Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows
In Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows author Melanie Joy, PhD, introduces us to her doctoral research on a belief system that enables us to eat some animals, but not others – a belief system she calls “carnism.”
The book begins with a hypothetical situation: You are at a friend’s house for dinner. Your friend serves you a delicious stew – the most delicious stew you’ve ever tasted! After scarfing down half your bowl of scrumptious stew, you ask your friend for the recipe. Your friend replies with, “You start with some well marinated Golden Retriever meat…”
What is your reaction? Do you continue to eat the stew that you just a moment ago thought was so delightful? Or are you so completely disgusted that you’ve just eaten dog, you can no longer consume the stew?
Now assume that you’re friend tells you it was just a joke – the meat is actually beef. Is your appetite fully restored? Do you resume eating the stew with the same enthusiasm as before? Or are you left with some type of residual emotional discomfort?
What is going on here? How can food, given one label, be considered highly palatable and that same food, given another, become virtually inedible? The main ingredient – meat – didn’t change at all. It is animal flesh either way – it just became, or seemed to become, meat from a different animal. Why is it that we have such radically different reactions to meat from cows and meat from dogs?
This book aims to answer that question by exploring Americans’ perception of animals. A portion of the book is dedicated to describing what happens on factory farms – the abuse of animals and how it is hidden from the public (meat, diary, eggs, and seafood are each given sections), the horror of slaughterhouses, the mistreatment of factory workers, and the lack of safety standards that lead to disease and illness in the public. There is also an examination of meat’s impact on the environment and on our health.
But the most interesting parts of the book, to me, are the philosophical discussions.
“It is an odd phenomenon, the way we react to the idea of eating dogs and other inedible animals. Even stranger, though, is the way we don’t react to the idea of eating cows and other edible animals. There is an unexplained gap, a missing link, in our perceptual process when it comes to edible species; we fail to make the connection between meat and its animal source. Have you ever wondered why, out of tens of thousands of animal species, you probably feel disgusted at the idea of eating all but a tiny handful of them? What is most striking about our selection of edible and inedible animals is not the presence of disgust, but the absence of it. Why are we not averse to eating the very small selection of animals we have deemed edible?”
This book gives a fantastic psychological and sociological examination of carnistic beliefs – the beliefs that allow an entire society to continue inhumanely raising and slaughtering certain animals, while loving and nurturing others, and not realizing the illogical nature of this behavior. Our attitudes and behaviors toward animals are so inconsistent, and that inconsistency is so unexamined. It is absurd that we love dogs, yet eat pigs, and don’t even know why.
“Many of us spend long minutes in the aisle of the drugstore mulling over what toothpaste to buy. Yet most of us don’t spend any time at all thinking about what species of animal we eat and why. [...] What could cause an entire society of people to check their thinking caps at the door – and not even realize they’re doing so?“
For the answer, you’ll definitely want to read this book! In addition to being informative about the meat industry, it also presents thought-provoking ideas about herd mentality and will likely trigger some self-examination.
The GIVEAWAY!
The publisher of this book, Conari Press, has graciously given me TWO copies of this book to give to readers! [This has not influenced my opinion of this book in any way.] To win a copy, leave a comment on this post by midnight on Tuesday, July 13th! I will select two commenters at random to receive this book. Let me know your thoughts on carnism (or maybe your reactions to eating dog), or just let me know that you want to read the book.
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Brunch: Tofu scramble breakfast tacos with Gimmie Lean sausage, spinach, and Veggie Shreds cheese
Dinner: The BEST veggie burger I’ve EVER had from BGR!!!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 at 12:37 am and is filed under Book/Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I’ve been wanting to read this for quite a while. As a new vegan and former carnist, I don’t *know* why it was okay to eat some animals but not others. And I don’t know what changed – but I am so glad it did.
I am so excited to read this book. I saw this book mentioned on Ellen DeGeneres website and knew I had to give this a one a look at. I am currently on the waiting list at my library for this book.
I find it interesting how different cultures perceive what animals are okay to eat. We would never touch dog or horse flesh in this country and think it is awful that other countries consume it. Yet, we have no problem consuming a pig or cow or chicken that has suffered a terrible life only to become an item on the dollar menu.
