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Jonathan Safran Foer reflects on his past dietary decisions and investigates the fictions we use to justify our eating habits. He combines philosophy, literature, science, memoir and detective work to create a compelling book.
After Jonathan Safran Foer's appearance on the show this week, he sent me a sweet thank-you note, and this link. If you found him as compelling as I do, please check it out. Thanks.
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Books Ellen Reads
| Thursday, October 22, 2009 | 10:41 AM
"Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer
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I love it how everyone comes here and says... "this guy doesn't know anything"... and don't post ANY STATISTICS OR SOURCES!?!?!?
Guess what? The author DOES POST statistics and sources for his claims... he's not taking them out of a hat! To all that say... "I know where my meat comes from and they're treated so nicely..." then let me ask you:
a. Are the cows castrated? I bet they are since it's a standard practice. I also bet they do it without anesthesia, since NO ONE does it without anesthesia. Guess what? That is NOT NICE. Would you like to be castrated with anesthesia?
b. Were the cows branded with a hot iron? That's also standard practice... again.. would you like me to brand your skin with a hot iron? I... don't think so!
c. There's a farmer here that posts... "we don't let them out because we don't want to... we just can't afford to..." kind of thing.
I don't think the author thinks farmers are "evil" and mistreat animals on purpose. But I am sorry but would you like to be raised in a barn with no access to the outdoors? Would you like not being able to walk, explore, excercise (which btw are natural behaviors of cows?). I know I wouldn't like it and I don't think we have the right to do that to animals.
We should all slow down, consume less, and then demand the farming industry ends those practices that are simply disrespectful of animal rights.
You know when people wanted to end slavery, lots of people against it were against it because they couldn't "afford" to pay the slaves and have regular labor.
I am so proud of you for having this segment on your show. I was once a vegetarian and then started eating meat again, so I needed this reminder. It absolutely breaks my heart. I know this is not as happy as the show usually is but it is very important, eye-opening information.
I'm sure not all farms are like Jonathan said, and I am not against the principle of eating meat in itself (as long as the animals are treated well), but I think that the main message is
1. eat less meat, because we can all afford to do that
2. find out where your meat comes from, get to know the farmers and visit them to make sure they are treating the animals well and allowing them to live as animals are supposed.
It is important for us all to realize that the earth is not able to sustain our habit of eating meat every day (a habit that would not be economically possible without the mistreatment of animals btw).
I was very upset my what Jonathan Safran Foer had to say about his book and the world of farming. I am a VERY proud farmer and if I was someone that was uninformed then his information could lead me to make incorrect judgements. It is true that there are places that do treat their animals like he decribed, but that is not the majority. He very briefly mentioned that it wasn't always the case and if you found a place that you knew was good then it was okay to eat from there but I feel that should have been emphasied GREATLY. On my family's farm we take great pride in the way that our animals are treated. We hire our employees after much consideration and many times work extra hours because we can't find anyone that fits our requirements. Our cows are raised from birth and they are babied from day one. I showed cows when I was in middle school and I loved my cow, Mico, so much that she was in my senior picture with me. That is the image of farms that I grew up with and that is the REALITY of farms in most places. I know that our cows don't get to go outside but not because we don't want them to. Milk prices are horrible right now and we don't have the money to build the fencing and finish building our barn so that they are more comfortable. Just becuase he wrote a book doesn't mean he knows what he is talking about and he most certainly doesn't know what is really going on in the farming industry. Research for yourself before making any decisions.
Thank you for airing this segment! Opening the eyes of the masses is truly a gift. We've lived in a world of ignorance for far too long at the expense of our health, animals, and the environment.
Ellen: I was absolutely thrilled to hear Mr. Foer discuss topics including the environmental impact of factory farming, the 'protein myth', and a turkey-less thanksgiving, on network television no less! This sort of knowledge has been in circulation for some time now, but I thought it would be many years before it would be disseminated to the general public, yet it happened last week on your own talk show no less! I commend your courage and audacity for featuring Mr. Foer as a guest and allowing him to speak his mind.
Sincerely,
Bryne
great that this was aired! the corpse industries usually go out of their way to keep the realities of factory farming and slaughterhouses from the public because as mccartney said, "If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian."
