Jonathan Safran Foer Interview With AV Club
Written by Vegetarian Star on September 29th, 2011 in Animal Issues, Authors, Food & Drink.
Jonathan Safran Foer sat down with A.V. Club to discuss all the things he’s considered an expert on–food, vegetarianism, farming and animal welfare.
The author of Eating Animals did a great job of touching on many questions that arise when the idea of eating vegetarian is brought up, including the price of food, humane labels and why your family that lives in a town of 500 people still declares World War III when you refuse to eat turkey at Thanksgiving.
A few highlights below:
On that meat eater defensiveness:
The reason people have such strong opinions about it is, we can’t help but think that our response to these questions has something to do with what kind of a person we are. I think it’s because whatever conclusions you reach—and I think there are lots of different respectable conclusions one can reach—everyone recognizes that this is a big deal. It matters.
On humane labels:
So they’re cage free. How much does that really tell you? Furthermore, what’s a cage? Does that mean they’re not individually caged? Does that mean they’re not in what is effectively a cage for 30,000 of them at once? And how much does it really say about your quality of life to be cage free? Isn’t that about the least you could possibly say? That’s like saying, “torture free.” My guess is that if you bought it in a supermarket, there’s pretty much no chance of it being something that if you were to go visit the farm, it would be something you’d be okay with.
On the “vegetarian is expensive” argument:
Again, this is the problem with ethical meat eating—humanely raised meat and environmentally sustained meat is going to be out of the price range for a lot of people. Eating vegetarian is not, it’s truly not. You can make great meals without meat that are, of course, much more healthy for the same price, but it takes a process of reeducation, just because Americans aren’t familiar with how to cook vegetables anymore. Or pasta, or beans—around the world, a lot of cuisines are almost inherently vegetarian…
More at A.V. Club.
Photo: David Shankbone/Creative Commons
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