Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

Jonathan Safran Foer uses an engaging combination of philosophy, folklore, science, research and memoir to expose why choosing to eat a vegetarian diet makes sense. 99% of meat is raised in industrial circumstances. Because only 1% is raised on farms with decent animal husbandry and environmental practices, Foer makes it clear that the choice is between cruelty and ecological destruction on one hand, and ceasing to eat animals on the other. He takes Michael Pollan to task for sidestepping this ethical issue in The Omnivore's Dilemma. Pollan writes "I have to say there is a part of me that envies the moral clarity of the vegetarian... Yet part of me pities him , too. Dreams of innocence [...] depend on a denial of reality that can be its own form of hubris." I agree with Foer - Pollan is the one who denies reality when he chooses to ignore what he learns about industrial agriculture and continues to eat meat.