A New Read............

I have just begun reading a book that was recommended to me by a good friend; "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer, and I am really enjoying it. It is a very interesting read and has so far not made me feel guilty about the fact that I DO still eat chicken and turkey. It starts off with Jonathan explaining that he had gone through many times in his life as a young adult going veggie off and on. Some months he would see himself as a strict vegetarian while others he would be sitting with College buddies chowing down on Buffalo wings and 12oz cheeseburgers. I was a little hesitant about picking up this book as many animal lovers know that we are often called hypocrites when we try and be advocates for various animals and creatures when in fact we still eat some of them. It is something that I even personally struggle with everyday. I used to be vegetarian when I was around 17 years old, however still living at home and not knowing how to properly eat while avoiding meat, caused many arguments with my parents at the dinner table and definitely caused me to gain a bit of weight seeing as though I only knew how to make spaghetti, Mac & Cheese and veggie dogs. Oh those were the days when my metabolism was MUCH faster! Damn if I were to try that "diet" now I wouldn't be able to fit through my bedroom door!! hahaha

In the book, Jonathan has just realized that he and his vegetarian wife are pregnant with their first child and they are going through the pro's and con's of raising their child without any meat. I really like how Foer is being very realistic (he talks about how North Americans would never eat dogs and people in India would never harm a cow or how we can tolerate fishers hooking a swordfish by its eye but would be in utter outrage should this happen to a kitten). I look forward to continuing this book and seeing how the author can educate me on factory farming, hypocrisy and living a vegetarian lifestyle!

For more on Jonathan and his book please visit: http://www.eatinganimals.com/

xoxox

nicole