The Meat Paradox: Eating, Empathy, and the Future of Meat
From a vital new voice in food ethics comes a smart, nuanced investigation into the current meat debate.

Our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. It will be shaped by novel technologies, by geopolitical tensions, and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status quo— pandemics and economic strife, the escalation of the climate and ecological crises—and by how we choose to respond. It will also be shaped by our emotions. It will be shaped by the meat paradox.

"Should we eat animals?” was, until recently, a question reserved for moral philosophers and an ethically minded minority, but it is now posed on restaurant menus and supermarket shelves, on social media and morning television. The recent surge in popularity for veganism in the UK, Europe and North America has created a rupture in the rites and rituals of meat, challenging the cultural narratives that sustain our omnivory.

In The Meat Paradox, Rob Percival, an expert in the politics of meat, searches for the evolutionary origins of the meat paradox, asking when our relationship with meat first became emotionally and ethically complicated. Every society must eat, and meat provides an important source of nutrients. But every society is moved by its empathy. We must all find a way of balancing competing and contradictory imperatives. This new book is essential reading for anyone interested in the origins of our empathy, the psychology of our dietary choices, and anyone who has wondered whether they should or shouldn't eat meat.
1139746529
The Meat Paradox: Eating, Empathy, and the Future of Meat
From a vital new voice in food ethics comes a smart, nuanced investigation into the current meat debate.

Our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. It will be shaped by novel technologies, by geopolitical tensions, and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status quo— pandemics and economic strife, the escalation of the climate and ecological crises—and by how we choose to respond. It will also be shaped by our emotions. It will be shaped by the meat paradox.

"Should we eat animals?” was, until recently, a question reserved for moral philosophers and an ethically minded minority, but it is now posed on restaurant menus and supermarket shelves, on social media and morning television. The recent surge in popularity for veganism in the UK, Europe and North America has created a rupture in the rites and rituals of meat, challenging the cultural narratives that sustain our omnivory.

In The Meat Paradox, Rob Percival, an expert in the politics of meat, searches for the evolutionary origins of the meat paradox, asking when our relationship with meat first became emotionally and ethically complicated. Every society must eat, and meat provides an important source of nutrients. But every society is moved by its empathy. We must all find a way of balancing competing and contradictory imperatives. This new book is essential reading for anyone interested in the origins of our empathy, the psychology of our dietary choices, and anyone who has wondered whether they should or shouldn't eat meat.
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The Meat Paradox: Eating, Empathy, and the Future of Meat

The Meat Paradox: Eating, Empathy, and the Future of Meat

by Rob Percival
The Meat Paradox: Eating, Empathy, and the Future of Meat

The Meat Paradox: Eating, Empathy, and the Future of Meat

by Rob Percival

Hardcover

$27.95 
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Overview

From a vital new voice in food ethics comes a smart, nuanced investigation into the current meat debate.

Our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. It will be shaped by novel technologies, by geopolitical tensions, and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status quo— pandemics and economic strife, the escalation of the climate and ecological crises—and by how we choose to respond. It will also be shaped by our emotions. It will be shaped by the meat paradox.

"Should we eat animals?” was, until recently, a question reserved for moral philosophers and an ethically minded minority, but it is now posed on restaurant menus and supermarket shelves, on social media and morning television. The recent surge in popularity for veganism in the UK, Europe and North America has created a rupture in the rites and rituals of meat, challenging the cultural narratives that sustain our omnivory.

In The Meat Paradox, Rob Percival, an expert in the politics of meat, searches for the evolutionary origins of the meat paradox, asking when our relationship with meat first became emotionally and ethically complicated. Every society must eat, and meat provides an important source of nutrients. But every society is moved by its empathy. We must all find a way of balancing competing and contradictory imperatives. This new book is essential reading for anyone interested in the origins of our empathy, the psychology of our dietary choices, and anyone who has wondered whether they should or shouldn't eat meat.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781643138732
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Publication date: 03/01/2022
Pages: 352
Sales rank: 312,903
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Rob Percival is Head of Policy at the Soil Association, Britain’s leading food and farming charitable organization. He has been shortlisted for the Guardian’s International Development Journalism Prize as well as the Thompson Reuters Food Sustainability Media Award. He lives in Britain.

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

1 Meat 1

2 Murder 23

3 Hunting 42

4 Omnivore 62

5 Herbivore 89

6 Emergency 112

7 Evolution 139

8 Cave 164

9 Catharsis 188

10 Futures 210

Afterword 243

Acknowledgements 245

Bibliography 246

Notes 315

Index 357

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