In this revelatory book, the author of When Elephants Weep and Dogs Never Lie About Love explores what we eat and why, showing how food affects our moral selves, our health, and our planet. With his background as a psychoanalyst, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson investigates how denial keeps us from recognizing the animal at the end of our fork and urges readers to consciously make decisions about food.
"Few bring to the table the wealth of knowledge and insight found here.... Masson's rare combination of passionate advocacy and scientific perspicacity makes this book unusually powerful. As a psychoanalyst, he addresses the psychological and emotional barriers that keep people from adopting a more compassionate lifestyle—and one so manifestly in their own interest, as well as society's and the planet's."—Atlantic Monthly
"Masson's newest volume marshals the historic arguments against eating meat and adds to them contemporary concerns about the environment. He recounts the amount of energy that goes into the production of meat and poultry, and he finds even the consumption of milk objectionable on the basis of its nutritional shortcomings and its inefficient use of natural resources. Lest the reader believe that fish consumption is morally acceptable, Masson presents arguments that fish are as sentient as any other animals. He waxes rhapsodic over all manner of fruits and vegetables but stops short of advocating the raw-food diet now being advocated by the most radical vegans. Masson finds the spread of grocery chains such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's a heartening sign. An extensive bibliography and a long list of websites that deal with vegetarian and vegan issues are particularly helpful."—Booklist
