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Title details for The Compassionate Carnivore by Catherine Friend - Available

The Compassionate Carnivore

Or, How to Keep Animals Happy, Save Old MacDonald's Farm, Reduce Your Hoofprint, and Still Eat Meat

by Catherine Friend
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For most of her life, Catherine Friend was a carnivore who preferred not to consider where the meat on her plate came from—beef didn't have a face, chicken didn't have a personality, and pork certainly shouldn't have feelings. But Friend's attitude began to change after she and her partner bought a farm and began raising sheep for meat. Friend's ensuing odyssey through the world of livestock and farming is a journey that offers critical insights—for omnivores and herbivores alike—into how our meat is raised, how we buy it and from whom, and why change is desirable and possible.
From a distressing lesson about her favorite Minnesota State Fair food (pork-chop-on-a-stick) to the surprising gratitude that came from eating an animal she'd raised and loved, Friend takes us on a wild and woolly ride through her small farm (with several brief detours into life on factory farms), along the way raising questions such as: What are the differences between factory, conventional, sustainable, and organic farms, and more importantly, why do we need to understand those differences? What do all those labels — from organic to local to grass fed and pasture raised — really mean? If you're buying from a small farmer, what are the key questions to ask? How do you find that small farmer, and what's the best way to help her help you?
In the same witty and warm style that characterized her memoir Hit by a Farm,Friend uses her perspective as a sustainable farmer and carnivore to consider meat animals' quality of life—while still supporting the choice to eat meat. Regardless of whether you eat meat once a day, once a week, or once a year, your perspective of what goes on your plate—and in your mouth—will never be the same.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 28, 2009

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780738212647

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780738212647
      • File size: 401 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 24, 2008
      As a former city-dweller and self-described “lesbian, Elvis-loving shepherd,” Friend has a unique and intimate perspective on the morals, economics and practicalities of raising and eating meat humanely. With low-key, Midwestern humor, she takes readers on a tour of an abattoir, writes a love letter to her lambs heading for slaughter and relates how chivalry has been bred out of roosters. She delineates the differences between certified organic, certified humane, cage free, free range, and omega 3 eggs; the often-confusing nuances of organic, sustainable and conventional farming; and why, in her opinion, small farms are preferable to big ones. She encourages readers to get to know their local farms and provides questions to ask farmers and butchers about their produce. Readers interested in the subject will likely be familiar with Friend's overall treatment, but fostering a long-term commitment to the cause, she believes, is “an act of respect that will affect the lives of the millions of animals raised in this country every year,” and her suggestions are so reasonable that even the most rampant, mainstream meat-eater might consider trying them.

    • Booklist

      May 1, 2008
      Most people relish eating meat. And Americans, with their hamburgers and their fried chicken, seem especially to appreciate the flavor of animal products. Yet, as Friend points out, few Americans want to be reminded that their pork chop came from a living, breathing animal whose wide eyes too easily engender sentimental anthropomorphization. Friend approaches her subject from the perspective of a farmer. She participates actively in raising lambs and ducks that eventually wind up on peoples tables, her own included. Given the environmental impact of animal husbandry, many people question if eating meat can be sustainable in this era of global warming. Friend cautiously replies in the affirmative but only if consumers become much more frugal, wasting as little as possible. She also finds problematic the intersection of agriculture and industrial mass production that reduces live animals to the status of widgets. She also tries to bring order to the deeply confusing world of organic farming.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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