Synopses & Reviews
Meat is a groundbreaking exploration of the difficult environmental, ethical and health issues surrounding the human consumption of animals. Garnering huge praise in the UK, this is a book that answers the question: should we be farming animals, or not? Not a simple answer, but one that takes all views on meat eating into account. It lays out in detail the reasons why we must indeed decrease the amount of meat we eat, both for the planet and for ourselves, and yet explores how different forms of agriculture--including livestock--shape our landscape and culture.At the heart of this book, Simon Fairlie argues that society needs to re-orient itself back to the land, both physically and spiritually, and explains why an agriculture that can most readily achieve this is one that includes a measure of livestock farming. It is a well-researched look at agricultural and environmental theory from a fabulous writer and a farmer, and is sure to take off where other books on vegetarianism and veganism have fallen short in their global scope.
Review
"Simon Fairlie's
Meat: A Benign Extravagance is the sanest book I have read on the subject of how the human race is going to feed itself in the years ahead."
--Gene Logsdon, Author of Holy Shit and The Contrary Farmer "This book is a masterpiece: original, challenging and brilliantly argued. Simon Fairlie is a great thinker and a great writer."--George Monbiot, Environmental and political activist, author and journalist "No-one has ever analysed the world's food and agriculture more astutely than Simon Fairlie-an original thinker and a true scholar. Here he shows that while meat is generally a luxury it is often the best option, and could always be turned to advantage-if only we did things properly; but this, with present economic policies and legal restrictions, is becoming less and less possible. Everyone should read this book-especially governments, and all campaigners."--Colin Tudge, Biologist and author "Simon Fairlie provides us with an unusual and extremely important gift in his new book, Meat: A Benign Extravagance. By helping us understand how our food choices actually shape the landscape in which we live, he provides a perspective that is all too often missing in the more simplistic judgments which are all too prevalent in our public discourse about food. Even scientists who do Life Cycle Analysis often miss the landscape impact analysis. Fairlie corrects that problem. Everyone interested in how their food choices can affect the ecological, social and economic health of the communities in which they live, should read this book."--Frederick Kirschenmann, Distinguished Fellow, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, and President of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture
"This is a tremendous and very timely book: the world's meat consumption is rapidly rising, leading to devastating environmental impacts as well as having long term health implications for societies everywhere. Simon Fairlie's book lays out the reasons why we must decrease the amount of meat we eat, both for the planet and for ourselves. This brilliant book is essential reading for anyone who cares about food and the environment."--Rosie Boycott, Founder of Spare Rib and Virago Press, ex-editor of the Independent, Independent on Sunday, Daily Express and Esquire magazine, broadcaster, writer and campaigner and currently Food Advisor to the Mayor of London
Review
Choice Reviews-The Western penchant for the overconsumption of meat has led to concerns about sustainability, food security, and
social and environmental justice. In response, some activists have proposed a worldwide transition to vegetarian or even vegan diets. In this comprehensive, meticulously researched study based primarily on an analysis of professional literature and focused mostly on food production in the UK and, to a lesser extent, the US, Fairlie (community farmer; editor, The Land, UK) views vegetarianism/veganism as only a partial solution. Although he sees advantages to the adoption of vegetarian and vegan diets, he maintains that vegetables do not produce the higher quality protein of meat diets. Further, he argues that meat can be produced efficiently on a smaller scale and then distributed equitably among nations. His solution to the problem of efficiency is to reject the specialized industrial farming model sanctioned by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, which is based on the expensive and wasteful production of grain, for what he terms a "default livestock" model. This model is an integrated agricultural
system of raising vegetables in which both vegetable byproducts and land unsuitable for other agricultural purposes are used to produce meat, dairy, and other animal products.
Review
"This book is a masterpiece: original, challenging and brilliantly argued. Simon Fairlie is a great thinker and a great writer."--George Monbiot, Environmental and political activist, author and journalist
About the Author
Simon Fairlie worked for 20 years variously as an agricultural labourer, vineworker, shepherd, fisherman, builder and stonemason before being ensnared by the computer in 1990. He was a co-editor of The Ecologist magazine for four years, before joining a community farm in 1994 where he managed the cows, pigs and a working horse for ten years. He now runs Chapter 7, an organization that provides planning advice to smallholders and other low income people in the countryside. He is also editor of The Land magazine, and earns a living by selling scythes. He is the author of Low Impact Development: Planning and People in a Sustainable Countryside.