Jonathan Safran Foer 's book, Eating Animals, I-I welcomed somebody who could, was maybe going to make an argument about vegetarianism.
Jonathan Safran Foer : Thank you so much.
Jonathan Safran Foer : Well I make no effort to educate or persuade people close to me.
Jonathan Safran Foer : that faces all of us.
Jonathan Safran Foer : Sometimes people say, "Oh why didn't you get a burger?"
Jonathan Safran Foer : So you can say something like, "You know I actually don't eat burgers I read this thing now available in paperwork by Jonathan Safran Foer --
Jonathan Safran Foer : one of the most successful tactics and moving toward, "I'm trying to eat less meat.
Jonathan Safran Foer : And for me it happens to be zero.
Jonathan Safran Foer : people who care, but are not going to care ultimately.
Jonathan Safran Foer : Most people are not going to become vegetarian any time soon, but I do think that confronted with these realities most people are ready to eat one
Jonathan Safran Foer : Because the-the danger when talking about these things is to reach right for the extremes, like the margins of the conversation, "Well you're vegetarian
Jonathan Safran Foer : Like, "Of course, but I guess unless you mean crazy."
Jonathan Safran Foer : So I try to buy good appliances.
Jonathan Safran Foer : As if like the slightest encroachment meant it's time to stop trying.
Jonathan Safran Foer : And if you imagine applying that standard to any other realm of decision making it's foolish; it's crazy.
Jonathan Safran Foer : It just doesn't make any sense.
Jonathan Safran Foer : Because it doesn't make the-the other person the topic of your conversation.
Jonathan Safran Foer : like some people find their values in the Bible, some people find their values in stories their grandparents taught them, but they all have, they ultimately
Jonathan Safran Foer : about like dominion and stewardship.
Jonathan Safran Foer : And this is, this is something that I felt as I was writing the book and I've been very, very happy in feeling like it's been shown out in the conversations
Jonathan Safran Foer : meat, or to eat less meat.
Jonathan Safran Foer : Thank you.
Jonathan Safran Foer : So in terms of eggs and dairy, I didn't include them because they just weren't in the scope of this book.
Jonathan Safran Foer : I mean I-I made a lot of decisions in the interest of having this be accessible and hopefully persuasive and sometimes that meant sacrificing comprehensiveness
Jonathan Safran Foer : crop growing crops kills animals, basically.
Jonathan Safran Foer : Beavers?
Jonathan Safran Foer : How do I know plants don't feel pain?
Jonathan Safran Foer : I don't know that plants don't feel pain.
Jonathan Safran Foer : in science so science gives us many, many reasons to think that other human beings experience pain in a way that's sort of similar to the ways that we
Jonathan Safran Foer : You know if you're proven wrong and it turns out the pig actually feels nothing, what have you lost?
Jonathan Safran Foer : Did you say an igloo or an emu?
Jonathan Safran Foer : Like an Eskimo house?
Jonathan Safran Foer : Right.
Jonathan Safran Foer : So -- male in audience: Wildlife of cows.
Jonathan Safran Foer : Salmon farming was developed for the reason you're describing to take pressure off wild salmon population.
Jonathan Safran Foer : the question does it taste infinitely good?
Jonathan Safran Foer : I mean things can taste better and better and better but do they taste infinitely good and is there anything that, is there anything that brings us more
Jonathan Safran Foer : Oh, sure. I don't know exactly, I've never addressed the screen before but -- commentator: Jonathan Safran Foer : How do we know their actually there?
Jonathan Safran Foer : Well, someone has one here so we might as well.
Jonathan Safran Foer : I guess I would just return to what I said before and-and finding a way to make it participatory and inclusionary rather than exclusionary, rather than who
He collaborated heavily with Jonathan Safran Foer on Foer's bestselling "Eating Animals" in 2009.
female in audience: Jonathan Safran Foer : about the environmental effects and I've been thinking a lot about the environment so I'm just trying to eat less."
And then the third one was -- Jonathan Safran Foer : Let's do one at a time 'cause I know I'll just forget otherwise.
-Hi, I'm Jonathan Safran Foer coming to you from my home in Brooklyn.
Best, Jonathan Safran Foer " And so Tyson Food is not any worse than any other company in the meat industry in America.
Jonathan Safran Foer : Well, farmers grow what we ask them to grow not what they want to grow.
female in audience: My point is that I'm lucky enough -- Jonathan Safran Foer : Yeah.
Today's person to talk to is Mr. Jonathan Safran Foer .
Now, in his book "Eating Animals," Jonathan Safran Foer spoke to a number of factory farmers about these issues.
male in audience: Hasn't somebody asked you that question in your -- Jonathan Safran Foer : They usually ask it in a, in a, in a more annoying form which