The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability [Paperback]

 

 

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It takes a brave and honest soul to write a book like this, not to mention a sharp and inquisitive mind. Lierre Keith should be applauded for her courage, curiosity and insight. I was blown away by this book; I could not put it down. I have never been a vegetarian, but her story is one everybody needs to hear. Vegetarians and vegans will find her approach very understanding and sympathetic towards those beliefs, even as she explains why they are misleading and destructive.

This book is exhaustive in its research, heart wrenching in its honesty, and mind blowing in its brutal truths. Keith deomolishes the animal-products-are-bad-for-us-and-the-planet diatribe with reason, heart, science, and personal experience. She examines the 3 major philosphies behind veganism (moral, political and nutritional) and shatters them one by one. She then explains her views on what might work to feed the planet and keep us healthy, and it is not by growing monocrops of wheat, corn or soy. My mind and eyes were opened wide by this book. I am amazed at how much I learned from Ms. Keith.

Despite my overwhelming applause, I must admit to having to brush away several spots of male bashing now and then. Keith has very strong feminist views that cloud her otherwise clear voice in a few places. But these spots are very brief and easily skipped over. The information she offers is sound, she has researched her topics thoroughly and her writing style is fluid and captivating.

As I said above, this is my #1 pick for the year, and I read a lot of books on a wide variety of topics. Give this to someone you care about, especially if they are thinking of going vegan or care about the planet and sustainability.

Lierre Keith did not have to convince me to eat meat. I was a vegetarian for the puny number of 3 years, yet that was enough to compromise my health for many years to come. Consuming all those whole grains, the sugars, the tofu fries and tofu dogs, the soya milk and every other bad tasting "health" food that went with my new belief in vegetarianism, led me to feel for the first time at the age of 23 what pre-menstrual pain meant. And we are talking of debilitating pain. Nobody was able to explain to me why it started then - it's just hormonal imbalance, said my gynecologist. But what caused this hormonal imbalance that makes it feel like a war is waged in my ovaries, with a high number of casualties? Thanks to Lierre's thorough research, now I know. A decade later, and my hormones have yet to find their balance. But meat and fat are the staples in my diet now, so I am crossing my fingers.

Lierre did not have to convince me either, of the cycle of life and death. As a child, I've seen my mother kill our chickens and ducks, the ones that run free in our land behind the house in the Mediterranean village I grew up, and served them for dinner. The same fate followed my grandfather's goats and my aunt's rabbits. And we were strong children, me and my brother and our multiple cousins, playing out in the fields and by the beach all day, yet never throwing tantrums or crying for nothing. And I don't blame the children of today for their emotional fragility or their tantrums, I don't even blame their parents, for I am sure they want the best for their kids. But since this book is now available, it is their responsibility to read it and educate themselves, because big-pharma-paid doctors, ain't going to do it for you, sorry. And I can recommend a stack of books on nutrition, low carb diets, full of real information, from true studies and research too: Life Without Bread: How a Low-Carbohydrate Diet Can Save Your Life, Primal Body, Primal Mind, The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living, to name but a few. What really makes the Vegetarian Myth my personal favorite however, though it doesn't go in detail into the science and planning for a low carb diet, is that the author pours herself in her book and she takes me along with her. Not only did she do her studies before she presented them to us (13 pages of bibliography), she walked the bridge less traveled, the one spread between veganism and carnivorism, stretching from the grey land of the barely living to the land of sustainability and health, herself. And she now tells us, in a book that's half science and half prayer, sometimes speaking for the Earth herself to ask for our help.

What Lierre taught me that I didn't know, was the heartbreaking truth of the damage we have inflicted, as agriculture loving civilization, to the ecosystem, our Earth, our home. I cried for the dead rivers, the lost animal species, the sacred topsoil that is thinning away. I came out of the book with a profound respect for the intelligence of the nature that envelops us and sustains us, and yet we brutally maim it. I cried because I read that my homeland, a water depleted, desert-like island, used to be full of trees some centuries ago. And I got livid at the lies that our governments, the medical establishment and the media feed us with, along with poisonous food, so that they keep their pockets full of money. The sicker we get, the wealthier they get.

