Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals Turned Me Vegan

Jonathan Safran Foer's book Eating Animals changed me from a twenty-year vegetarian to a vegan activist. I've always been shy about being critical of others' choices because I hate when people do that to me. I'm often interrogated about being vegetarian (e.g., "What if you find out that carrots feel pain, too? Then what'll you eat?").

I've also been afraid to feel as if I know better than someone else -- a historically dangerous stance (I'm often reminded that "Hitler was a vegetarian, too, you know"). But this book reminded me that some things are just wrong. Perhaps others disagree with me that animals have personalities, but the highly documented torture of animals is unacceptable, and the human cost Foer describes in his book, of which I was previously unaware, is universally compelling.

The human cost of factory farming -- both the compromised welfare of slaughterhouse workers and, even more, the environmental effects of the mass production of animals -- is staggering. Foer details the copious amounts of pig shit sprayed into the air that result in great spikes in human respiratory ailments, the development of new bacterial strains due to overuse of antibiotics on farmed animals, and the origins of the swine flu epidemic, whose story has gripped the nation, in factory farms.

I read the chapter on animal shit aloud to two friends -- one is from Iowa and has asthma and the other is a North Carolinian who couldn't eat fish from her local river because animal waste had been dumped in it as described in the book. They had never truly thought about the connection between their environmental conditions and their food. The story of the mass farming of animals had more impact on them when they realized it had ruined their own backyards.

But what Foer most bravely details is how eating animal pollutes not only our backyards, but also our beliefs. He reminds us that our food is symbolic of what we believe in, and that eating is how we demonstrate to ourselves and to others our beliefs: Catholics take communion -- in which food and drink represent body and blood. Jews use salty water on Passover to remind them of the slaves' bitter tears. And on Thanksgiving, Americans use succotash and slaughter to tell our own creation myth -- how the Pilgrims learned from Native Americans to harvest this land and make it their own.

And as we use food to impart our beliefs to our children, the point from which Foer lifts off, what stories do we want to tell our children through their food?

I remember in college, a professor asked our class to consider what our grandchildren would look back on as being backward behavior or thinking in our generation, the way we are shocked by the kind of misogyny, racism, and sexism we know was commonplace in our grandparents' world. He urged us to use this principle to examine the behaviors in our lives and our societies that we should be a part of changing. Factory farming of animals will be one of the things we look back on as a relic of a less-evolved age.

I say that Foer's ethical charge against animal eating is brave because not only is it unpopular, it has also been characterized as unmanly, inconsiderate, and juvenile. But he reminds us that being a man, and a human, takes more thought than just "This is tasty, and that's why I do it." He posits that consideration, as promoted by Michael Pollan in The Omnivore's Dilemma, which has more to do with being polite to your tablemates than sticking to your own ideals, would be absurd if applied to any other belief (e.g., I don't believe in rape, but if it's what it takes to please my dinner hosts, then so be it).

But Foer makes his most impactful gesture as a peacemaker, when he unites the two sides of the animal eating debate in their reasoning. Both sides argue: We are not them. Those who refrain from eating animals argue: We don't have to go through what they go through -- we are not them. We are capable of making distinctions between what to eat and what not to eat (Americans eat cow but not dog, Hindus eat chicken but not cow, etc.). We are capable of considering others' minds and others' pain. We are not them. Whereas those who justify eating animals say the same thing: We are not them. They do not merit the same value of being as us. They are not us.

And so Foer shows us, through Eating Animals, that we are all thinking along the same lines: We are not them. But, he urges, how will we define who we are?

 

Comments

[loupbouc]

In my last-preceding comment, I listed and criticized the American Dietetic Association's sponsors. Perhaps I owe a bit of proof that, say, Unilever's food-products are toxic as I asserted. Consider the example of the ingredients of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!

Liquid soybean oil (GMO & toxic because soy & because non-organic)

Liquid canola oil (GMO & also toxic because non-organic & because it is rape seed oil & rape seeds are toxic)

Hydrogenated soybean oil (trans-fat toxic & GMO & toxic because soy & non-organic)

Partially hydrogenated soybean oil (trans-fat toxic & GMO & toxic because soy & because non-organic)

Water

Sweet cream (not organic, so nearly100% chance of being GMO)

Salt

Soy lecithin (toxic because soy & because non-organic)

Vegetable mono- and diglycerides (since non-organic, toxic)

Potassium sorbate & calcium disodium EDTA — used to “protect quality” (both are toxic)

Citric acid

Natural & artificial flavors (the “natural” flavors are at best toxic because non-organic & the artificial flavors are surely toxic)

Vitamin A (palmitate) — liver toxic

Beta carotene — for color (if “natural,” taken from non-organic carrot, hence toxic & if artificial, perhaps toxic, the matter depending on the end chemistry)

[loupbouc]

PART 1 OF 5

After I posted my 3-PART (02:56 PM, 12/23/2009) comment concerning the American Dietetic Association [ADA], I re-checked references I put in that comment. Two bore hyperlinks aimed to connect with ADA web-pages. I clicked on 2 of the links. I found that the ADA had redesigned its website so the link-aimed texts were made unreachable by the links. To find the texts, I had to engage in a tortuous & torturous negotiation of the ADA website.

