| View Larger Image | The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability | Paperbackby Lierre Keith (Author)
| List Price: | $20.00 | | Price: | $13.60 | | You Save: | $6.40 (32%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | PM Press | | Edition: | 1st Edition | | Page Count: | 320 Pages | | Publication Date: | May 01, 2009 | | Sales Rank: | 1,314st |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Part memoir, nutritional primer, and political manifesto, this controversial examination exposes the destructive history of agriculture—causing the devastation of prairies and forests, driving countless species extinct, altering the climate, and destroying the topsoil—and asserts that, in order to save the planet, food must come from within living communities. In order for this to happen, the argument champions eating locally and sustainably and encourages those with the resources to grow their own food. Further examining the question of what to eat from the perspective of both human and environmental health, the account goes beyond health choices and discusses potential moral issues from eating—or not eating—animals. Through the deeply personal narrative of someone who practiced veganism for 20 years, this unique exploration also discusses alternatives to industrial farming, reveals the risks of a vegan diet, and explains why animals belong on ecologically sound farms. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 28 reviews)
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A Must Read by Pauline Halstead (Walnut Creek, Ca.)  5 Stars
November 19, 2009
Lierre Keith's book, The Vegetarian Myth, is nothing short of a saga of a woman, who with all the best ethical and political intentions, ruined her health by her adherence to a vegan diet. The sad story here is that many people are doing the same thing and suffering from a variety of symptoms ranging from rheumatoid arthritis to bi-polar disorder. I feel veganism is an anorexic style eating disorder that is little understood. At the basis is a deep seated fear of nourishing oneself. This was apparent in Leirre's case as she struggled with the adverse physical, mental and emotional effects of her vegan lifestyle.
The way Lierre found her way out was to recognize that the meat and fats from grass-fed and "pastured" animals and their products like milk, cheese and eggs, contain the essential nutrients that the body's cells need to function and repair. Nutrient dense animal meats, fish and their fats are the answer for anyone seeking true health. This is the diet our ancestors ate and the diet on which we evolved. The resulting ecological benefit of choosing grass-fed animals, sustainably fished seafood and organic vegetables and fruits is that these choices support a balanced and sustainable system of agriculture and animal husbandry.
We can no longer afford to make unconscious choices when it comes to what we eat, both for our own health but also for the health of our fragile biosphere. As Lierre makes crystal clear, farming grains has ruined our topsoil around the globe by stripping it of essential minerals. We are now in a life threatening situation of having little topsoil left. Global permaculture farming methods must replace petrochemical agribusiness methods if we are to survive.
Thank you Lierre for your thoughtful and insightful book. Pauli Halstead, author, Cuisine for Whole Health, Recipes for a Sustainable Life.
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Its all been a big, fat lie! by Polly Mathe (New England, USA) 5 Stars
November 19, 2009
What a great book...sometimes waxing a little preachy (like an ex-smoker) Keith's perspective as an ex-vegan is refreshingly blunt on the social, environmental and nutritional impacts of a mono-culture, grain-based diet. We are not ruminants and are clearly not designed to derive our sustenance from cellulose...doesn't the fact that there are no essential carbohydrates tell us something about the nutritional value of plants for humans? Factory farming is far from benign environmentally or ethically and that block of tofu is probably far worse for you and the planet than a grass-fed sirloin slathered in real butter.
If I had one criticism, it would be that while Keith's writing is well-referenced, many of the references are secondary sources like Gary Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories, which, while an excellent work in and of itself, was not intended to be a scholarly text or a primary research source.
I am trying to figure out how to slip a copy of this book to some vegan friends without offending them...
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Good Ideas: Mistaken Conclusions by Micah Turnquist (Boulder, CO)  2 Stars
October 27, 2009
I like the fact that the book brings up the fact that Industrial Agriculture is really to blame.
I, unlike the author, have had the exact opposite experience. I grew up eating meat and had a host of problems; anemia, intestinal blockages, and severe migraines. I turned to a Vegetarian diet when my doctor informed me that my body resisted Animal Proteins. I have now been Vegan for 16 years and am in the best shape of my life by far!
I am no longer Anemic. I no longer had digestive issues. I have not had a Migraine in 16 years. My protein levels are up, my red blood cells have quadrupled, and my energy sky rocketed.
For many people out there the Vegetarian Diet is perfectly fine, you just have to make sure you get nutrients from a variety of places.
I HATE that this book is called the "Vegetarian Myth" because that title is wrong. Some Vegetarians bent on "saving the planet" are outrageous as well, but the fact of the matter is MOST people can be perfectly healthy eating only Plant based foods.
All in all....eat LOCALLY people, that is the true way of saving the planet; whether that is local Cows, Chickens, etc.. I, for one, will never tell people what to eat or how to behave; but Vegetarianism WORKS....don't believe the hype here!
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A Clarion Call to All Eaters of Plant-Based diets by Richard D. Smith (Chicago, IL)  4 Stars
October 27, 2009
As a former self-proclaimed vegan for 6+ years, I can honestly say that due to my ongoing journey to evaluate and access the health of my diet, the notion that this book and I "found" one another is nothing short of a reality. I encourage all those who adhere to a primarily plant-based diet, i.e. vegetarians, vegans, fruitarians, sunfoodists and so forth to treat yourself to the words and message of this text. Not only is it an wonderfully written book, it offers a much needed voice to a movement that [I think] has for too long gone without internal criticism or at least critical assessment. It is sure to make the "practising" vegetarian/vegan either a more comprehensive food ethicist or a more humble one, open to the idea of becoming a vegetarian apostate. Then again, it could make one a more dogmatic about their lifestyle, but let's hope not.
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Making Choices about Food by Story Circle Book Reviews (www.storycirclebookreviews.org) 4 Stars
October 24, 2009
When my family took a trip to Seattle in 1990, we encountered vegetarians for the first time in the youth hostels where we stayed. They refused to use pans in which meat had been cooked. While I knew that Jewish households separated their dishes, but we never guessed that vegetarians followed such a rule as well. Almost thirty years later, due to the high cost of food, I find myself also a vegetarian, but not so strict about how my dishes are used. Maybe reading The Vegetarian Myth will change my eating habits once again if my finances allow.
Lierre Keith attacks a ten-thousand year agricultural practice as if it is causing the end of life as we know it. Her strident and convincing voice dispels the myth that eating plants prevents killing. Through well-researched reporting, she demonstrates that growing plants destroys wetlands, animal habitats, rivers, and topsoil until eventually there will be none left and human life will become extinct.
Combining her life story as a vegetarian with documented sources of the damage to the environment caused by mono-agriculture (growing only one crop on a large scale), Keith refuses to back down on her belief in the damage vegetarianism is causing the world. Her solutions are for us to return to our hunter/gatherer roots and produce our own food, refrain from having children, and stop driving cars.
Although extreme, Keith's form of radicalism makes sense. Even though her male bashing, expletives, and extreme pronouncements ("We're out of topsoil, out of water, out of species, and out of space in the atmosphere for the carbon we can't seem to stop burning.") can get tiresome at times, the premise of her book, that we must wake up and change our lifestyles, makes sense and we may even need her loud voice to move us to take action.
by Susan M. Andrus
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
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