Vegetarian Star

Jonathan Safran Foer "Eating Animals" Interview

Author Jonathan Safran Foer says that for people, including himself, going vegetarian is a lot like Mark Twain described quitting smoking.

“Mark Twain said that quitting smoking is among the easiest things one can do; he did it all the time. I would add vegetarianism to the list of easy things. In high school I became a vegetarian more times than I can now remember…”

Whether you’re trying to go vegetarian, vegan, or flex the process can result in multiple attempts to “get it right” whether the failings are brought on by cravings, environment, financial issues or pure convenience.

The strictest of vegetarians would like to call anyone who even ingests the occasional animal byproduct no longer vegetarian, but is that the best approach to take?

Jonathan gives his take on alternet.org:

“But I wonder if more of the difficulty doesn’t come from the ways that we talk and think about change. When it comes to meat, change is almost always cast as an absolute. You are a vegetarian or you are not. It’s a strange formulation, and it’s distracting. (Those who profit from animal suffering and environmental destruction want us to think in dichotomies, rather than practical realities.) Imagine someone asking you, “Are you an environmentalist or not?” For most of us, caring about the environment isn’t an on-off switch, but a set of daily choices that we try to respond to as best we can. I buy energy-efficient products, and turn off lights when leaving a room, and recycle and so on. But I also fly on airplanes. Does my occasional flying completely undermine my identity as someone who cares and tries? Should I, faced with my inability to live consistently, make no efforts to live better?”

Is being a vegetarian a continuous “process” that none of us should expect to get 100% correct?

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Author Jonathan Safran Foer was on The Ellen DeGeneres Show recently to talk about his latest book, Eating Animals.

Jonathan touched on the fact that most people aren’t aware of the conditions of factory farms.

“Unfortunately this image that we have of a farm has created a distance between our values and our actions,” Jonathan says.

“We continue to believe that the meat on our plate comes from these idealyc places. I wish that it did, but it doesn’t.”

Watch the entire video to feel the veg vibe as the two vegans chit chat.

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Jonathan Safran Foer "Eating Animals" Interview

Best selling author Jonathan Safran Foer has a new book out, Eating Animals.

Foer had been an on again/off again vegetarian for years, but never really took the time to learn about the rational reasons for doing so. When his wife became pregnant, he decided it was time to educate himself so he could teach his child why going vegetarian is the best diet for humans, animals, and the planet.

In a recent interview with Vegnews, Jonathan elaborates on why people still find no fault in eating meat, especially factory farmed meat.

“Peoples’ responses to food, the reason they take it so emotionally and so many smart, informed people continue to eat this stuff—it’s not because they’re ignorant, it’s not because they’re evil. It’s because there’s a large component of our decision-making that isn’t reasonable. The challenge is to persuade people, or show people, even those parts that aren’t reasonable, things like cravings, are actually better satisfied by not eating them.”

“I think the better way to talk about it is like a series of these choices. Like how can one try to make the best choice as often as possible? The “best” meaning the choice that is in line with their values. Despite the array of values that Americans have, if everyone ate his values, nobody would eat factory farmed meat. And I think, frankly, very few people would eat any kind of meat. Nobody’s values lead them there. It’s only forgetfulness.”

Read Jonathan’s entire interview at vegnews.com.

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• Ellie Goulding Creates Protein Bar “Everlasting Joy” With GoMacro