Hey Ellen,
I wanted to let you know how wonderful I think it is you've provided the public with this incredibly important persepctive and commend you on your bravery at doing this against the 'status quo'. Our food system has become incredibly dangerous and precarious, it's about time more people in the public eye exposed this (if even for only a few minutes)! If any viewers have more questions or are curious about the 'health concerns' of a vegan diet, I highly suggest Tje China Study by T. Colin Cambell Ph.D...an incredibly enlightening read.
The world public has been lied to, it's time to wake up and save our own lives, and the planet.
Thank you again, you've done a service
Lily
I must say that only agreed with part of what Mr. Foer was saying. I live in a very rural area of Minnesota, and before leaving my career to raise my four children, conducted research in organic agriculture for the University of Minnesota, and worked with many small farms in the southwest area of Minn.
I understand that there are many factory farms, and I completely agree that many people have no idea where their food comes from. But we are a meat-eating family. I am very confident in what I feed my family because I buy the meat directly from the farmers who raise it. We buy whole or half hogs, beef, and chickens.
I just wanted to express that there are other smart healthy choices other than vegetarian/vegan that I believe are fair to all including our environment and local producers. I wish the message was more about making better-informed consumer choices. I think it would have been received better.
No matter what, you still rock in my eyes. Great way to get people talking about an important topic! Keep up the awesome work!
ellen
i was totally digusted that you allowed a person on your show to spew CRAP. he certainly doesn't have his facts or intentionally thew out lies/deceptions.
i get totally pissed off every time i hear you donating to H$U$. do you not understand what their real goals are? do you want to continue to have your pets? do you realize H$U$ only donates 4% of the money they bring in and that it's a political machine to deny animal lovers the right to own/raise and breed? and don't go into the shelters are overcrowded. we're bringing in animals from china/japan to sell in our shelters. H$U$ brings in that money via emotional outcries and not by facts. ask pacelle how many dogs he's killed. ask him how much research H$U$ does....none, via pacelle's own admission.
how dare you ellen, the one that says she cares about animals. you've associated yourself with the killing machine. H$U$ and you don't even know it? or do you? do your research--talk to some AW people, read some of the laws that H$U$ has backed, use your head.
if your show continues in this vein of spewing the vegan way of life and supporting H$U$, i will NOT be watching you anymore and i'll ask others not to watch you either.
To all people thinking they are eating wholesome organic untampered with produce and meat. Please look this up when doing research about what you consume. All Vegetables have been bio engineered since the mid to late 70's. Ask your grandparents-or look it up, either will do. I assure you..cornstalks have not always had 2 to 3 ears of corn on every stalk. It used to be that one stalk of corn produced 1 ear of corn. Potatoes were A LOT smaller than they are now for a reason. And don't get me started on tomatoes. Oh ya AND what ever happened to only "2 peas in a pod" Opened a pea pod lately? My point is..even if you find a local farmer growing "organic" or "local grown" food THAT seed he is using to grow with has been altered in some way,shape or form. Look it up people.
I have always thought that people should be able to live the life style they choose to live and unless they are breaking a law or hurting others then who are we to judge.
With that being said, since I feel the meat industry has been "attacked" I have this question to all vegetarians..If a tree or flower is a living breathing thing ( and it is-in my mind)Then why isn't a vegetable. If you plant a carrot seed in the ground and let it grow to maturity then try to remove it from the ground, it will fight you. You will tug and dig and tug and tug because it doesn't want to leave it's home. Sometimes it will even break in half leaving you with just the top half of a carrot. My question then becomes...just because you can't hear it- how do you know that carrot isn't screaming in pain trying not to be torn from it's natural environment? Now what are you going to eat? (grin)
I started writing this comment just after your show was aired. However I became so irrate that I had to erase what I wrote and take a walk. Ellen, please tell me how you could let such an uninformed single minded guest on your show. I'm glad to see the other posts that will hopefully inform Mr. Safran on the facts of farming. I am a restauranteur who uses local farmers for most of my menu. If you would like to know where our steak, chicken, or even our carrots came from I will tell you. In fact one of the farmers may be eating at the table next to you! There are alot of restaurants like us out there, using local naturally raised produce and meats. Maybe Mr.Safran just needs to eat at Taco Bell and McDonalds a little less and start eating at real restaurants and REAL food. Here's a start....KNOW YOUR FOOD, KNOW YOUR FARMER!
