Thinking Allowed

Good read. Animal Liberation by Peter Singer. A powerful book on animal rights written 40 years ago (updated 20 years ago

2016-04-04 22:25:22

Good read. Animal Liberation by Peter Singer. A powerful book on animal rights written 40 years ago (updated 20 years ago and re-issued recently with an introduction by Yuval Hariri) and having stood the test of time and debate. It is called 'the bible' of the animal rights movement and rightly so ... it covers everything. Every argument you have possibly heard about vegans or vegetarians is in this book carefully explored. I read it as it featured in The Omnivore's Dilemma and I thought I would come to the conclusion that local grass-fed meat, dairy, and eggs (like Polyface farm or our local Woodland Valley farm) was the way forward.

The first and last two chapters are philosophical argument and counterargument about 'speciesism' which Singer compares with 'racism' and 'sexism'. It appears vegetarians have been at the forefront of liberal thought on the abolition of slavery and the equal rights for women. There is a wealth of historical references to philosophical thought and detailed - though admirably brief - argument. Singer makes a strong case for the equal consideration of the rights of all animals that have the capability to suffer.

Chapters 2 (animals as tools for experimentation) and 3 (animals as machines for turning animal feed into saleable products) are a brutal description of the lives of animals today. He does not even explore other exploitations of animals (fur, leather, dog shows, working animals) as he feels these two are sufficient to make the case.

Anyone who eats meat will question - and have to answer - their stance after reading this book. Impressively not emotional ... this is firm and reasoned argument.

I thought I knew how I'd conclude my position before reading this - OK to eat meat of animals that have happy lives and most experiments must surely be essential. No - both positions are probably mostly wrong. Now I'm questioning where I stand ... where do I draw the line? That is what the book is about - we will draw our lines in different places but the trend is towards animal liberation.

The last fish

The first week after reading the book was normal and then we went on holiday with friends to La Gomera. I remember looking at a typically Spanish cooked local fish on my plate and not enjoying it at all. It was slit in half lengthways with both eyes looking upwards and all I could do was see it alive in the water. I sort of concluded I really liked fish - they taste great of course but I'd prefer seeing them alive in the water ... being fish. I felt odd. There was a long-time vegetarian on the holiday and it was convenient to team up with her at restaurant menus and go veggie. She recommended I read Sapiens. Thanks Lorraine.

The last cheese

Before La Gomera I had bought some smoked goats cheese from a local delicatessen. It was from a Cornish herd that I knew of from previous farmers' markets. Talking to the owner of the deli I asked about the goat farm and she said they didn't make their own cheese any more they sent it to a wholesaler who processed lots of goats cheese and then returned them their share of cheese.

I looked up goats cheese on the internet on the holiday thinking I'd be fine with good quality (and expensive) local goats cheese. I did not like what I saw of intensive goat farming. I was really disappointed as I thought that goats were managed in much smaller herds - and they probably were until recently in the UK. You may have seen more goats cheese in the UK lately ... there's a reason for that and it isn't hard to work out. I'd pretty well gone off cow's milk and the mass of cheap cheese in the supermarkets for the previous few months but this goaty let-down finished me off all dairy altogether.

Sapiens

I read Sapiens and there are stories in there about how we probably first domesticated animals and the reality of dealing with pigs as food in particular and pretty well finished me off as a meat eater. (It reminded me of an article in the FT weekend last year on Spanish ham called The Iberico journey which describes a matanza - the slaughter of the pig.)

So, for the last few months I've been 99% vegan. I eat some of our own chicken's eggs and eggs from St Ewe - a local egg producer that I know well. Otherwise no meat, no dairy. I've changed my belt and wallet (and shortly my shoes) at Wills of London. It hasn't been that hard. The best vegan cheese I've found so far is VioLife sliced.

Source: www.amazon.co.uk

vegan cheese animals goats animal meat book singer

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