In saying “Check out their list of corporate sponsors, if you have any doubt about who the ADA works for” my comment's first reference, http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/letter/?letter_KEY=1152, supplied a link that would have identified the ADA's corporate sponsors. That link did not work because, shortly after my reference published its damning criticism of the ADA's corrupt support of GMO foods & the ADA's corrupt insistence that commercial foods are good as organic foods, the ADA altered its website — very timing-suspiciously.

But, still, I found the ADA's disclosure of its corporate sponsors. The disclosure occurs at http://www.eatright.org/HealthProfessionals/content.aspx?id=7454&terms=corporate+sponsors

CONTINUED

[loupbouc]

PART 2 OF 5

Among the ADA's corporate sponsors are:

* ARAMARK — which hawks commercial, low-quality ready-made meals and junk food, including kinds sold with vending machines, see, E.G., http://www.aramark.com/Services/FoodServiceandRefreshments/

* The Coca Cola Company — which markets more than 400 brands of junk-drinks

* The National Dairy Council — which supports factory dairy farming & milk of cows injected with rBGH (Monsanto's genetically engineered recumbent bovine growth hormone), which makes cows' milk carcinogenic & otherwise toxic & which was banned in Canada & the European Union because it makes cows suffer very painful mastitis for which they are given antibiotics that taint their milk further.

* PEPSICO — which does not only market hundreds of kinds of toxic drinks (tainted with artificial colors, artificial preservatives, artificial or GMO sweeteners......), but also owns numerous subsidiaries that produce and market GMO & otherwise toxic junk foods (like the stuff marketed by Frito Lay, one of PEPSICO's subsidiaries), toxic breakfast “cereals” (like much of the stuff of “Quaker,” another of PEPSICO's subsidiaries), “Lucky Snacks,” “Sabritas” snacks, and too many other food horrors

CONTINUED

[loupbouc]

PART 3 OF 5

More ADA sponsors:

* Unilever — which makes Lipton teas (tainted by artificial colors, pesticides, herbicides, artificial fertilizer residues, some also by artificial preservatives) & which owns Ben & Jerry's, Bertolli, Breyers, Good Humor, Hellmann's, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, Klondike, Knorr, Popsicle, Promise, Ragú, Shedd’s Spread Country Crock, Skippy, Slim-Fast, all makers of foods tainted by toxic or GMO substances & substances obtained by torturing animals in factory farms & otherwise (e.g., eggs Hellmann's uses, thickeners & milk Breyers, Ben & Jerry's, Good Humor, and Popsicle use, trans-fats, excess saturated fats, and other toxic chemistries of spreads of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, Shedd’s Spread Country Crock, and Skippy).

* Abbot Nutrition — which makes “energy bars” & other foods that are GMO or tainted by toxic substances. Abbot is mostly a pharmaceuticals firm, which makes drugs that cause many serious “side effects” and which, therefore, is not inclined to concern itself with the side effects of its food products.

* General Mills — which needs no introduction of the unhealthfulness or toxicity of junk it markets as food

* Kellogg's — which, like General Mills, needs no introduction of the unhealthfulness or toxicity of junk it markets as food

CONTINUED

[loupbouc]

PART 4 OF 5

More ADA sponsors

* MARS — the junk-candy/junk-snack maker

* SOYJOY — maker of soy products that are GMO-tainted, tainted by various toxic ingredients, and naturally toxic, since soy beans & non-fermented soy products contain phylic acid, which blocks mineral absorption, trypsin-inhibitors, which impair nutrition, and hemagglutinin, which causes pathological blood-cell agglutination

* TRUVIA — which concocts sweeteners made mostly with rebiana (stevia leaf extract), but also with erythrisol and “natural” flavors that the company does not identify. The “natural” flavors are not organic (as Truvia admits) & likely they are unhealthful, since “natural” does not bear any legal definition & is used now to denote any manner of unhealthful substance a hawker seeks to pass off as “good for you.” Oh, & poison mushrooms are natural. Erythritol is a sugar alcohol made mostly by fermenting glucose. Erythritol can cause diarrhea, which results from colon dysfunction, which deprives the body of needed water and mineral nutrients, and which, long-term, can cause serious colon disease. Since the stevia leaves are not organic, they are tainted by pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizer residues. [This comment's next part discusses rebiana's toxicity.]

