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Bitty’s Book Review: Is Meat for Pussies?
I came to Meat Is for Pussies (John Joseph, Crush Books, $19.50) prejudiced in its favor. I think we eat too much meat; I like in-your-face writing; I think Big Food has too much power; I think our diet needs to change.
Yet do we need a “how-to guide for dudes who want to get fit, kick ass and take names”? What does “take names mean, anyway?” What about chicks, or whatever you call the counterpart of dudes?
Clearly, I’m not the target audience: I’m way too old, I’m not from Brooklyn, and I don’t really know who John Joseph is. But the science here is non-existent, there’s little or no consistency, and it reads like a not-very-well-grounded 200 page rant. Much of it is a well-deserved diatribe against processed foods (in fact there is a section advocating a mostly raw diet), yet there’s a recipe that calls for WestSoy Seitan (brand names abound, by the way), San-J Sweet & Tangy Sauce, Daiya Vegan Gourmet cheddar cheese, and Tofutti Sour Supreme. Who is going to be convinced to change their diet by that? And has Joseph ever read the label of Earth Balance butter substitute, Ener-G Egg Replacer, or Gardein Chick-n Strips, all of which he recommends? How does he define “processed,” one wonders?
But the few recipes, many of which are straightforward and just fine, are not the real turn-off here; it’s the insulting attitude. If you’re not a vegan, if you’re not eating organic food at every opportunity, then you’re a spineless wimp and an idiot and you need to change your life. (If you’re a woman, this doesn’t apply; you’re not even directly addressed here.)
One has to love Joseph’s attitude: “I want to make others healthy,” he writes, “end animal slaughter, feed the needy, save the planet, fight ignorance and help the youth….” But evidently he wants to do so by believing every “scientific” study and wild claim that proves his main point, which is that… meat is for pussies. Do you have erectile dysfunction? Eat less meat. (Viagra, by the way, is for pussies too.) Colonics work. Wine and meat taken together “form a deadly chemical reaction in your stomach.” “Fast food is the new crack.” And, my favorite: “Yoga spots and vegetarian restaurants are some of the best places to meet smoking hot chicks.”
Joseph notes that “nobody likes being preached at.” But that’s all he does here, and it’s not convincing. There is some good sentiment (I have no problem calling Monsanto “the devil incarnate,” for example), and even some credible advice, though none of it is novel.
The novelty is in the presentation: personal, macho, and loud. You have to “Stop being a lazy pussy.” If you appreciate this “advice,” you’re probably not reading this; if you’re reading this, my guess is you won’t appreciate it. (Or the pictures of the “100% vegan ass-kickers”: all men, of course.)
23 comments
That's unfortunate. You've jumped on some bandwagon, there. Some of Monsanto's products make the world a better place, and keep humanity from starving. Roundup is a non-toxic compound that makes it easier to keep weeds out of crops, and breaks down extremely rapidly into carbon dioxide and water. RoundupReady crops allow Roundup to be the only herbicide used, and thus make the only herbicide used be an environmentally benign one.
Monsanto is not a humanitarian organization, and has it's fair share of poor behavior, but "devil incarnate"? Please.
The experiment that you refer to applied Roundup directly to frogs. I would suggest not putting Roundup on your frogs, just as I would avoid applying salt directly on your frogs, or even baking powder directly on your frogs. Keep these things away from your frogs. Just as paint is safe if applied to a home, but not safe if applied to a frog, Roundup is safe when used properly.
When Roundup is applied to crops, it degrades in a matter of a few days into carbon dioxide and water by action of the microorganisms that are in the soil. There are many, many nasty pesticides in the world (take 2,4-D for example). Some of them are made by Monsanto. Roundup ain't one of 'em.
http://naherpetology.org/pdf_files/222.pdf
Quoting Relyea from the news article:
"The most shocking insight coming out of this was that Roundup®, something designed to kill plants, was extremely lethal to amphibians,” said Relyea, who conducted the research at Pitt’s Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology. “We added Roundup®, and the next day we looked in the tanks and there were dead tadpoles all over the bottom.”
When Roundup is spreayed on fields, it certainly can wash into nearby streams and ponds and kill amphibians
I found your review quite humorous, especially coming from the author of "HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING", (should be called "How to COOK EVERY DEAD SPECIE") - but as far as it being well-grounded the studies mentioned in MEAT IS FOR PUSSIES are grounded and well researched even backed by someone with a PhD in Nutritional Science, but maybe I missed your credentials on Nutritional expertise. Clearly I advocate as much raw and unprocessed foods as possible but better they eat seitan or earth balance than the poison they're injecting in their bodies now, eventually the transition can be made to a cleaner diet. For that they can buy my next book, "HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING THAT DOESN'T SUFFER AT THE HANDS OF COMPASSIONLESS HUMANS." as you forgot a very important aspect in your rant to dismiss my book, THE SUFFERING OF ANIMALS. Like the pain caused by your recipes. Actually Mark, I've received over 400 emails after just one month of the book being out from people who got the tone and got off meat, cigs, and other poisons, as well as started to exercise. Yes, clearly it is targeted to a certain audience, but that was my goal with the book, to reach the population of stubborn men who refuse to change their destructive lifestyles. Oh, by the way, I've never lived in Brooklyn, nice try though with your sub-textual assumption that I'm a knuckle-dragging Guido. I'm glad you love my attitude, but while you write from (where exactly?), I'd like to invite you to one of my spoken words at a lock-up, or boys home for at risk youth, or a Cro-Mag show, you see my friend, although you dismiss me and my writing style, believe it or not I do have an audience, and those are the people you would never reach in the circles you run around in. John J (author "Meat is for Pussies')
I've recently switched to a Vegan based diet/lifestyle, and books like John's are good fuel for the fire. The misconception of Vegan's as weakly hippy folk is a stereotype which needs to be challenged, and having an 'in your face' style book, like Meat Is For Pussies out there, is a good supplement to the hundreds of other more restrained works available.
