‘Veggie revolution’ may be digestable in super small doses
By Kathryn Reed
When you are part of the choir and you’re annoyed by the preaching, something is wrong with the sermon.
In this case, the sermon was “Veggie revolution: Smart Choices for a Healthy Body and a Healthy Planet” by Sally Kneidel and Sara Kate Kneidel.
The problem with this book that came out in 2005 is how it goes on and on about how horrible it is to eat meat and how much better it is to eat vegetables. No vegetarian needs to read this book – you’re already a convert. And it’s hard for me to imagine a meat eater wouldn’t start using the pages for kindling to start a barbecue to roast up some animal.
Yes, the authors talk to small farmers and show how animals can be treated humanely. But in the end, it really was a crusade to get people to stop eating animal products.
This book had potential. I think that’s what annoyed me the most when I finally finished it.
How corporations run the meat industry was the most interesting part. It was also the most alarming. Had this been the primary and only focus of the book, I would guess sales would be better, with a more diverse readership.
“More than 80 percent of the beef cattle in the United States are slaughtered and marketed by one of four big corporations.”
“Most broiler and breeder chickens in the United States are owned by eight big corporations ….”
The book goes into why big agri-business is bad for the consumer and bad for the farmer.
Had the book solely focused on the environmental aspects of meat production, it would have been better.
“According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, agriculture by far is the biggest source of pollution to our streams and rivers, and a significant portion of that is runoff from hogs, poultry and cattle waste.”
“Over half the amount of water used in the United States goes toward irrigating land to grow food for livestock.”
Had the book just talked about the nutritional benefits of being a vegetarian, it would have been better.
There is lots of information in the book. Maybe it needs to be read in smaller doses than how I ingested it. Or maybe the authors should get an editor next time who can provide them with better guidance and direction.
This book reminds me of the “Food First” and “Diet For A Small Planet” books from the early 1980’s. These books also discussed the meat industry…with a lasting impression on me to eat less meat. To hear that the beef industry is so water consumptive …so that’s who wants all our water! And, I thought it was for crops. Guess Harris Ranch is in a great location so close to the aquifer.
I haven’t read that book (but might now look it upout of curiosity), but you might like The 30 Day Vegan Challenge by Colleen Patrick-Godreau. Beautifully put together and informative in a way the is not offensive to non-vegans (in my vega opinion, anyway!).
“Had the book just talked about the nutritional benefits of being a vegetarian, it would have been better”
I use the term “nutritional energy” toward the direction of well-being, as most all food (whether the grain that chickens, cows, and hogs) that’s eaten are all fed by the sun as photosynthesis. . .and is therefore all about embedded energy that’s released once metabolized. . .
The key for the future is to realize how much water it takes to create a pound of meat: it’s in the thousands of gallons/lb. in a world with more & more diminished water access.
This means an increasingly unsustainable future, as the same amount of caloric energy can be obtained with far less usage than that, saving the extra metabolic energy for more productive uses, such as regenerating your body.
This is where a return to “green” makes the most sense, and of course is better for you metabolically (than “red meat”). . .
I used to drive past the Harris Ranch on my way south to/from Santa Barbara.
The smell was so awful that now I turn west on 152 (Santa Nella/San Juan Batista), even though it is longer, just to avoid Harris Ranch! Way too many beef cows in way too small an area – bring on the antibiotics!