As I sat in class this morning, we began discussing Jonathan Safran Foer’s book “Eating Animals” and were faced with the question: What does it mean to eat animals? When we began talking about our first impressions of the novel, so far we all were surprised to learn that the book does not make the case for vegetarianism, as the title seems like a jab at meat eaters. Instead, Foer both presents us with stories about eating and challenges our thinking about these “statements of taste” that we make each and every day.

The following passage perfectly captures the complexity of the issues surrounding the meat industry: “…eating animals is one of those topics, like abortion, where it is impossible to definitively know some of the most important details (When is a fetus a person, as opposed to a potential person? What is animal experience really like?) and that cuts right to one’s deep discomforts, often provoking defensiveness or aggression.” Foer further notes that we often find ourselves making arguments that are much more extreme than we actually believe or not having an argument at all due to the complexity of the issue and that our side of the issue has more to do with “statements of taste” than real arguments.

This statement resonated with me because even though I am vegetarian and am generally pretty opinionated when it comes to my personal food choices, I often find myself troubled by how I am impacted by and am a consumer in the food industry. Foer’s honesty about the confusion surrounding the issue was refreshing and his arguments truly challenge the reader.

Foer delves into the issue by making the reader consider what eating meat means. Because honestly, eating meat means eating an animal. And if we’re going to eat animals, how do we distinguish which animals are acceptable to eat and how we are to treat these animals?

Throughout the discussion, we came to the conclusion that eating animals and participating in America’s food industry is possible because of the distance we put between reality and our plates. For example, despite the fact that many of us at Iowa State are surrounded by agriculture, urbanization has widened the gap between our understanding of the farms where our meat comes from and the reality of factory farming. Urbanization has also helped us classify which animals are acceptable to eat. Here in the states as urbanization has increased pet ownership has increased, and we all know what it is not socially acceptable to eat your dog or cat.

Not surprisingly, this sparked a discussion on the recent debate about horse meat being found in British food products. Many of the British were outraged to find that up to one-third of the meat in their burgers, meatballs and lasagnas are made of horse meat instead of beef. One of NPR’s international correspondents, Phillip Reeves, covers this issue in his article “British Outrage Grows As Horsemeat Pops Up In More Foods,” if you want to learn more about the scandal.

In another article, “In Kazakhstan, No Horror At Horse Meat,” another international correspondent for NPR, Peter Kenyon, recounts his trip to a market in Kazakhstan where he purchased some meat. Here, he explains how eating horses is normal and even prized as a delicacy. This is similar to Chinese cultures that eat dog or cat. The classification of animals as pets or meat seems to be culturally constructed. I’m not saying that we should then embrace this or eat all animals, but the fact makes us consider what we will accept in our food industry.

Foer explains this saying, “Perhaps there is no ‘meat.’ Instead, there is this animal, raised on this farm, slaughtered at this plant, sold in this way, and eaten by this person — but each distinct in a way that prevents them from being pieced together as a mosaic.”

As you consider what meat you will or will not eat and how you will participate in America’s factory food culture, ask yourself what you are willing to allow. What animals are meat? If they do become meat, what ethical standards are we bound to in terms of environment and slaughter techniques? These are the kind of questions we need to consider as we wrestle with food politics.

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Kristen Daily is a junior in English from Orange City, Iowa.