I just finished reading the book Eating Animals by J.S. Foer, author of Everything is Illuminated (yeah, the one they turned into a movie with Elijah Wood) and I think it should be required reading for all meat-eaters. The book was written in an honest-to-goodness quest to find out where our food comes from and whether it is still possible or one to pursue an omnivorous diet in America with not just a healthy body, but a healthy conscience. Foer illustrates the pervasiveness of factory farms in the U.S. in a matter-of-fact, yet striking and updated way. I hope to somehow use parts of this book in my curriculum if I am lucky enough to get into grad school and teach a section of undergrad women’s and gender studies. Foer artfully links violent oppressions of entire species to that of human minority- and gender-based oppressions without sounding hyperbolic. Additionally, we should all be conscious of what we are eating; it isn’t radical to simply ask where your food comes from. It’s just taboo during this unprecedented time of corporately sponsored, subsidized agribusiness. You can find out more info here:

http://www.eatinganimals.com/