elenatorre's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

Wherever you fall on the spectrum of meat eating, from ravenous carnivore to strict vegan,  I highly recommend reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s article in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine food issue.  A touching, poignant and thought-provoking examination of the decision of whether or not to eat animals, and a preview of his upcoming book “Eating Animals“,  Foer admirably tackles the cultural, ethical, personal and parental dilemmas we face as omnivores.

As you can guess from my title and his own, Against Meat, Foer ultimately chooses to abstain from eating animals, along with his wife and children, but only after patchwork of vegetarian efforts. As someone who mostly eats a vegetarian diet, strives to eat ethically raised animals when available, but on occasion turns on the blinders and gives into the convenience of our meat-heavy culture, I appreciate Foer’s tribute to the deceptively simple question: “What’s for dinner?”

Much of the article revolves around Foer’s grandmother and her unique “obsession” with food:

The story of her relationship to food holds all of the other stories that could be told about her. Food, for her, is not food. It is terror, dignity, gratitude, vengeance, joy, humiliation, religion, history and, of course, love. It was as if the fruits she always offered us were picked from the destroyed branches of our family tree.

Choosing whether or not to eat his grandmother’s chicken and carrots raised its own issues, but once children entered the picture, Foer faced a new set of questions about meat eating as a parent:

To give up the taste of sushi, turkey or chicken is a loss that extends beyond giving up a pleasurable eating experience. Changing what we eat and letting tastes fade from memory create a kind of cultural loss, a forgetting. But perhaps this kind of forgetfulness is worth accepting — even worth cultivating (forgetting, too, can be cultivated). To remember my values, I need to lose certain tastes and find other handles for the memories that they once helped me carry.

I’m really looking forward to reading Foer’s book when it comes out this November (stay tuned for a TakePart Exclusive sneak peak), and in the mean time I plan to re-investigate my own dietary choices.  And why not give meat a break for at least a day by getting involved with the Meatless Monday campaign below.