The Shameless Carnivore: A Manifesto for Meat Lovers

The average American consumes 218.3 pounds of meat every year. But in the face of concerns about Mad Cow disease, dubious industrial feedlot practices, and self-righteous vegetarians, the carnivorous lifestyle has become somewhat déclassé. Now, Scott Gold issues a red-blooded call to arms for the meat-adoring masses to rise up, speak out, and reclaim their pride. 

The Shameless Carnivore explores the complexities surrounding the choice to eat meat, as well as its myriad pleasures. Delving into everything from ethical issues to dietary, anthropological and medical findings, Gold answers such probing questions as: Can staying carnivorous be more healthful than going vegetarian? Whats behind the “tastes like chicken” phenomenon?  And, of course, what qualities should you look for in a butcher? The author also chronicles his attempt to become the ultimate carnivore by eating thirty-one different meats as well as every part, cut and organ of a cow (including tasty recipes), describes hunting squirrels in Louisiana, and even spends an entire, painstaking week as a vegetarian.

From the critter dinners he relished as a child to his adult forays into exotic game and adventures in the kitchen, Gold writes with an infectious enthusiasm that might just inspire readers to serve a little llama or rattlesnake at their next dinner party. This is the definitive book for meat lovers.

"In his first book, former literary agent Gold sets out to probe the joys and mysteries of meat eating. According to his research, the ability to track and hunt for meat, whether hooved, clawed or winged, aided in the development of human intelligence, so we are destined to eat it. But as a carnivore with few qualms about meats, Gold is better equipped than most for this celebration of the meat-eating life. The bulk of the book chronicles his self-described month of meat, in which the author ate 31 kinds of meat in as many days. Alternating between the mundane (chicken) and the exotic (llama), he takes his culinary pilgrimage as seriously as a journey through a country or subculture, something many food writers are doing these days. The result is a hipsterish, lad-lit quasi-travelogue la Julia and Julia. He takes on filet of ostrich and bull pizzle, vegetarianism and veganism, and argues that the indirect effects of such ethical and dietary lifestyle choices sometimes do more harm than the decision to butcher a single animal. The last and best part of his book is the Tour de Boeuf, which takes Gold through the butchering of a live bovine to the eating of various innards and offal. Fun, though somewhat frivolous, with recipes and sidebars." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

The definitive book for meat lovers explores the complexities surrounding thechoice to eat meat, as well as its myriad pleasures.

A New Orleans native, SCOTT GOLD has held a variety of positions in publishing, including stints as a literary agent, a foreign rights manager, and a sales rep. He started the Web site ShamelessCarnivore.com in 2005 and lives in Brooklyn. He also likes many vegetables.