Book Review Contest: The Compassionate Carnivore (reviewed by Michelle Goh)

This is the latest effort by Friend to encourage us to think about what we eat and how it influences us, the environment and the meat itself in a hilarious and conversational manner.

We are like baby birds; waiting for corporations to shove food down our throats and we do not care where the food comes from. Over the years, we’ve seen many boycotts and public and controversial demonstrations by Peta and yet we do not do anything about it.

Friend describes the relationship between us, the carnivorous consumers and the animals, the meat and her as the middle person, the farmer. She never ask us to be a herbivore because it will not be good for the farming industry but she wants us to make the effort to not waste meat and be more aware of what we’re shoving down our throats.

From the nursery rhyme Old Macdonald, we always expect red roofed barns, with wooden fencing and animals wandering around doing what they have to do but the farms nowadays are far from that especially the factory farms which mass produce animals for the slaughter house.

For those who are on the gory side, she even described the whole slaughter process thoroughly and the difference between the slaughtering process done in factory farms and conventional farms.

Besides that, she tells of her daily challenges as a farmer who loves animals and yet has to raise them and kill them for meat. The words that she uses will tell you the cold, hard, facts and not some sugar dusted truth.

She leads a conventional and interesting life as she lets you peek into her life as a lesbian, Elvis loving farmer living with her partner in a small conservative town. After reading the book, you’re sure to think twice about the Double Cheese Burger you shove down your throat.