Quote:And don't even get me started on fast food nation. The guy had an underlying liver condition (which he didn't bother to mention) and went from a vegan diet straight to a diet where he got all of his protein from meat. Having seen a flat mate go from a meat-based diet to a vegan diet overnight, radically changing your diet in any way means your body has to adapt to cope and that means temporary side effects.
There was a Swedish study (I think) that attempted to recreate fast food nation under reliable conditions. The students didn't even put on any weight.
To me Fast Food Nation is much more than just a book about junk food. It may well in fact be a book about the history of Fast Food and today's American food industry, but it's also a book about capitalism and globalisation, and it's the fast food industry that has led the way in modern industrial greed and propaganda.
As far as I am aware Eric Schlosser has never been been a vegetarian never mind a vegan. Never heard of the liver condition either. Fast Food Nation is a meticulously researched and detailed piece of quality investigative journalism. It's also a great read, Eric Schlosser is not only a good journalist but an excellent and entertaining writer, the book is in fact a bit of a 'page turner'. It cannot simply be dismissed as mere propaganda. Anybody who is remotely interested in where their food comes from and practises of the global food industry should read it. And I'll bet if you never given it much thought before, well you might just give it a little bit more thought after you've read Eric's excellent book.
Quote:I'm not a vegetarian but, having been in these plants and feedlots and processing facilities, I'm very angry about how the big agribusiness companies are producing our meat. I've thought about [being vegetarian] and I think there are very strong arguments for it, not just on the more selfish health-oriented grounds, but really on ethical, moral grounds. I have friends who are ranchers. I don't know. There are glutamate receptors in our taste buds, which are clearly linked to the consumption of meat. For me, the important thing is some kind of connection to what you are doing, some kind of respect, and somehow affording a sense of dignity to these creatures that we have co-existed with for thousands of years. Our current system doesn't do this. People have so little idea of how cattle and hogs and poultry are being raised and slaughtered. For me it was really important to let them know. You can read the book and become vegetarian, or keep eating meat, but you really should know where your food is coming from, and we don't. We're such a suburban urbanized nation that's completely cut off from any sense of this. Eric Schlosserhttp://www.indiebound.org/author-intervi...lossereric