it then depends on the soil, the sensibility of the reader, as to whether change will be forthcoming. There is no doubt in my mind, after reading this book, that of all animals those raised to provide us with food deserve, at the very least, a change in our food purchasing habits, as this will help reduce the suffering these animals experience during their short lives.

It doesn't matter if you're into animal ethics, food or enviroment and sustainability, this book is a great for everybody. It's written in a nice style so you don't have to be a Uni student or professor to understand what it's about. Very different from all other food and animal ethics book I have read so far. You'll find nothing but facts who speak for themselves!