Page 61 - Winter2020

All Thumbs Book Reviews

Sacred Cow: The Case for (Better) Meat: much like a game of whack-a-mole. As soon as
Why Well-Raised Meat Is Good for You you bat away one faulty or flawed criticism of
and Good for the Planet meat, the meat critics quickly move on to an-
By Diana Rodgers, RD and Robb Wolf other and then another, shifting between their
BenBella Books, Inc. three main lines of attack. If it isn’t water or
land, it is heart disease or cancer, economics or
As I set down Sacred Cow to take a break ethics, and so on.
and ruminate on the first few chapters, I hopped Thus, any book that seeks to address the
onto social media. In this moment of madness, meat issue is necessarily going to need to cover
I saw that a friend had posted a clip of someone a lot of ground. (Another book that covers some
involved with this year’s presidential election of the same territory is Lierre Keith’s The Veg-
who was taking an audience question: “What etarian Myth, published in 2009.) In Sacred
will you do to stop Americans from eating Cow, Wolf and Rodgers go through all the major
meat?” The answer was not encouraging. To objections that the anti-meat contingent have
say that this book by Diana Rodgers and Robb amassed, but without unnecessary detours.
Wolf is both timely and important is therefore The first section focuses on the nutritional
an understatement. facets of eating meat. I have friends who are
Meat is under attack in America and in terrified of meat and have gone vegan because
many other countries. And it isn’t just bad family members died from cancer or heart
meat—the government-subsidized, CAFO- disease. This section is for them. Does science
raised, corn-stuffed, antibiotic- and chemical- support vegans’ approach to disease avoidance?
laden mega meat—that the anti-meat faction No. What should one conclude when the World
is after. It is meat, period. Sacred Cow, which Health Organization (WHO) calls meat a Group
tackles assorted arguments against meat, is a 2A probable carcinogen (the same classification
vital resource to help slow the spread of this that WHO applies to air and sitting in a sunny
novel idea that is going “viral”—the idea that window)? This is one of the reasons why many
meat is bad for us and our planet. of my friends say WHO CARES? when it comes
Dr. Weston A. Price realized decades ago to WHO guidelines. In their haste
that animal foods are crucial to human health. Another argument we often hear is that
In his studies of nonindustrialized peoples, Dr. even if total meat avoidance isn’t a good idea, to demonize
Price tried to find a healthy population living we certainly ought to limit meat consumption meat—a
entirely on plant foods; he found none. Rather, for our health. Right? Wolf and Rodgers show traditional,
traditional peoples made sure they had animal that science doesn’t support that notion either.
foods in their diet, even if the inclusion of Things get particularly interesting when they nutrient-dense
animal foods required considerable effort and dig into history, describing the omnivorous mid- food group
risk; and all the sacred foods (for having healthy Victorian diet, which was built around a wide if ever there
babies) were animal foods. range of whole foods from all parts of the plant
But bad ideas are like weeds, and they tend and animal world. It included large amounts of was one—the
to come back whenever conditions are ripe for high-quality meats and seafoods with which meat attackers
their spread. So it is with the anti-meat agenda, even the best of the modern organic options—
which has gained tremendous steam and clout pastured and grass-fed—would have trouble leave little
over the past few decades. Those in favor of competing. One key aspect of the mid-Victorian room to make
abolishing meat can be quite aggressive, which diet was that it led to an increase in meat con- the case for
makes rebutting their arguments—generally sumption compared with previous generations,
either environmental, nutritional or ethical— with immensely positive benefits on health. And better meat.

WINTER 2020 Wise Traditions 59