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)

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.

very informative

loved it, great content and well researched, would def recommend this book to all people

Some good information

There is a lot of good and interesting information regarding soil composition, what industrial monocrops do to the soil, and about human digestion and nutritional needs. Where I think it falls apart is the takeaways and what to do about it which becomes hyperbolic and extreme.

A good book for basic information but I would definitely say, keep researching on what to do moving forward.

Great book with many good points but ...

Great book with many good and valid points, but last chapter where author suggests that we should not have child to save the planet is just plain wrong and also suggesting that getting back in animalistic state is good thing is also something that i can not agree and i believe is not good for humanity

If you eat, vegan or not you should read this book

This was a very good book that approached all the issues around food and meat consumption; not just about dead animals. I would encourage anybody who eats to read this book. it offers alot of compelling information and has also inspired me to discuss these issues with vegans.

Logical Revolutionary Ideas

Ms. Keith provides inspirational breakthroughs which could serve to resolve many of humanities existential crisis as it relates to food production, distribution, and consumption. I thoroughly enjoyed her science and data backed approach and analysis.

If the first nine-tenths of the book were not so impressive and innovative the last tenth of the book would have ruined the entire book for me. I did not appreciate the dramatic subject turn and unnecessary political grandstanding.

However, and fortunately, the vast majority of this book is fascinating. Subject matter not previously debated or discussed is done so ad nauseam in this book. Long overdue.

Well done.

Helpful Personal Experience Wrong Conclusion

This authoress has definitely been run through the wringer. I especially like how she explains veganism as a religious cult supported by the government. But she remains way off the mark to the end.

She is obviously angry, but, she tries to sound friendly although she is clearly preaching, and by using documentation proven false. This earth has not been in existence for billions of years, and we humans didn't evolve- there is no creature that has!

She also has issues with men, and, she doesn't seem to want to be who she is. She sites population control, and other unhelpful stuff.

But she is absolutely right- any parent that raises their child as a vegan is causing stunted growth, poor brain and nerve development. I cried when she told of the five month old, weighing less than birth weight, perished. Soy is a dangerous substance, and given only under the utmost strict medical vigilance in many countries. But, WIC is required to source the cheapest bid on infant formula, and, our school children are allowed to have x amount of soy in their meals (but I am still miffed that peanut anything is all but outlawed...)

Basically, listen to this to hear her story. There is plenty of truth, but, you must rightly divide.

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.