In Meat We Trust: An Unexpected History of Carnivore America Author: Maureen Ogle | Language: English | ISBN:
B00AXS6BXY | Format: EPUB
In Meat We Trust: An Unexpected History of Carnivore America Description
The untold story of how meat made America: a tale of the self-made magnates, pragmatic farmers, and impassioned activists who shaped us into the greatest eaters and providers of meat in history
The moment European settlers arrived in North America, they began transforming the land into a meat-eater’s paradise. Long before revolution turned colonies into nation, Americans were eating meat on a scale the Old World could neither imagine nor provide: an average European was lucky to see meat once a week, while even a poor American man put away about two hundred pounds a year.
Maureen Ogle guides us from that colonial paradise to the urban meat-making factories of the nineteenth century to the hyperefficient packing plants of the late twentieth century. From Swift and Armour to Tyson, Cargill, and ConAgra. From the 1880s cattle bonanza to 1980s feedlots. From agribusiness to today’s “local” meat suppliers and organic countercuisine. Along the way, Ogle explains how Americans’ carnivorous demands shaped urban landscapes, midwestern prairies, and western ranges, and how the American system of meat making became a source of both pride and controversy.
- File Size: 1766 KB
- Print Length: 387 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0151013403
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (November 12, 2013)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00AXS6BXY
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,141 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #22
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Gastronomy > History
- #22
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Gastronomy > History
Does this statement found in the introduction of In Meat We Trust: An Unexpected History of Carnivore America give you pause?
"Confinement livestock systems were born on the family farm and only subsequently adopted by corporate producers in the 1970s."
Have you ever wondered how we became a carnivore nation? Or wanted to know the stories of meat titans such as Gustavus Swift, Don Tyson, and Bill Niman? How do you feel about the rising cost of meat and what are you willing to pay in dollars and environmental costs to eat...or not...eat meat?
Maureen Ogle's In Meat We Trust puts meat on the bones of issues food lovers, environmentalists, locavores, chefs, home cooks, farmers, ranchers, food companies, agribusiness and health scientists battle over today. In Meat We Trust provides the too often missing pieces in the debate about the future of meat in America. If you're part of the debate, if only as a conscientious eater, this book's for you.
Full disclosure: History books can be daunting. Right? So when I was given an advance copy of In Meat We Trust, I braced myself. What followed, as the title promises, was indeed "unexpected" -- not only the history of American meat, but also the pleasure in reading this easy to understand and well organized book.
Though it's a complex and wide-ranging story from Colonial America to the 21st century, Ogle delivers an affable history lesson with her engaging writing style, wit, and clarity. In fewer than 300 pages of enlightening narrative, Ogle cuts to the chase. For the casually curious to the seriously savvy reader, beliefs will be challenged and discoveries of a fascinating history will be made thanks to Ogle's painstakingly researched, intelligent tour.
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