CONTINUED

[loupbouc]

PART 5 OF 5

More concerning TRUVIA:

I can find no proper, unbiased scientific study that finds, soundly, that rebiana is safe.

Two studies claimed rebiana is safe. http://www.foodproductdesign.com/news/2008/05/stevia-based-rebiana-sweetener-studies-published.aspx (May 2008) AND http://www.flex-news-food.com/pages/16495/Cargill/Coca/Sweetener/new-scientific-studies-establish-safety-rebiana-sweetener-stevia-plant.html (May 2008)

But the studies' inquiries were misdirected — away from physiological/biochemical attributes rebiana might affect harmfully & toward attributes not likely susceptible to being harmed by a chemstry like rebiana's. Coca Cola & Cargill developed rebiana. Cargill produces GMOs & toxic grains. Cargill owns Truvia. Cargill —CARGILL — sponsored the two above-referenced studies.

With the Cargill-sponsored studies, compare http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/stevia_update.pdf (October 2008), which observes that rebiana has caused mutations, chromosome damage, and DNA breakage & may pose cancer-risks. Before the Cargill-sponsored studies (& before Cargill twisted some FDA arms), the FDA disapproved use of rebiana, because studies indicated substantial risk that it is carcinogenic.

END

[loupbouc]

PART 1 OF 3

One vegan comment-poster cited the American Dietetic Association's statement that vegan diet is healthful. The American Dietetic Association [ADA] offered NOTHING to support its statement. The ADA could not offer evidence, because prolific SCIENTIFIC evidence shows the ADA's statement is false.

The ADA does not present evidence for any of its positions. The ADA is not a body of scientists, but a hack organization that issues unscientific testimonials supporting whatever business, economic, or political force captures it (with favors or pressures of sundry kinds).

The ADA asserts the preposterous position that organic foods are not superior to commercial foods. The ADA supports agribusiness & factory farming & the meat industry. The ADA says Genetically Modified foods [GMO foods] are safe, though the clear truth is the utter opposite.

Proof that the ADA supports GMO foods & says organic food is not better than commercial or GMO, proof even that the ADA falsified outcomes of its own research that shows organic food superior to commercial food:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/letter/?letter_KEY=1152
http://gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977707994#

CONTINUED WITH PART 2

[loupbouc]

PART 2 OF 3

Another proof that the ADA supports commercial or GMO foods:

http://nutritionhorizon.com/home/viewarticle.rails?type=&allarticles=&source=&articleId=52485&index=9&typeid=0&s.pageNo=2&s.SubType=&i.selectedItems=&s.SubTypeIdList%5B0%5D=5&s.SubTypeIdList%5B1%5D=7&s.SubTypeIdList%5B2%5D=8&s.SubTypeIdList%5B3%5D=9&s.SubTypeIdList%5B4%5D=10&s.SubTypeIdList%5B5%5D=19&s.SubTypeIdList%5B6%5D=21&s.SortBy=&s.SortDirection=True&go_SortBy=&go_SortDirection=True

[The last-preceding reference discusses the ADA's approval of aspartame, a GMO sweetener that has been proven to be health-hazardous.]

To keep this comment short as possible, I shall illustrate the ADA's corruption just by showing GMO foods are carcinogenic, allergenic, and otherwise very toxic:

http://truthout.org/1215091

http://biolsci.org/v05p0706.htm

http://aaemonline.org/gmopost.html

http://responsibletechnology.org/documentFiles/190.pdf

http://seedsofdeception.com/Public/AboutGeneticallyModifiedFoods/TestimonytoEPA-May2007/index.cfm

http://responsibletechnology.org/utility/showArticle/?objectID=212

http://responsibletechnology.org/utility/showArticle/?objectID=2469

CONTINUED WITH PART 3

[loupbouc]

PART 3 OF 3

More proofs that GMO foods are harmful:

http://responsibletechnology.org/utility/showArticle/?objectID=174

http://responsibletechnology.org/utility/showArticle/?objectID=293

http://responsibletechnology.org/Public/L-tryptophan/index.cfm

http://responsibletechnology.org/utility/showArticle/?objectID=2554

http://laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=331718&CategoryId=14093

http://organicconsumers.org/articles/article_19391.cfm

AND

http://seedsofdeception.com/utility/showArticle/?objectID=930

The last-preceding source is a web-site that bears 65 summaries of studies & other evidence showing GMO health-hazards. It provides links that enable you to march from summary to summary.

