Eat decently

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Eating decently: a self-experiment. is a nonfiction book by the German writer Karen Duve from 2010, in which the author deals with healthy and ethical nutrition and modern factory farming .

content

Karen Duve first describes her eating habits before starting her research. Accordingly, she ate a lot of meat and ate rather unhealthily on many fatty and sweet foods.

In the book she describes how she tried different diets for two months in order to live more consciously and healthily from now on. At first she only consumes organically grown products , then she lives vegetarian , vegan and finally she tries her hand at being a fruitarian . She has her doctor monitor her self-experiment medically, who is initially skeptical about the undertaking.

In the book, Karen Duve coined the term torture meat , which means the meat offered in the supermarket from animals that are fattened under the conditions of factory farming.

Phase 1 - Bio

Switching to organic food is comparatively easy for Duve. Although these foods are on average more expensive than normal ones, a reasonable substitute can be found for almost every product. However, since Duve also deals with the ethical perspective of “decent food”, she also wants to forego products that are often manufactured under conditions that the people in the corresponding regions must find unreasonable. As an example, she cites Coca-Cola and the working conditions in developing countries in which it is partially produced. In addition, the animal husbandry and slaughter methods of modern factory farming are discussed , which they describe as extremely cruel and painful for the animals. These conditions could only persist because the general public was not informed about what it would really be like in most of these facilities. Duve suspects that there is strong lobbying by the food industry , which would earn well under the current conditions.

Phase 2 - Vegetarian

In the next step, Duve wants to eat a vegetarian diet for two months. After her research, she found that alleged products made from organic meat are in reality only slightly more justifiable than normal meat products from factory farming, since here too the animals are in no way kept in a species-appropriate manner and would also have to suffer torture. She also comes to the conclusion that meat consumption is massively inefficient when it comes to the bottom line: Firstly, for the ever increasing meat consumption of the world population, large parts of the forests would have to be cut down, which would ultimately further accelerate global warming . In addition, livestock would emit more emissions than all car traffic. Secondly, there is also the fact that far too much food has to be used to feed animals, which could feed many more people with a vegetarian diet. Duve compares her situation with that of Neo from the film Matrix , who after realizing the reality can no longer return to his old life. The switch to a meat-free diet was feasible for her in any case, although she had to do without a few things.

Phase 3 - Vegan

Since it is difficult to get really vegan food in a normal supermarket, Duve decides to only buy in organic shops , organic supermarkets and health food stores from now on . She separates from many things that contradict a vegan lifestyle, such as shoes and clothing made of leather or certain cosmetic products . Since the transition is very difficult for her, she increases the number of vegan months from two to four in order to gradually switch to a vegan diet.

Duve also deals scientifically with the consumption of dairy products and their effects on human health. She quotes the well-known " China Study " by Professor T. Colin Campbell and other studies and comes to the conclusion that a vegan diet is the healthiest. She herself was able to cut her cholesterol level in half, her kidneys would work better, her liver values ​​would be better and her iron values ​​would also be okay, according to her doctor.

In her last month as a vegan, she joined an animal welfare organization and freed chickens from a factory farm. She conducts interviews with animal rights activists like Achim Stößer and has an ambivalent opinion on hunting and fishing .

Phase 4 - fruitarians

Duve only eats things that do not have to be damaged by a plant, such as apples or nuts . Her health is worse off. Overall, this area of ​​nutrition is often more esoteric . She conducts various interviews which criticize speciesism .

Conclusions

Duve concludes her self-experiment with five conclusions about how she would like to change her diet in the future:

  • If possible, shop in the organic shop.
  • Do not eat meat from factory farming.
  • Reduce meat, fish and dairy product consumption by 90%.
  • Stop buying leather products.
  • Consume less overall, buy used items more often, reduce ownership.

Reviews

“The book“ Decent Eating ”by Karen Duve (“ Taxi ”) deals with the gap between moral standards and actual action. In a self-experiment lasting several months, the writer wants to bridge the gap. Her decision to become a better person is made in the supermarket when the author, who has so far displayed just as thoughtless eating habits as most Germans, puts a pack of chicken legs (2.99 euros) in the car. “How can you buy this tortured meat?” Yells her roommate, whom Duve calls Jiminy Grille after the conscience of Pinocchio. Under the supervision of Jiminy, Duve eats organic, vegetarian, vegan and frutarian for two months each. [...] The book is more like a mirror that Duve holds out to us than one of countless world saving instructions. It shows that a collection of individual, convenient consumption decisions is not enough to change a system. Which doesn't change the fact that thinking, compassion and empathy are essential for it. "

- Kathrin Hartmann , Frankfurter Rundschau

“Karen Duve tries for a year to eat an ethically correct diet, gradually tightening her belt: for two months at a time, she eats organic, vegetarian, vegan and, in the end, even frutarian. Fruitarians are people who only eat things that have fallen from trees and bushes. Carrots and potatoes are forbidden, they would be killed, apples, nuts, tomatoes are allowed, after all, the plant stays alive. (...) How does a vegan deal with her cravings for milk chocolate? And she doesn't inevitably get into conflict if she only eats berries and similar stuff in summer so as not to kill any more plants (...). Of course she gets into conflict! But it is precisely them who turn the initially gruesome non-fiction topic into an entertaining development novel in which the wooden-deaf supermarket Pinocchio becomes a responsible consumer. The fact that she gets on the nerves of her environment if she takes away the fun of the barbecue evening is something she seems to be happy to accept. "

- Alex Rühle, Süddeutsche Zeitung

“Karen Duve's book questions whether the specificity and intelligence of humans are in fact sufficient justification to deny the animal world compassion and rights. It stimulates reflection as to whether cruelty towards animals should not be outlawed, even if it occurs within a norm. “When the scandal is commonplace, it is tempting to think that it is not necessary to pay attention to it. In reality, it means that our everyday life is a scandal and that something is fundamentally wrong with the way we live, ”she writes. […] Karen Duve fails, and again she does not fail: In the end, she is certain that she will not adopt the radicalism of the life forms she has tested. She chooses a compromise that is realistic for her person: reduce the consumption of meat and milk to a minimum, buy organic products if possible, but under no circumstances produce products from factory farming, including down and leather goods. The author uses an ability that humans have more than animals. She takes responsibility for what she knows and chooses. It's the first step in changing a system. "

- Karen Krüger, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

expenditure

  • Karen Duve: Eating decently: A self-experiment . Galiani publishing house. Berlin 2010. ISBN 3869710284
  • Karen Duve: Eating decently: A self-experiment . Gold man. Munich 2012. ISBN 978-3-442-47647-3 (paperback edition)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frankfurter Rundschau: "Never again meat from fattening animals", from January 14, 2011
  2. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung: "fallen from the meat", March 15, 2011
  3. ↑ FAZ: "When the smell of bratwurst rises in the nose", from January 14, 2011