Jonathan Safran Foer and I hold nearly the same beliefs about eating meat. That said, I have a freezer full of goat necks, marrow bones, and pork belly, and he decidedly does not. You see, I eat meat and Jonathan doesn't.
There is a simple and true notion underlying Safran Foer's book Eating Animals: people should eat according to their values. Foer's argument basically goes like this: Everyone has values. Apply your values to the choices you make about food. Sure, everyone's values are different, but the truth is anyone's values will do. The problems with food and farming -- in particular farming and eating meat -- aren't caused by people holding the wrong values; they are caused by people not applying the values they hold. I agree with him.
The way I see it, people should know the story behind their food, and that story should be one they can be proud of. Foer sees it the same way. No one would be proud of the story behind fast food, or the story behind factory farms. The environmental degradation, the cruelty to animals, the labor abuses, even the smells would tip off anyone and everyone that this is a nasty story, a story that could not be accommodated by anyone's values.
Food You Can Believe In
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Food You Can Believe In
By Josh Viertel
Huffington Post, November 13, 2009
Straight to the Source
