Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat

by Hal Herzog

  wrote that our ancestors were blood-thirsty killers Stanford, C. B. (1999). The hunting ape: Meat eating and the origins of human behavior. Prince ton, NJ: Prince ton University Press. (p. 107).

  the caloric intake of the Nunamuit people of northern Alaska Cordain, L., Eaton, S., Brand Miller, J., Mann, N., & Hill, K. (2002). The paradoxical nature of hunter-gatherer diets: Meat-based, yet non-atherogenic. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 56(1), 42–52.; Gadsby, P. (October 1, 2004). The Inuit paradox. Discover Magazine.

  Not a single hunter-gatherer society Cordain, L., Eaton, S. B., Sebastian, A., Mann, N., Lindeberg, S., Watkins, B. A., et al. (2005). Origins and evolution of the Western diet: Health implications for the 21st century. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 81(2), 341–354.

  susceptible to the various bacteria, viruses, protozoans Torrey, E. F. (2005). Beasts of the earth: Animals, humans, and disease. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press; Finch, C. E., & Stanford, C. B. (2004). Meat-adaptive genes and the evolution of slower aging in humans. Quarterly Review of Biology, 79(1), 3–50. Chitnis, A., Rauls, D., & Moore, J. (2000) Origin of HIV Type 1 in colonial French Equatorial Africa? AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, 16(1) 5–8.

  humans are unique among animals in spicing food Hot chilies are also aversive to human children. Studies by Paul Rozin have shown that humans have to learn to enjoy the burn of chilies. Rozin, P., & Schiller, D. (1980). The nature and acquisition of a preference for chili pepper by humans. Motivation and Emotion, 4(1), 77–101.

  eating flesh is still risky Fessler, D. M. T. (2002). Reproductive immunosuppression and diet. Current Anthropology, 43(1), 19–61. Flaxman, S. M., & Sherman, P. W. (2000). Morning sickness: A mechanism for protecting mother and embryo. Quarterly Review of Biology, 75(2), 113–148.

  aversions to meat are three times more common than aversions to vegetables and six times more common than fruit aversions Midkiff, E. E., & Bernstein, I. L. (1985). Targets of learned food aversions in humans. Physiology & Behavior, 34(5), 839–841.

  food taboos across human societies Fessler, D., & Navarrete, C. (2003). Meat is good to taboo: Dietary proscriptions as a product of the interaction of psychological mechanisms and social processes. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 3(1), 1–40.

  a taboo against eating buffalo meat This is described by McDonaugh, C. (1997). Breaking the rules: Changes in food acceptability among the Tharu of Nepal. In H. Macbeth (ed.), Food preferences and taste: Continuity and change. Oxford, UK: Berghahn Books.

  For most Americans, the idea of eating dogmeat Not all Americans are turned off by dogmeat. For Filipinos living in California, dogmeat is a traditional food served at important ceremonies such as weddings. The practice of eating dogs has caused conflict between Filipinos and Anglos in California. In response to a 1989 incident in which a group of Cambodian refugees killed and skinned a German shepherd puppy to eat, the California legislature enacted Penal Code section 598b, which banned the possession, sale, import, or giving away the carcass of “any animal traditionally or commonly kept as a pet” for use as food. See Griffith, M., Wolch, J., Lassiter, U. (2002). Animal practices and the racialization of Filipinas in Los Angeles. Society & Animals, 10(3), 221–248.

  humans have been eating dogs for thousands of years Discussions of historical and cultural variation in attitudes toward eating dog are found in McHugh, S. (2004). Dog. London: Reaktion Books. Serpell, J. (1995). The hair of the dog. In J. Serpell (ed.), The domestic dog: Its evolution, behavior and interactions with people (pp. 257–262). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; Simoons, F. J. (1994).

  the Asian trade in dog products For an overview of the status of dog-eating in Asia see Podberscek, A. (2009). Good to pet and eat: The keeping and consuming of dogs and cats in South Korea. Journal of Social Issues, 65, 615–632. Walraven, B. (2002). Bardot soup and Confucians’ meat: Food and Korean identity in global context. In K. Cwiertka & B. Walraven (eds.), Asian food: The global and the local (pp. 95–115). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

  In classical Hinduism Nelson, L. (2006). Cows, elephants, dogs, and other lesser embodiments of Atman: Reflections of Hindu attitudes toward nonhuman animals. In P. Waldau & K. Patton, A communion of subjects: Animals in religion, science, and ethics (pp. 179–193). New York: Columbia University Press.

