Eating

[sawyl]

I've recently finished reading Eating: What we eat and why it matters by Peter Singer and Jim Mason.

The book is split into three main sections, each focus on a different American family. The approach of each family to food and shopping in examined in turn and used to illustrate various points about the ethical and environmental aspects of eating.

The first section of the book focuses on a typical American family who shop at Wal-Mart, tend to eat at chain restaurants and who generally select food based on price and convenience. After describing some of the cheap meats favoured by the family, the book goes on to investigate the factory farming of chicken, pork and beef and the industrial methods used to produce cheap milk and eggs. Many of the scenes are familiar — the high animal densities, the problems with manure processing, the use of confinement etc. — that doesn't make them any less unpleasant.

The second section features an family who class themselves as conscientious omnivores — most of them eat meat, they're interested in the ethical aspects of food and try to avoid anything that's obviously bad. This leads into an investigation of the less industrial end of farming, with discussions about humane bacon production, organic eggs and sustainable fishing. Also included is an interesting discussion of pros and cons of buying locally, pointing out that poor farmers get more benefit from a slightly higher price than rich ones and that buying local products which have been grown in heated greenhouses may be less environmentally friendly than buying products that have been shipped in from a warmer country.

The family in the third section are vegans with a preference for organic food. This gives the book a chance to examine the merits of organic food and the reduced impact organic farming has on the environment as a whole. The ethics of being a vegan are examined, including the question of whether it is ethical to raise children on a vegan diet, and the interesting question of whether being a vegan is better from the environment (they concluded that it is: being a vegan is more carbon efficient than buying the most fuel efficient hybrid car).

The last couple of chapters open up into a more general discussion of the ethics of meat eating. This provides a quick overview the field and briefly examines some of the claims made by various defenders of meat eating (but not factory farming), such as Roger Scruton and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. There is an short section describing the concept of freeganism, eating food thrown out by supermarkets and grocery stores, and another short bit on artificial meat substitutes. The book winds up with a recapitulation of some previously stated conclusions and ends with some useful final advice: it is worth trying to be ethical about food, even if you don't succeed, and it's worth remembering that personal purity isn't issue — it's not supporting animal cruelty that matters.

Eating is an interesting, well written book that eschews a heavy philosophical approach for an evidence based and deeply practical one. The environmental and the ethical are skillfully deployed to cut through thorny questions, such as local versus shipped food. The approach is even handed, with the authors giving a fair hearing to people involved in industrial farming — something they find abhorrent and argue against — whilst also pointing out the shortcomings of some of farming practices they agree with. The tone is firmly embraces the spirit of utilitarianism and never falls into hectoring, despite making some strong recommendations in the final chapter, suggesting that everyone should try and do their bit, however small, without worrying about occasional lapses.