We connect with Jim Mason, co-author of the book The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter. Written with the controversial philosopher, Peter Singer, this new text gives readers an updated version of their previous ground-breaking book Animal Factories, which investigated North American factory farming in the early 1990s.
Yet, The Way We Eat does more than provide recent statistics or chronicle the latest cruelty cases: Mason and Singer provide a lucid analysis of how our food choices dramatically affect others, including animals, labourers, and the environment. Structured around three families who eat different diets (the Standard American Diet, an organic foods and “humane” meats diet, and a vegan and organic-leaning diet), Mason and Singer trace these consumption patterns back to their origins, which leads them out of the kitchen and into the troubling world of modern food systems. Here they research and observe the conditions required to produce each family’s food, and speak with those directly involved with the production processes.
The Way We Eat invites us to meet three dynamic and personable families, poke around in their cupboards and fridges, and ponder the ethics of conventional agriculture, organics, local production, veganism, and “free range” and “humane” meats. Through their efforts, the authors hope to inspire more informed and conscious decisions for not only ourselves, but for others whose interests are too often cast aside in the name of profit. On this show, Jim Mason, attorney and activist, will tell us about his journey with the book, and what he had for breakfast!
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Animal Voices 