The Vegetarian Myth

Food, Justice, and Sustainability

By: Lierre Keith

Narrated by: Joyce Bean

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

We’ve been told that a vegetarian diet can feed the hungry, honor the animals, and save the planet. Lierre Keith believed in that plant-based diet and spent twenty years as a vegan. But in The Vegetarian Myth, she argues that we’ve been led astray - not by our longings for a just and sustainable world, but by our ignorance.

The truth is that agriculture is a relentless assault against the planet, and more of the same won’t save us. In service to annual grains, humans have devastated prairies and forests, driven countless species extinct, altered the climate, and destroyed the topsoil - the basis of life itself. Keith argues that if we are to save this planet, our food must be an act of profound and abiding repair: it must come from inside living communities, not be imposed across them. Part memoir, part nutritional primer, and part political manifesto, The Vegetarian Myth will challenge everything you thought you knew about food politics.

©2009 Lierre Keith (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Lierre Keith’s book is beyond fantastic." (Dr. Michael Eades, author of Protein Power)

"This book saved my life. Not only does The Vegetarian Myth make clear how we should be eating, but also how the dominant food system is killing the planet. This necessary book challenges many of the destructive myths we live by and offers us a way back into our bodies, and back into the fight to save the planet." (Derrick Jensen, author of Endgame and A Language Older Than Words

"Everyone interested in healthy eating should be grateful to Lierre Keith." (Sally Fallon Morell, President, The Weston A. Price Foundation)

Hard to Face but All True

I myself was a vegetarian and it was always the goal to become vegan because we all have the same reaction to the cruelty of industrial farming. This book points out the moral struggle we face while explaining the nutritional reality of only eating plants. How to move away from factory farms, CAFOs, mono crops and manufactured food to supporting your local farmers, being aware of green washing, and growing your own food. She also explains the nutritional value of industrial food (grain fed) versus the way nature intended animals and plants to be eaten, such as grazing and foraging bugs. The author cites all her sources and also uses historical and evolutionary references. Anyone and everyone should read this book to get a thorough analysis of our current food system and how to move in a sustainable direction.

Great read for vegans and omnivores alike!

As an ex-vegan, restorative life consultant and a health coach who helps former vegans restore their health and emotional well-being I can definitely relate to many points and stories in the book.

I highly recommend it to anyone who either suffers negative health consequences of vegan diet or feels guilty for eating animals because of the common myth of vegan diet physiological and moral superiority.

So many practical, sober reasons for natural eating and natural agriculture are mentioned in the book which I believe can be very helpful in understanding the difference between industrial production system cruelty and our needs for healthy food and healthy soils.

I rarely agree with everything in any given book. Such disagreements are great stimuli to dig deeper and search the truth. This book has great number of points inline with my view of sustainability, healthy lifestyle etc. And only a few ones that rub me the wrong way.

Very educational

This book had much more information than I could ever expect. I have already begun to change some of my eating habits and can definitely see some of the problematic nature of being a vegetarian or vegan. I enjoyed this book and recommend it, particularly to vegans and vegetarians.

A great book

The reviews trashing this book are of people who either hate women or hate meat. Lierre Keith is a maverick and a whistleblower!! Read this book, especially if you’re vegan or thinking about going vegan.

This was very real and educational.

This was straight forward and full of so much information. I would definitely suggest it to people to listen to or read.

A very well researched perspective that is vital to understand

I recommend this book to anybody who wants to learn how to create a truly sustainable paradigm on this earth. I was a vegan, and I ate my first meal of grass fed beef today. Not simply because I realize it is healthier for my body, but because I realize it is healthier for this planet. Both industrial agriculture and industrial animal agriculture must stop. Not eating meat only eliminates one of these problems, allowing monocrop's to take over the world and destroy its topsoil.

Stop buying soy and industrially produced grains, if you don't, you are simply contributing to the bottom lines of the most abusive corporations on the planet, because they are the largest share holders in many organic and vegan food companies.

Read this book!

One of the best books I've read recently

The Vegetarian myth is a book that is full of passion and honesty. The topic was covered in every possible way, and the author's personal story added to my interest. Couldn't recommend it more highly.

Eye opening

What did you love best about The Vegetarian Myth?

The fact that this book is written by a former vegetarian/vegan, and not someone who has never tried the lifestyle and eating style that is being criticized and dissected.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Vegetarian Myth?

Too many eye-opening truths to pick out just one.

What about Joyce Bean’s performance did you like?

The narrator made this very long book very easy to listen to.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

Any additional comments?

While I've never been a vegan or vegetarian, I've always had in the back of my mind that this would be a more moral way to live, not to mention healthier. I am so glad that I decided to read this book before making such a drastic change in my lifestyle. The truths that the author presents were most eye-opening, as they were either things I had never considered, or were in fact exactly the opposite of what I had previously believed. If you or someone you know is considering diving into a plant-based diet lifestyle, please take a look at the information so well presented in this book.

An incredible book and a real eye opener!

What did you like best about this story?

I loved how thoroughly the author explains all the steps of growing food, either it's a plant food or meat. You can decide for yourself in the end, what's the most important is that you are given tons of information, and being a vegetarian myself for a quite some time I could relate to almost all the aspects of it, that the author described.

Any additional comments?

I think, this book is a must for those who is interested in maintaining their own health at its best and living a sustainable lifestyle.

holy goats

this book blew my mind. this should be something Everyone reads or listens too. she covers so much valuable information it's amazing.