The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainabili | Date: 28 April 2011, 08:37
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The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability
By Lierre Keith
* Publisher: PM Press
* Number Of Pages: 320
* Publication Date: 2009-05-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 1604860804
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9781604860801
Product Description:
Part memoir, nutritional primer, and political manifesto, this controversial examination exposes the destructive history of agriculture—causing the devastation of prairies and forests, driving countless species extinct, altering the climate, and destroying the topsoil—and asserts that, in order to save the planet, food must come from within living communities. In order for this to happen, the argument champions eating locally and sustainably and encourages those with the resources to grow their own food. Further examining the question of what to eat from the perspective of both human and environmental health, the account goes beyond health choices and discusses potential moral issues from eating—or not eating—animals. Through the deeply personal narrative of someone who practiced veganism for 20 years, this unique exploration also discusses alternatives to industrial farming, reveals the risks of a vegan diet, and explains why animals belong on ecologically sound farms.
Summary: Even though she seems to be a liberal weenie...
Rating: 5
...I was absolutely enthralled by her book, and read it out loud to my husband (as he drove), who despite his annoyance at her 'weenieness,' wanted to continue to hear her book. No particular offense meant by calling her a liberal weenie -- she has come a huge part of the way to recognizing/accepting what we would consider reality, but her desire for peace and justice and "we are the world" harmony conflicts with her (excellent) idea of "adult knowledge." With the exception of her very occasional lapses into negativity (albeit, we have not yet finished the book: the end may dismay with its peace-love-dove foolishness) towards what she derides as patriarchy and its violence -- and which negativity (to me) calls into question some of her more scientific material, just because of her oh-so-clear slant -- this book fascinates and rewards.
She seems to have the idea that "if only" everyone would agree to play nice (and only use local resources, and only allow as many humans to be born as the local resources can support), then there would be no need for some version of patriarchy, some intentional application of violence (which seemingly horrifies Lierre); and that idea is a child's view. Even IF all the people around you agree to play nice, to leave you your resources as long as you leave them theirs, there will still be people who will not play nice -- and you must either take up arms against them to protect (or recapture) your resources, or you must give up your resources to those who won't play nice and die. Hard, harsh ADULT knowledge!
But writing, as I do, from the far, far, far right -- all the way off the continuum of "modern day politics" -- I recommend that this book should be read by anyone and everyone. To give people the grounding in what actually feeding humans requires -- and not destroying the planet to do so -- will allow some, at least, to step closer to adult knowledge. I do not think Lierre has it in her to step all the way to the ramifications of her partial awakening to reality: to actually "reach adulthood"; but maybe those who can will continue her journey. I wish her very well -- in a true society of humans, based on true reality, she would need the protection of those stronger than she -- and that would require some of the things she finds most objectionable.
Summary: Must Read!
Rating: 5
Lierre Keith does an excellent job de-myth-ifying vegetarianism. I could do without her last chapter on how she sees the fix working, but all the rest of the book is worth the time to read. We could be a lot healthier as a nation if people would read this book and adjust their eating habits if necessary. We could put the health care crisis out of business and wouldn't that be a wonderful thing!
Summary: A compelling alternative look at food and sustainability
Rating: 5
Lierre Kieth has been accused of being against veg*ns, but after reading her book I don't agree. Here's what I think: She is against industrial agriculture, because agriculture annihilates ecosystems--agriculture is bio-cleansing; it's killing the Earth, one sterile petro-chemical saturated field at a time. It can't go on. And because she's against agriculture she is, by default, against vegetarianism, because vegetarianism can't exist without the expansive farming of mono-crops.
But she isn't against veg*ns. How could she be? After having been a vegan from her teen years through most of her adulthood, she understands and embodies the ethic that compels people to stop eating animals in the first place: a desire to live a life free of violence and to do no harm to other living things, to say no to oppression and entitlement, to treat the Earth and its inhabitants with compassion and love. It is with great empathy that she brings her message to veg*ns in the hope, I believe, that through education, she can help them turn away from practices that are at cross purposes to their goals. Veg*ns are the very people you want to arm with right information because they will turn that information into action. I know and love quite a few veg*ns and I've never met a complacent one. Kieth against veg*ns? I don't think so.
But veg*ns are against Lierre Kieth. They don't want to hear what she has to say because it challenges more than what they eat, it challenges who they are. Veg*nism isn't just a diet, it's an identity. For some, it's a religion. That's why you will find negative book reviews here from people who haven't even read her book. They regurgitate the same tired pro-veg propaganda while assuming Lierre couldn't have refuted those arguments because they're unassailable. Sorry, she has refuted them. Exhaustively. Shouldn't one of the criteria for reviewing a book be that you have actually read it?
For me, this is not a book about diet, it's a book about top-soil. It's the story of how human beings have overshot their niche and now depend on a system of food production that is unsustainable and approaching the final conclusion of its destructive, linear progress. It is worth reading this book to learn how vital top soil is for the survival of every living thing on earth and what we can do to restore it. Here's a hint: stop scraping off the diverse life-sustaining ecosystems that cover it and imperialistically claiming it solely for human use by planting it with annual mono-crops and saturating it with chemical fertilizers. Stop divorcing plants from animals; stop divorcing people from the knowledge of where their food comes from and how/why it grows; start divorcing self-righteousness from responsible action. If you've never tallied the true environmental costs of a diet based on the harvests of industrial mono-crops, read The Vegetarian Myth. You don't have to eat animals, you just have to understand why you can't eat without them.
I wonder what would happen if Sir Paul McCartney (whom I respect and admire to no end) understood what Lierre Kieth is saying here? A friend of mine suggested that instead of "Meat-free Monday", he would be promoting "Foodshed Friday." I hope to see that happen.
Summary: Mis-informed
Rating: 1
The writer of this book should read "The China Study." I feel that Keith is writing more out to get money then actually help anyone. I read it trying to be open minded but Keith lack's good research to back this belief.
Summary: An important book
Rating: 5
I think this is a wonderful book. I think it would be especially good for a parent who is concerned about their child embarking on a vegan or vegetarian diet. The author makes the story personal and easier to follow by linking it with her own stor
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