Whether ethical omnivore or vigilant vegan, most eco-minded foodies agree on one thing: Factory farmed animal products are bad news all around. That point of agreement’s what Gristle: From Factory Farms to Food Safety (Thinking Twice About the Meat We Eat) aims to unite and rally its readers around.
Gristle‘s a new short collection of essays with celeb-appeal. Moby edited the booklet, with the help of Miyun Park, executive director of Global Animal Partnership — and the contributors are eco-celebs from all fields. Famously libertarian Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s argues for an end to farm subsidies that make factory farmed meat so cheap. Frances Moore Lappe and Anna Lappe pinpoint the connections between increased meat production and global hunger. Christine Chavez and Julie Chavez Rodriguez, granddaughters of Cesar Chavez, rail against the worker abuses that factory farming allows.
The powerful essays look at factory farming from many other angles too, from human and environmental health perspectives, land use and value concerns, and community impacts. Gristle makes a powerful argument against factory farming, boiling down the many problems created by cheap meat into an easy-to-read, engaging 140-page booklet.
Gristle’s contributors generally bring in strong facts and figures as the basis for their arguments — which is why Gristle’s weakest when a few contributors over-argue their points. While most environmentalists and health advocates agree Americans consume too much meat than is good for their health — and that factory farmed meats especially are the cause of many food-borne diseases — a few of the vegan contributors extrapolate this to push the vegan diet as the healthiest diet. “Animal free diets are the most healthful,” claim Sara Kubersky of MooShoes and her husband Tom O’Hagan in their essay, without even a cursory discussion of ethical omnivore diets — or the many indigenous communities who’ve lived in healthy coexistence with family farm animals for entire cultural histories.
Still, Gristle makes a valiant effort to offer many perspectives — including an essay from Paul Willis, manager of Niman Ranch Pork Company (for more on humane livestock, read about The American Grassfed Association). And overall, Gristle‘s effort to find points of agreement among the disparate voices is both admirable and effective as a catalyzing tool against factory farms.
Gristle‘s available in paperback now for $13.95.
Image courtesy of gristle-book.com
Wow! This book seems really cool. I appreciate that it offers many perspectives to the meat industry. I am vegan for environmental, animal welfare and health reasons, but I am always interested in reading perspectives from the “other side”. I hope a lot of people read this book to educate themselves on the issue as well as open their minds to various perspectives.
Comment by Melissa — April 30, 2010 @ 11:50 am
Very cool. Can’t wait to read this.
Comment by jason — May 3, 2010 @ 9:59 am
I too like Moby’s choice to bring together a number of different viewpoints :) It gives people with very divergent interests an entrypoint into caring about the issue.
Comment by Siel — June 19, 2010 @ 3:57 pm
Factory farms need to be closed down, for the sake of the next generation of Americans. I’m willing to die for this cause myself.
Comment by Karate Edgemead — September 19, 2011 @ 12:48 pm
Not sure it’s worth dying for, but certainly the plight of factory farming needs way more publicity than it currently gets. The world is consuming more and more protein (think: China and India starting to eat more meat) and we’re in for one hell of a problem here.
Comment by Mo — October 10, 2011 @ 1:16 pm