Published: May 02, 2008 09:41 am            

The Bookworm Sez: Learn how to be a responsible, caring carnivore

Originally published in the May 2, 2008, print edition.

This weekend, it’s time for a family splurge. There’s a restaurant that just opened nearby, and you’re dying to sample the cuisine.

Friends who’ve been there say the prices are just right and the servings aren’t skimpy. Most of all, you’ve heard this place serves a piece of meat that is heaven on a platter, and you can’t wait.

But sometimes, although your mouth waters when you get a whiff of supper, you feel a little guilty. That juicy burger once had a face. Your steak was on the hoof not long ago, but what can you do? You like meat. Read “The Compassionate Carnivore” by Catherine Friend, and see what an animal-raising, animal-eating farmer has to say about what’s on your plate.

Twelve years ago, Catherine Friend’s partner, Melissa, announced that she wanted to farm. So, a la “Green Acres,” city-girl Friend found herself on a plot of land, raising sheep, llamas and chickens.

Over the years, though, she began to look hard at the animals she and Melissa were raising and the meat they were eating, which were often one in the same. “I know it seems odd,” she said, “but this is how farming works: We work our butts off keeping animals alive and healthy, then we kill them.”

For Friend, it’s a conundrum she’s struggled with but she’s resigned herself to knowing that her animals lived well. She says she’s grateful for them and the meals they become. But how can someone who loves animals but loves meat at the same time become more aware, more humane about what he or she puts on a plate?

Friend says a compassionate carnivore understands that most meat we buy in stores is from animals raised in large-scale corporate farms and feedlots. Their deaths might not have been humane.

The trick, she says, to becoming a mindful meat-eater is to know where your meal came from, how it was raised, and how it died. If you can’t find out, try replacing factory-raised meat with meat from animals raised humanely, or eat meatless.

Do what you can, she says, and set a goal. Becoming a compassionate carnivore won’t be easy; Friend admits that she still blissfully enjoys her pork despite an unsavory mental image that haunts her to this day. Take baby-steps toward changing things and remember to be compassionate to yourself.

Mix some gentle humor, hard facts, hot-button controversy and a good dose of thoughtful Zen with Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” and you have “The Compassionate Carnivore.” Friend examines meat — from hoof to hotplate — without stepping up on too much of a feedbox and without making all kinds of excuses for loving a good pork chop. Since she’s willing to use herself and her farm as examples, you won’t feel too awfully chastised for drooling over that prime rib special, either.

If you’re an unabashed meatlover, this book probably isn’t going to change your mind, but read it anyhow. For anyone with a steak in responsible eating, “The Compassionate Carnivore” is worth chicken out.

        

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