Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Categories
Political economy

PIG TALES

Barry Estabrook

An Omnivore’s Quest for Sustainable Meat

An eye-opening investigation of the commercial pork industry and an inspiring alternative to the way pigs are raised and consumed in America.

Barry Estabrook, author of the New York Times bestseller Tomatoland and a writer of “great skill and compassion” (Eric Schlosser), now explores the dark side of the American pork industry. Drawing on his personal experiences raising pigs as well as his keen investigative reporting, Estabrook shows how these immensely intelligent creatures are too often subjected to lives of suffering, sustained on a drug-laced diet just long enough to reach slaughter weight, then killed on mechanized disassembly lines. It doesn’t have to be this way, and Pig Tales presents a lively portrait of those farmers who are taking an alternative approach, proving that it is possible to raise pigs responsibly and respectfully in a way that is good for producers, consumers, and some of the top chefs in America. Provocative and richly informed, Pig Tales is bound to generate conversation at dinner tables across America. A three-time James Beard Award winner, Barry Estabrook is a former contributing editor at Gourmet magazine and the author of Pig Tales and Tomatoland. He blogs at politicsoftheplate.com and lives in Vermont.

Available products
Book Published 2015-06-01 by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. - New York (USA)

Comments

Before Tomatoland, I thought I knew about the American way of farming. Barry Estabrook proved that I was wrong, painting a devastating portrait of what was really taking place out in the fields. It changed the way I cook and eat. Pig Tales is even more illuminating, a window into the world of pigs and pig farmers that every American omnivore needs to read. You will never look at a piece of pork in quite the same way.

... This book shows how important it is for us to better understand all of our food, beyond the pig, how our is grown and raised and distributed before it reaches our families’ kitchens. This book appalled me, terrified me, and then filled me with hope.

Estabrook turns his keen journalistic eye to pig production: getting naked with a commercial pig farmer, hunting with a feral pig rustler, and digging deep into the environmental impact of ‘Big Pig.’ While this might make you think twice about eating bacon, he provides balance in the engaging tales of farmers and processors who are thoughtful and eminently human, who treat their pigs with care. That’s where he finds hope and grace for all of us. This book is a must read.