Oh, and if you think not eating meat will change the world why not look at the rest of your life and see the waste that we were taught to make!
'the story of stuff' will make you rethink what's important. Less meat or less stuff!?!
Albert Einstein: Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals.
Plutarch: But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy.
Leonardo Da Vinci: I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men
Leo Tolstoy: A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral
William C. Roberts, Cardiologist: When we kill the animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings.
Neal D. Barnard, M.D.: The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of `real food for real people,' you'd better live real close to a real good hospital.
To start things off, I am a sophomore in college majoring in animal science. I am a fourth generation rancher(very rare these days seeing as most of the population is 2-3 generations removed from the agricultural sector)and have grown up with livestock my entire life.
Ellen- If you are going to let someone like this on your show, maybe you should consider letting a farmer/rancher defend their livelihood. Unlike Mr. Safran, my family's and many others across the country depend on our animals for our income as well as food. Do you think were going to treat them badly if we are depending on them - the answer is no!!
Coming onto a show stating points that are true is one thing but when you state points that are obviously not true, and you definitely don't have the credentials to speaking about some of the things, do you really expect people to believe you, and Ellen I would like to ask you- why is such a person allowed on your show? How about you have agriculturalist come onto your show and speak about the myths about agriculture that many people such as Mr. Safran seem to think. I will set the record straight on some of the points that were mentioned during the interview.
1. Agriculture is in fact NOT the #1 cause of global warming, how can this be possible when animal release no more than they take in (law of conservation of energy: energy can neither be created or destroyed). Also, there are less animals on the planet then there were a century ago, so how can the problem increase- that is my question to you!
2. 99% of animals DO NOT live on factory farms!!!In fact, there are numerous ranches, and farms that raise there animals. This is by far not the truth, I would also like to say that I have never seen a windowless shed for CATTLE!!
3. If animals are not allowed to live to their adolescence how are we reproducing new animals? well lets see... because they are actually allowed to live to maturity and reproduce, NOT every single animal is killed at adolescence.
4. Consumers have a scare when a disease outbreak is caused by meat, but then they throw a fit when your not allowed to tour livestock facilities. Let's think about this for a minute, if you tour the facilities you could possibly bring in the pathogen and therefore would be the cause of the disease outbreak.
I could go on and on, but this is just common sense. Would you rather believe someone that has a background on this or a complete radical that has absolutely no idea what he was talking about! I challenge you to research the REAL facts before basing your opinion on a person that has never really set foot on a farm and has absolutely no creditable sources.
SO.. moral of the story...
EAT MEAT!!!!!
After watching the show with Johnathon talking about his book Eating Animals i was very anger. Who is this person? Why does his opinion matter and who is to say he is right about any of this? Ya he might of done his research but where are the citations? Swine Flu starting in North Carolina, really? tell me where you found this cause it doesnt make since. I'm sickened by this person.
I am a 20 year old that grow up on a cattle farm and we have plenty of pasture land for our cattle. My father has been working with our county beef producers to try to get an all natural product into the supermarkets that comes straight from our county farms. They have been trying to do this for about 3 years now with little success. But my response to this episode is this: People are not educated about farmers and the differences between factory farms and family farms. By this person coming on he gave all farmers a bad image. There are plenty of farmers across the nation that do not treat their animals the way he described. If you want to insure that you have good meat, find a butcherer in your area and they will be glad to tell you where their meat came from i'm sure. I know my father has sold some of our beef to people my mom works with and neighbors and we use a local butcherer to do the package. Those people would be gald to show you their facilitis and i'm positive the area farmers would be happy to do so too.
I really want to urge people that watched this to do their own research, dont dismiss meat all together based on what Johnathon said in this episode or in his book. Contact a local farmer and ask his opinion on the matter and ask what he thinks. Farmers are very educated about there craft and would be more than happy to help you find a suitable alternative.
i unexpectedly ran into an old friend tonight at the kelly clarkson concert... afterwards we went for drinks...and the entire night was spent talking about this book "eating animals." the likely debate was amazing.... it was fun to have an intelligent conversation about something so important and essential.... THANK YOU....
