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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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About this listen

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 Diets, Nutrition & Healthy Eating Environment Fitness, Diet & Nutrition Science Sustainable & Green Living Sustainable Agriculture Vegetarian Plant-Based Diet Thought-Provoking Solar System Nutrition Healthy Diet Sustainability Mythology

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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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Raised a lot of good thought provoking points regarding soil and fertiliser usage, animal welfare and the historical meaning of where your food came from and consisted of but I found the overuse of repeatedly cited reports in some chapters a little hard to take on board followed ultimately looking towards a future of an orwellian dystopia unless wholesale liberty suppression and global revolution against agriculture involving quite literally millions of unaware participants the slightest bit... exaggerated.

Interesting to start but tails off subjectively

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just could not stop listening for the information kept comming. just fantastic. a must read especially for vegans and vegetarians.

wow

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this book is very important, the scope of its subject is phenomenal, a proper eye opener regarding our food, how we produce it, our society and everything that is wrong about it. I have learned a lot and i recommend it to everyone around me.

however, the author is a recovering vegan feminist, and while she made the backbone of her reflexion about all the things that are wrong with veganism, she hasn't managed to apply the same principles of scientifique enquiry and intellectual honesty to feminism.

Apparently, all the terrible things she pointed out throughout the book are the result of the patriarcal society and toxic masculinity. its actually strange that, having done all the work to see the fallacy of vegan fanatism, she can't go that extra step and realise that she is again clinging to simple solutions to complexe problems, finding a convenient culprit to blame. at no point does she even consider that the human social structure might also be rooted in a 3 million years evolutionary journey...

needs a sequel called "the feminism myth"

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If one remove all the radical and hateful feminism and ideological dogmas, then you have left a pretty decent book. The theory of a circular food chain is well argued and the health consequences of what we eat is also very interesting. Yet trying to blame that to masculinity, theories of exploitation and monotheistic religion only remove value to the book. It has been a while since I have been in the monthly patriarchy meetings, but we never conspire to tell people what to eat.
On the other hand, the conclusion and solution for the problem is the classic malthusian reduction of population (the author maybe doesn't know that is a conservative and racist theory). Not having kids will create more depressed people than veganism ( the joy and happiness of children will never been understood for someone without them, however parents have been childless first, so are the only capable of comparing being with and without children), and stop using cars...well it is not only food that comes with fueled vehicles. And for growing your own food, yes, if you can afford it. Not everyone can buy a farm for it, but those who can, I say go for it. I grow some of my food, but I would die if I can only eat that. But i also need shelter , heating, clothing, medicines...How about propose as a start a business with healthy meat ( not grain feed) and vegetables and those who can afford it buy it in supermarkets ( despite being transported by trucks).
Anyways the book is entertaining and interesting, so I would recommend it, to anyone (vegetarian or not).

Good points although non realistic solution

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I'm not vegetarian nor vegan but this book has been more than eye opening. a must read/listen to anyone who cares about diet and health. the aether has looked at many many studies and explains in great detail about nutrition, agriculture and well being.

for health and environmentally conscious people

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