  Islamic law also regards dogs as unclean Foltz, R. (2006). “This she-camel of God is a sign to you”: Dimensions of animals in Islamic tradition and Muslim culture. In P. Waldau & K. Patton (eds.), A communion of subjects: animals in religion, science, and ethics (pp. 149–150). New York: Columbia University Press.

  Oglala Indians Powers, W., & Powers, M. (1986). Putting on the dog. Natural History, 2, 6–16.

  Ceremonies in which hunters Serpell, J. (1996). In the company of animals: A study of human-animal relationships. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

  animal liberation philosopher Peter Singer would have few objections to Singer, P., & Mason, J. (2006). The ethics of what we eat: Why our food choices matter. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press.

  Sandy McGee and I distributed questionnaires Herzog, H., & McGee, S. (1983). Psychological aspects of slaughter: Reactions of college students of killing and butchering cattle and hogs. International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems, 4(2), 124–132.

  He writes, “Humans must eat, excrete, and have sex” Rozin, P., Haidt, J., & Mc Cauley, C. R. (2000). Disgust. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed.) (p. 642). New York: Guilford Press.

  researchers Kubberød, E., Ueland, Ø., Dingstad, G. I., Risvik, E., & Henjesand, I. J. (2008). The effect of animality in the consumption experience: A potential for disgust. Journal of Food Products Marketing, 14(3), 103–124; and Kubberød, E., Ueland, Ø., Rødbotten, M., Westad, F., & Risvik, E. (2002). Gender specific preferences and attitudes toward meat. Food Quality and Preference, 13(5), 285–294.

  moralization Rozin, P., Markwith, M., & Stoess, C. (1997). Moralization and becoming a vegetarian: The transformation of preferences into values and the recruitment of disgust, Psychological Science, 8, 67–73.

  The case against meat boils down to four claims The literature on the ethical, ecological, health and feminist arguments against meat is vast. For a start, I suggest reading Singer, P., & Mason, J. (2006). The ethics of what we eat: Why our food choices matter. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press; Eisnitz, G. A. (2007). Slaughterhouse: The shocking story of greed, neglect, and inhumane treatment inside the U.S. meat industry. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books; and Adams, C. J. (2000). The sexual politics of meat: A feminist-vegetarian critical theory. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. The 2009 film Food, Inc. offers a graphic depiction of the treatment of animals and human workers on modern factory farms.

  the Vegetarian Resource Group The results of the Vegetarian Resource Group surveys can be found at www.vrg.org/nutshell/faq.htm#poll.

  Food and Drug Administration told us to cut down on saturated fats The history of the rise of “nutritionism” in the United States is described in Pollan, M. (2008). In defense of food: An eater’s manifesto. New York: Penguin Press.

  the average American ate a half pound of chicken a year Boyd, W., & Watts, M. (1997). Agro-industrial just-in-time: The chicken industry and postwar American capitalism. In D. Goodman & M. Watts (eds.), Globalizing food: Agrarian questions and global restructuring (pp. 192–225). New York: Routledge.

  early claims against the hazards of red meat were based on shoddy science Pollan, M. (2008).

  multisite study of half a million people Sinha, R., Cross, A. J., Graubard, B. I., Leitzmann, M. F., & Schatzkin, A. (2009). Meat intake and mortality: A prospective study of over half a million people. Archives of Internal Medicine, 169, 562–571.

  how Newkirk explained PETA’s logic to me Ingrid Newkirk (email) June 24, 2009.

  Humane Research Council The Humane Research Council also serves as a clearing house for research on human-animal interactions. Their Web site is one o
f the best sources of information about the latest studies in anthrozoology: www.humaneresearch.org/.

  in 2002, Time reported Corliss, R. (July 15, 2002). Should we all be vegetarians? Time magazine.

