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.

Author: Rob Percival
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 03/01/2022
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.30w x 1.40d
ISBN13: 9781643138732
ISBN10: 1643138731
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Agriculture & Food (see also Political Science | Public Poli
- History | Social History
- Health & Fitness | Diet & Nutrition | General

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.