The Ethical Carnivore
Louise Gray
A vegetarian/vegan for many years, Louise set out only to eat meat that she had killed herself, or at least saw killed. After a scarring experience at her first abattoir visit, Louise takes a while to get on the train of killing larger animals, but rediscovers a love of other animal meats.
I’m not exactly certain what to say about this book. It looks quite unflinchingly at the conditions at some chicken and pig primary production farms, but also shows the positive side of eating meat! I felt like I was wandering around the English countryside with Louise the whole way, which was fascinating just in itself.
Even her vegan friends tested the roadkill that Louise prepares for them to eat! It’s dead already of course (even if it was a human that killed it), and so they aren’t at fault right? The idea of being an ethical anything is difficult, let alone being an ethical carnivore when something else needs to die for you to eat.
After reading this novel I was filled with questions about meat! I wanted to get my hands on more meat to eat right away! Specifically, rabbit or kangaroo, as both of those are often considered vermin in Australia. I don’t have the experience, and the gun laws are quite strict here, otherwise I would love to test my nerve in killing my own food. As it is, I think I would just have to settle for learning how to dissect it for eating.
This is a non-fiction book so I’m not going to give it any stars. However it was well-written and enjoyable, and I would recommend it strongly to anyone who wants to know more about the meat they eat. “Meat, we were made to eat it.”
Bloomsbury | 1st November 2016 | AU $27.99 | paperback