ALSO go to

http://responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/HealthRisks/index.cfm

and point on (do not click) the GMO Dangers tab. You will see a drop-down list, each item of which is a hyperlink that will take you to many more references & rivers of information.

END

[loupbouc]

I forgot to put 3 important references in Part 1 of my 2-PART comment of about 5 minutes aog. Here below follow those three cites, all showing vegan diet causes vitamin B12 deficiency (and that supplemets do not cure the trouble). They show also other aspects of the unhealthfulness of vegan diet.

http://naturalhygienesociety.org/diet3.html

http://naturalhygienesociety.org/diet3.html#5

http://naturalhygienesociety.org/diet.html

Do not misunderstand:

I do not eat meat, fowl, or reptiles, or any sea creatures except WILD salmon (which suffer LESS because I eat them) & bi-valve molluscs, which CANNOT suffer, because they lack neural apparatus that could enable them to feel adverse stimuli as pain.

I advise a diet of 30% whole grains, 40% local, seasonal vegetables (but no nightshades), and the rest: WILD salmon & bi-valve molluscs, an occasional fertile egg, French, Italian, Spanish, or Greek olive oil, sesame oil (of raw or toasted brown seeds or raw or toasted black seeds), and French, Spanish, or Italian grape seed oil, sesame seeds and sesame seed products, PURE sea salt, unpasteurized soy sauce & miso, a little Western European cheese, used just as flavoring, and zero or very little fruit & zero nuts (except chestnuts). Everything organic or wild.

[loupbouc]

PART 1 OF 2

Vegan diet is very unhealthful. It cannot supply enough EFFECTIVE vitamin B12, EFFECTIVE vitamin D3, or EFFECTIVE Omega 3 fatty acids, or certain other nutrients VITAL to health. Supplements are insufficient or unreliable and toxic. The evidence is prolific and compelling. Only pro-vegan (and very vegan-biased) sources insist otherwise, and set their position on invalid, unreliable evidence, or on myth.

Just concerning the fact that vegan diet guarantees vitamin B12 deficiency (a VERY serious health-threat), see, E.G., the following sources & ALL the sources they cite:

http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200417/000020041704A0374902.php

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/125/10/2511.pdf

http://veganhealth.org/b12/meas

http://veganhealth.org/b12/meas#MMARED

http://scienzavegetariana.it/nutrizione/alga_klamath_en.html

http://healthscience.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=508:seaweed-and-b12&catid=102:jeff-novicks-blog&Itemid=267 "

http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2009/05/dr-mcdougall-on-b-12-study-in-vegan.html

http://veganhealth.org/b12/

CONTINUED WITH PART 2

[loupbouc]

PART 2 OF 2

Sources showing B12 supplements do not work or are toxic:

http://drugs.com/sfx/vitamin-b12-side-effects.html

http://drugs.com/sfx/cyanocobalamin-b12-side-effects.html

http://bodybuildingforyou.com/vitamins-minerals/vitamin-b12-cobalamin-benefit.html

http://medisave.ca/DrugMoreInfo5586.aspx

http://ehow.com/about_5285618_side-effects-supplements.html

http://veganhealth.org/b12/nocyano#CMD

http://veganhealth.org/b12/vegansources#CYANIDE

http://thehealthguide.org/vitamins/some-surprising-information-on-vitamin-b12-side-effects/

http://women.emedtv.com/vitamin-b12/vitamin-b12-side-effects.html

http://naturalhygienesociety.org/diet3.html

http://naturalhygienesociety.org/diet3.html#5

http://naturalhygienesociety.org/diet.html

The International Natural Hygiene Society is the world largest collegium of scientists studying diet. It holds — and proves — that vegan diet is dangerously unhealthful. See. e.g.,
http://naturalhygienesociety.org/dietsurvey.html
http://naturalhygienesociety.org/diet3.html#5
http://naturalhygienesociety.org/diet.html
http://naturalhygienesociety.org/diet2.html
http://naturalhygienesociety.org/diet3.html

END

[loupbouc]

Portman said: "Hindus eat chicken but not cow...."

False.

True Hindus eat no birds or beasts or sea creatures that have faces or that can suffer; for, such abstention is an essential principle of Hinduism.

[LGrace]

From the book: "No jokes here, and no turning away. Let's say what we mean: animals are bled, skinned, and dismembered while conscious. It happens all the time, and the industry and the government know it."
Knowing this kind of thing, and I've known it for a long time, makes me feel powerless. The scale of the problem is so huge that often all people can do is shut down and turn away. Please don't turn away. Make your food-buying and eating choices consciously. It matters.

[Chubbster]

Despite the headline, this article has nothing about getting drunk and smoking pot.

[LGrace]

Wrong article.