Val
Hello There! I just finished watching this guy ins your show and I am feeling pretty offended too, like the milk farmer that post her comments before! Such a close view of this subject! We are farmers in Saskatchewan, CANADA. We are small farmers who raised healthy and happy cattle as well and happy chickens! I can't beleive this guy telling people eggs are the worst thing you can eat! Unbelivable! Eveydently we doesn't watch Dr. Oz! In any case I think the point here is that what he says could very well true, but that doesn't mean that people need to quit eating beef of chickens or eggs or whatever all together! Rather they need to look for alternatives as to WHERE to get this produces! Farmers like us wouldn't mind and quite welcome A LOT more support for the public! We raised our animals humanly! Our cows are fed on nothing else than grass all summer long and lentils, wheat and barley straw during the winter time! They have plenty of room to move and the calves spent at least 10 moths of their lives feeding from their mothers! We have only enough chickens to provide us with enough eggs for eating and baking. They spent the whole summer too running around eating grass, potatoes, etc. No cages, plenty of room to run!
So really, is it really the point to stop eating these things, or look to a better place of where to get them if you are so concern about it! Mr. Safran, you are MOST welcome to come and visit our farm, any time, any day!
Ellen, I can't believe the show I am watching right now!!! I can't believe that you Ellen would actually allow this. As a dairy farmer and a fan of the Ellen show I feel extremely betrayed. This guy has only a portion of his facts straight.
We milk 1,000 cows in Vermont. My cows are treated with the utmost care. We actually have mattresses for our cows to sleep on and they choose when they want to eat and when they want to sleep. They are free to roam about the barn as they wish. We usher them to the milking parlor three times a day where we clean their udders and milk them with a rubber cup that simulates the suckling action of a calf, much like a breast pump.
The thing about cows is the more comfortable and happier they are the more milk they will produce. As farmers it is in our best interest to treat them as good as possible.
Cows are natural fermenters and we feed them fermented grasses and corn that aid in easy, healthy digestion. Our cows never get fed antibiotics. That is an absolute myth and is illegal.
Even though dairy farmers across the country are not even breaking even due to low milk prices, I am still proud to produce a wholesome product that feeds this country from the cows I respect and love.
By the way I do know how to operate a pitchfork and we have to muck stalls.
Consumer research has determined most farmers are introverts so when it comes to defending our industry we are horrible at it. I am also an introvert but I feel so emotional about what I do and why I do it I can't stay in my comfort zone on this. I am so tired of all of these ignorant people trying to convince the public not to drink milk.
If anyone has any questions about dairy farming and how the majority of dairy farmers care for their animals, please contact me at klq4@yahoo.com.
Dear Ellen,
I am watching your show and Jonathan Safran Foer is on and was telling you that the Svineflu started at a farm in North Carolina!! I am curious as of why it has not spread to South Carolina, which is the next State to NC.!??? Do you think he can explain that.
Thank you for a wonderful and very uplifting show.
Kind regards,
Berglind
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Comments (20) | Post a comment now »
Let's face it. Most of the meat, eggs, and milk that we eat and drink in this country comes from large "factories." It is unfortunate, but true, that greed prevails in this area. I would love for this to change. The only way it can is if light is shed on the subject and regulations to treat animals humanely are put into place and enforced. Jonathan's book and Ellen having him on her show sheds light.
On a personal note: I grew up on a small farm where chickens laid eggs with dark yolks because they ate grass and bugs from our backyard. I have also picked the pin feathers out of a chickens when cleaning them - after my father had rung their necks. I never understood how the people - my father included - in our town could care for(feed, brush, bathe, etc.) their animals ... and then eat them. Especially since eating meat is not necessary to live. In fact, I became a much healthier person after giving up meat 15 years ago! I know, I know "the circle of life." I'm thinking veggies and fruits are what we need more of in our circle. Let's support those farmers!
Thanks, Ellen, for being a light in our world!
Posted by Amanda | November 19, 2009 9:15 AM