I don't know whether the world can change, but I know that this book changed me, and I will never forget to respect my food from now on, I will never again forget the evils of agriculture and I will always recognize the diseases of civilization. So I invite everyone, I actually plead everyone, vegetarian, vegan or not, to read this book, so that more of us know. And when enough of us do, perhaps the Big Corporation predators will grow smaller and poorer, while the Earth grows wealthier again.

For me, this is perhaps my top book of the last decade. It is elegantly written, passionately argued, full of information, and absolutely heart-wrenching. Like many of my fellow suburbanites, for me life was city life. I took it for granted as just "the way things are": the landscape, the buildings, the food I ate. But after reading Lierre Keith's book, I'm reminded of something a hero of mine once wrote (Kazimierz Dabrowski): There is far to little imagination in our world. If there was more, we would perhaps ponder on civilization, its nature, origin, and consequences a bit more often. We would see that it is based on consumption and destruction; that it has no place to go but down. That our very way of life, founded on agriculture, is perhaps the primary reason we started going to war with each other, the reason we are so sick in body and mind. And perhaps we would imagine new ways, a new world, and bring it into reality.

But there is too little imagination. Instead, we eat food we are not designed to eat. We get cancer, arthritis, heart disease - the list is endless. We get depressed, anxious, and traumatized, becoming disconnected from each other. We accept the propaganda of our leaders in politics, business, medicine, academia. We kill that which is necessary for life on this planet, and we kill that life as well.

This book is so much more than a book about vegetarianism or veganism. It is the story of a planet that is spiraling down the drain, a branch on the tree of life that is about to be pruned - dry, withered, and dead. Not a pretty picture. And yet, this book is beautiful. Lierre presents a small taste of what could be, what was. And I believe there's an inch of chance that we too can experience that: participation with each other and nature on the order of our Palaeolithic ancestors. But it will require a lot of change...

I can't help but think that a lot of the reviewers giving this book a bad review have missed the point. They nit-pick certain details but ignore the big picture: we are destroying our planet. Civilization as we know it is built on an attitude of control, domination, and sadism. Our creature comforts (and that includes our morning donuts and bagels) require the killing of entire ecosystems and our topsoil, keeping some nations enslaved in a corporate, bureaucratic machine. In short, our way of life is not sustainable, it is not humane, and it is not healthy. It is psychopathic, pure and simple. Perhaps that's why a lot of people can't accept this book. To do so would require them to totally reconsider their own way of life and change it. That's a tough pill to swallow, especially if your neurotransmitters and hormones are out of whack and your cell walls rigid as a result of the effects of a high-carb, low-fat diet. But that's the condition we find ourselves in, and we really need to do something about it.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A trailblazing book
Even though this book is called the 'Vegetarian Myth', and it's focus was to dispell the strongly held beliefs that veganism is healthy and can save the planet, which if you read... Read more

Published 15 days ago by Dan

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing book
Lierre was a vegan for 20 years. Her reasons for going vegan are the same as many other vegans: justice, compassion, and repulsion at factory farming practices. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Phung Minh Hoang

5.0 out of 5 stars Lots of food for thought for us all
This book is as the description says, 'part memoir, nutritional primer, and political manifesto.'

Lots of books talk about the harm eating processed foods and high... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Jodi-Hummingbird

1.0 out of 5 stars Misquoting doctors research...
I haven't read this book, but I did watch Lierre Keith's live lecture discussing her book "The Vegetarian Myth". Well that's not exactly true... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Seeking Answers

1.0 out of 5 stars The Author References Web Postings as Research?
I am not a vegetarian, but I know a couple of people who are. For the past few years I have been doing my own research into what I am eating, I have become much more conscious... Read more

Published 6 months ago by FEM

1.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious. I can't tell if the author is trying to be funny or if he believes this
This book relies on unsubstantiated claims, poor research, and lies of omission.

Vegetarianism has been studied thoroughly by scientists and physicians. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Ben M. Wood

5.0 out of 5 stars Strong Medicine
This book was written by a very courageous woman. It clearly shows the detrimental effects of BELIEF. Read more

Published 10 months ago by maelstrom

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking and important
Keith wears her heart on her sleeve and never holds back from inserting her personal opinions. She also thoroughly documents what she so passionately expounds. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Cathryn Wellner

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read.
Despite disagreeing with Lierre Keith's take on religion and politics,I rate this 5 stars; her "de-mything" of vegetarianism is well-researched, well-written, eye-opening -... Read more

Published on April 30 2010 by Elsie

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