Synopses & Reviews
When Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., first asked Nicolette Hahn Niman to head up his environmental organization's hog campaign, she balked. Investigating hog manure pollution was hardly the glamorous assignment she pictured when leaving everything to work for him in New York. But Kennedy, she discovered, is not a man who takes no for an answer.
Thus began Niman's fascinating odyssey into the inner workings of the factory farm industry and her transformation into an intrepid environmental lawyer who goes up against the big business farming establishment and--unexpectedly--finds love along the way.
Starting her work for Kennedy's organization in North Carolina, Niman uncovers the shocking practices of hog factory farms, including inhumane animal confinement and devastating water and air pollution. She organizes a national reform movement to fight these practices and shows again and again that livestock farming can be done in a better way--not only for hogs, but also for poultry, fish, and dairy cows.
Through Niman's work, she also tours the best of farms, where traditional farmers and ranchers treat their animals humanely and have joined with other farmers to successfully market the foods they produce. She profiles the innovative and cost-effective methods these operations have incorporated to make a profit by ethical, sustainable means.
Along the way, the story takes a surprising turn when Nicolette is swept off her feet by a high-profile cattle rancher. At first, they seem an unlikely pair: Nicolette, a thirty-something, urban, East Coast, vegetarian attorney, and Bill Niman, an older, West Coast, cowboy type. But they share a passion for raising animals with kindness, and she soon finds herself transitioning to ranching life at the famed Niman Ranch in Northern California.
In telling her story, Niman details not only why to choose meat, poultry, dairy, eggs, and fish from traditionally farmed sources (and avoid products tainted by chemicals and antibiotic-resistant bacteria), but also how to do so. She reveals what to look for on labels, why to skip animal products from outside the United States, and what questions to ask when eating out.
A searing account of an industry gone awry and one woman's passionate fight to remedy it, Righteous Porkchop is a must-read for anyone who cares about food sources or good eating.
Review
“A portrait of animal farming, from the small-scale to the mega-scale, thats as notable for its clarity as it is for its vision. Required reading for anyone who eats.” Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Review
“Righteous Porkchop is a compelling call for overhauling the way we produce food from one the nations most credible advocates. Its also a great read. I highly recommend it.” Matthew Scully, author of Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy
Review
“The story that Nicolette Hahn Niman tells in this book is full of heroes and villains (of the two footed kind). Food lovers can only hope that America takes her message to heart and votes at the check-out counter.” Peter Kaminsky, author of Pig Perfect: Encounters with Remarkable Swine
Review
“Righteous Porkchop is a searing, and utterly convincing, indictment of modern meat production. The book also brims with hope and charts a practical (and even beautiful) path out of the jungle.” Michael Pollan, author of Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food
Review
“A thoughtful and affecting memoir... Righteous Porkchop firmly establishes Hahn Niman as a major national voice for efforts to reform industrial animal production.” Marion Nestle, professor, New York University and author, Food Politics and What to Eat
Review
“This necessary bookpart memoir, part exposémay briefly put you off your feed, but its reasoned case for healthy and humane farming practices has the sweet savor of truth.” O magazine
Review
“The fact is, most of us are hypocrites when it comes to food.... Fortunately for people like us theres Nicolette Hahn Niman, a generally sane and sympathetic character, pushing us gently but firmly in a direction we know we should already be heading.” San Francisco Chronicle
Review
“When Nicolette Hahn Niman became a cattle rancher, she discovered that when animals are given a life worth living, they can be raised for food in an ethical and sustainable manner.” Temple Grandin, professor, Colorado State University and author of Animals in Translation
Review
“Nicolette Hahn Niman is the smiling face of conscientious eatingrighteous, but never self-righteous. With warmth and an engaging plainspokeness, she persuasively makes the case that activism bears results, that humane farmers are happier farmers, and that ‘compassionate carnivore is not an oxymoron.” David Kamp, author of The United States of Arugula
Synopsis
Part memoir, part expos, "Righteous Porkchop" offers a searing account of the factory farm industry--and the effects the techniques have on health and well-being--by an engaging crusader who finds love and purpose along the way.
Synopsis
Asked to head up Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s environmental organization's "hog campaign," Nicolette Hahn Niman embarked upon a fascinating odyssey through the inner workings of the “factory farm” industry. Whatshe discovered transformed her into an intrepid environmental lawyer determined to lock horns with the big business farming establishment. She even, unexpectedly, found love along the way.
A searing account of an industry gone awry and one womans passionate fight to remedy it, Righteous Porkchop chronicles Nimans investigation and her determination to organize a national reform movement to fight the shocking practices of industrial animal operations. She offers necessary alternatives, showing how livestock farming can be done in a better way—and she details both why and how to choose meat, poultry, dairy, eggs, and fish from traditionally farmed sources.
Synopsis
“Righteous Porkchop is a searing, and utterly convincing, indictment of modern meat production. The book also brims with hope and charts a practical (and even beautiful) path out of the jungle.”
—Michael Pollan, author of Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food
“[A] necessary book—part memoir, part exposé…its reasoned case for healthy and humane farming practices has the sweet savor of truth.”
—O The Oprah Magazine
A crusading environmental activist, vegetarian, and lawyer who has worked with Robert Kennedy, Jr. on environment issues, Nicolette Hahn Niman blows the lid off the shocking practices in the pork, meat, and poultry industries in Righteous Porkchop, a Fast Food Nation for the hog trade. Subtitled, “Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond the Factory Farm,” Righteous Porkchop is at once an eye-opening grand tour of Hahn Nimans battles with the industrial farming conglomerates, a guide to avoiding unhealthy meats, and a very personal story of one womans reawakening.
About the Author
Nicolette Hahn Niman is an environmental activist and cattle rancher who has been published in the New York Timesand is a regular speaker at national and regional environmental conferences and food events. A former attorney, she is now married to the founder of Niman Ranch, a collective of traditional farms and ranches. She lives in Northern California.