Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

Eating Animals
By Jonathan Safran Foer; Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 9780316069908
10/10 Dropps

A really fantastic work of non-fiction, Eating Animals is recommended for anyone—from
meat enthusiasts to vegetarians to conscientious omnivores alike—who is interested in
learning more about how and why they (and society as a whole) feed themselves the way
they do. It’s the first completely non-fiction effort from the traditionally fiction darling
Jonathan Safran Foer (Everything is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
and it seems fair to say that it completely exceeded the expectations, both in research and
delivery, of myself and anyone I’ve met that’s read it thus far.

All sides of the debate on eating meat are covered through firsthand interviews and
accounts. Family farmers, factory farmers, slaughterhouse designers, Michael Pollan
(sure, why not?), PETA members, etc. are all included to present every side of the highly
sensitive and multifaceted argument—both for and against the continued consumption of
animal products. The history of animal husbandry is outlined through to what it’s evolved
to be today; every species, farming method, and angle—be it ethical, environmental, or
health related—is covered; and even the importance of eating meat to memory,
storytelling, and family tradition is discussed (an entire chapter is devoted to the
Thanksgiving turkey—a pretty seriously sensitive subject to me personally. Love my
mom’s Cajun fried).

There is one minor downside, and that is that he does tend to overdo it in pushing his
argument at certain intervals throughout the book. On more than one instance, he attempts
to drive the issue home by relying too heavily on emotional posturing when the
presentation of the facts that came prior to this appeal would have served him more than
adequately. Thankfully, these instances are few and far between, and overall you’d have
to be illiterate for this not to be an eye-opening—and potentially lifestyle changing—
read. The writing is intelligent, accessible, relatable, and not at all—I feel I have to state
this given who the author is and what my personal prejudices were going into the book—
preachy, pretentious, or condescending. Overall, it’s nothing less than an utterly
indispensible read. No matter how much you know about the meat industry—or, on a
perhaps more important note, how much you care—this book will teach you something
new, and something you will undoubtedly be better off for the knowing than you were
before you read it.
-Nicole Marie Rea