I think it is easy for people to deal with this matter by justifying that some animals are pets and others are “raised” or “meant” to be consumed. Little do we think that all creatures have lives and are capable of emotions. My mind is made up on eating animals, it has been for almost twenty years yet this topic is always on my mind. When I think of the intelligence that pigs possess( especially when I look at my 19 mos old boy-is when I often have this thought)-it makes me incredibly sad to think what little discredit we give all animals. I don’t think any living creature should have to have it’s life ended just so I can have a full stomach or can’t defeat a craving. Perhaps I humanize them too much, but I know that deep down it is wrong. I chose to learn more about my food and what I have learned I cannot forget.
This is so interesting! My husband and I were just discussing this the other night with our teens and we really couldn’t arrive at a reason why one species is considered “edible” and another isn’t, except perhaps that people have more concept of the suffering of animals they are familiar with. They know that dogs and cats feel and can experience pain because they have witnessed it, and therefore can empathize with it. Yet if you tell someone that fish can feel fear, they’ll generally look at you like you’re nuts. (But anyone who has seen a fish thrashing and struggling to get free of a hook should know they can feel fear!)
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I haven’t read a book in this genre since farm city, but i saw it on the shelf a while back and i thought it looked interesting. In for random drawing, out for eating fido!
Wow – I would love to read this book – it sounds so interesting! I read “Eating Animals,” by Jonathan Safran Foer, who makes a similar point.
Thanks for offering this giveaway!
This book sounds fascinating! And I’d love to read a psychologists take on the issue.
Hello there. This book sounds so awesome. If I do receive a copy, I promise to let others read it also, so as to spread the word that all animals deserve our love and protection. I have a t-shirt from the NY farm sanctuary that expresses this sentiment well. It says “Why do we love animals we call pets and eat animals we call food.” Perfect! Thank you.
I would love to win this book! I too am amazed at the disconnect. One of the things I try to promote to shelters is to stop serving meat at their functions and fundraisers. It isn’t fair to save one group of animals at the expense of another. Many of my shelter friends are vegetarian/vegan, but the organizations themselves do not have policies that reflect their core beliefs (compassion for animals). I would love to read this book and then pass it along to my shelter friends.
I have only recently found out about this book, and would love a chance to read it. In the spirit of eco-mindfulness, I would then pass the book along to another who is “just dying” to read it.
I have been struggling with this type of battle…mostly in my own head. I was, as most people are, raised in a supposed “omnivore” household. Yet I can’t remember many breakfasts (other than cereal…with MILK) or dinners that didn’t contain meat. I also have been leaning towards Buddhism, lately, and this is probably why I have started questioning eating meat. I quit meat once…for a month…I had intended it to be forever, but I am one of 4 people in a household that the other three eat meat all the time…ok, and I ate fish during that time, and I tried to defend that with “I don’t eat much other protein, so I need to eat fish”. I have realized that I was still just as wrong to eat the fish as I was to eat the cow, the pig, the chicken, and the turkey.
Maybe if people referred to their food as what it really is (cow, pig, chicken instead of beef, pork, poultry), just maybe they might start to see things differently. Would it be so easy to chow down on some wonderfully barbecued ribs, if the package said “Pig Ribs” or “cow ribs”? Or how about “baby cow meat” on veal packages? Even, go one step further…name the animals…”These ribs were donated unwillingly by Pig#45729, aka “Patty the Pig”". I know I sure couldn’t eat something once I knew it’s name…or serial number as the case may be…
I’m going to give vegetarianism another try…and hopefully I’ll make it this time…I also would like to get a cow at some point, so I can then have milk that came from a loved cow, and I would know no cow was imprisoned, harmed, or tortured for the milk I drink.
Sorry…got off on a rant…Thanks for loaning me the soapbox…you can have it back now
~A~
I’m a third through this great book! So many new perspectives on how/why we do very “old things” like eating *some* animals. Absolutely an eye-opener! Don’t need to “win” the book – But if I did I’d definitely donate it to my library! This book should be read by anyone who eats and thinks!
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I am hoping to win a copy of this book – so I can take my repeatedly-renewed library copy back to the library and let someone else check it out. My goal is to keep reading it until I hone my personal verbiage until it is second nature to talk about this in such a way to at least catch the ears of even my most resistant midwestern carnists. “Planting a seed,” so to speak, so hopefully the concept returns to their consciousness. Barbeque is huge here, hence the challenge.
Big thanks to Melanie for making a connection that people can really connect to … eating Fido.
Long live Fido.
Thanks for the giveaway! This sounds like a very interesting book!
Thanks for this offer to inspire folks to post a comment supporting Melanie Joy’s new book. The more different approaches to this critical topic and to transforming our cultural approach to diet, the better!