Expecting a child, Safran Foer investigates what is best for his family to eat. His calmly and insightfully narrated quest leads us to the horrors of the meat production chain. We encounter a brutally sick system in which pigs and chickens are bred stacked in factories which would kill you within half-an-hour if the ventilation system cut out. That, plus the monstrosity of what takes place in slaughterhouses is clearly laid out, sans sentimentality. He also looks at what caring animal husbandry tries to achieve, and introduces us to the tiny and dying breed of humane farmers attempting to run humane farms. Although he only looks at what is happening in the USA, meat factory farming on an industrial scale is also practised in China and Europe, and gaining ground globally. He does not proselytize, but if you ever buy or eat factory farmed meat again, you need to consider whether you possess a soul.
