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The Vegetarian Myth

Food, Justice, and Sustainability

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The Vegetarian Myth

By: Lierre Keith
Narrated by: Joyce Bean
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Summary

We’ve been told that a vegetarian diet can feed the hungry, honor the animals, and save the planet. Lierre Keith believed in that plant-based diet and spent twenty years as a vegan. But in The Vegetarian Myth, she argues that we’ve been led astray - not by our longings for a just and sustainable world, but by our ignorance.

The truth is that agriculture is a relentless assault against the planet, and more of the same won’t save us. In service to annual grains, humans have devastated prairies and forests, driven countless species extinct, altered the climate, and destroyed the topsoil - the basis of life itself. Keith argues that if we are to save this planet, our food must be an act of profound and abiding repair: it must come from inside living communities, not be imposed across them. Part memoir, part nutritional primer, and part political manifesto, The Vegetarian Myth will challenge everything you thought you knew about food politics.

©2009 Lierre Keith (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Agricultural & Food Sciences Environment Science Sustainable & Green Living Sustainable Agriculture Vegetarian Plant-Based Diet Solar System Nutrition Healthy Diet Sustainability Mythology

Critic Reviews

"Lierre Keith’s book is beyond fantastic." (Dr. Michael Eades, author of Protein Power)
"This book saved my life. Not only does The Vegetarian Myth make clear how we should be eating, but also how the dominant food system is killing the planet. This necessary book challenges many of the destructive myths we live by and offers us a way back into our bodies, and back into the fight to save the planet." (Derrick Jensen, author of Endgame and A Language Older Than Words
"Everyone interested in healthy eating should be grateful to Lierre Keith." (Sally Fallon Morell, President, The Weston A. Price Foundation)
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Lierre does a great job bringing together the various “inconvenient truths” surrounding vegetarianism and veganism. The book is well organised, thorough but concise, and the overall story is punctuated by interesting facts and tangible evidence (useful for those persuaded only by sound arguments and not emotion). However, while I do understand her wish to provide a comprehensive overview of the issue by linking her argument to feminist ideologies (i.e., patriarchy’s overarching influence on our food supply; see approximately 2:23:30 for an example) and spirituality (i.e., discussions around the consciousness of plants), I felt that this was potentially confusing or irrelevant to the reader and took away from the main thesis of the book. Overall, an excellent read (or listen).

An excellent study on the subject of veganism

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I loved this book. Particularly the section on nutrition. I will be reading it again.

Enlightening

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If Lierre stuck to the points backed up by research, this would have been 5/5.

Her hatred of the mythical patriarchy resulted in opinions dominating facts when discussing her views on this "male dominated world".

It's a shame as this reduces the credibility of an otherwise outstanding book.

Too much opinion

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amazing book straight to the point! nature is undeniable in it's truth greatly to read this book 😊

undeniably true!

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'Recovering Vegan' here... highly recommend this to anyone and everyone.. especially vego and vegans.... its a hard pill to swallow but a good place to start.

10 years vegan, no longer.

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