Veganist

I was born in the heartland, a meat-and-potatoes kid who grew up to be a meat-and-potatoes guy, with emphasis on the meat. I have bought lots of cookbooks, but I never bought a diet book until I shelled out for Veganist after seeing Kathy Freston interviewed on Charlie Rose’s show one night when indigestion got me up and out of bed. What she said, and the way she said it, made me think the book might be worth investigating, not only as a possible solution to my own recurring digestive problems, but also as a means of dealing with the Type 2 diabetes I share with millions of other people who have made poor dietary choices. Besides, I’ve long known just how hard meat eaters are on the ecosystem. There are all those matters of conscience that come with producing enough animal protein for such a large human population—the factory farming, the depletion of the planet’s fisheries, and the sheer cruelty that accompanies the daily slaughter of millions of living things. I’m one old dog trying to learn a new trick, and there’s plenty to learn from Freston’s book. I may not become a Vegan overnight, but Veganist provides lots of food for thought, persuasively arguing that eating vegan is a pretty healthy notion, both for meat-and-potatoes guys like me, and for our long-suffering planet.