  One tenth of one percent of Americans are strict vegetarians The USDA results are found in Fields, C., Dourson, M., & Borak, J. (2005). Iodine-deficient vegetarians: A hypothetical perchlorate-susceptible population? Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, 42:37–46.

  But they were also more likely to be anxious and worried The vegetarians scored higher than meat-eaters on the Big Five traits of openness to experience and neuroticism (traits I also score high on). Golden, L., & Herzog, H. (2008). Presentation to the meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, New Orleans. For a description of the Five Factor Model of Personality, see Gozling, S. (2008). Snoop: What your stuff says about you. New York: Basic Books.

  vegetarianism is most common among teenage girls The 2007 Harris poll found that 10% of girls between the ages of thirteen and eighteen said they never ate meat or seafood. Moskin, J. (January 24, 2007). Strict vegan ethics, frosted with hedonism. New York Times.

  research on the connection between vegetarianism and eating disorders Research linking vegetarianism and eating disorders can be found in Klopp, S. A., Heiss, C. J., & Smith, H. S. (2003). Self-reported vegetarianism may be a marker for college women at risk for disordered eating. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 103(6), 745–747. Neumark-Sztainer, D., Story, M., Resnick, M., & Blum, R. (1997). Adolescent vegetarians. A behavioral profile of a school-based population in Minnesota. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 151(8), 833–838. O’Connor, M. A., Touyz, S. W., Dunn, S. M., & Beumont, P. J. (1987). Vegetarianism in anorexia nervosa? A review of 116 consecutive cases. The Medical Journal of Australia, 147(11–12), 540–542. Robinson-O’Brian, R., Perry, C. L., Wall, M. M., Story, M., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2009). Adolescent and young adult vegetarianism: Better dietary intake and weight outcomes but increased risk of disordered eating behaviors. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 109, 648–655. Worsley, A., & Skrzypiec, G. (1997). Teenage vegetarianism: Beauty or the beast? Nutrition Research, 17(3), 391–404. Lindeman, M., Stark, K., & Latvala, K. (2000). Vegetarianism and eating-disordered thinking. Eating Disorders, 8(2), 157–165. Lindeman, M. (2002). The state of mind of vegetarians: Psychological well-being or distress. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 41, 75–86. Bas, M., Karabudak, E., & Kiziltan, G. (2005). Vegetarianism and eating disorders: Association between eating attitudes and other psychological factors among Turkish adolescents. Appetite, 44(3), 309–315. Hormes, J. M., Catanese, D., Bauer, R, & Rozin, P. (2006). Links between meat avoidance, negative eating attitudes, and disordered eating behaviors. Meeting of the American Psychological Association.

  Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson extols the health benefits Jeffrey Masson has written a series of entertaining and informative books on human-animal relationships, including the bestseller When elephants weep: The emotional lives of animals. This quote is taken from Masson, J. M. (2009). The face on your plate: The truth about food. New York: W. W. Norton. (p. 168).

  meat-crazed society Steiner, G. (November 22, 2009) Animal, vegetable, miserable. New York Times.

  the psychologist Jonathan Haidt Haidt, J. (2006). The happiness hypothesis. New York: Basic Books. (p. 165).

  the no-man’s land in the battle between mind and body This line is taken from the 1997 movie The Devil’s Advocate.

  the cognitive chasm between humans and chimpanzees Marc Hauser is quoted as saying this in Balter, M. (2008). How human intelligence evolved—Is it science or ‘paleofantasy’? Science, 319, 1028. For a contrasting perspective on the mental abilities of animals, see Hauser, M. (2000). Wild minds: What animals really think. New York: Henry Holt; Wynne, C. D. L. (2004) Do animals think? Prince ton, NJ: Prince ton University Press; and Bekoff, M. (2007) The emotional lives of animals. Noato, CA: New World Library.

  Carl Cohen Cohen, C. (1987). The case for the use of animals in biomedical research. New England Journal of Medicine, 315, 865–870. (p. 867).

  Allegra Goodman Goodman, A. (2006). Intuition: A novel. New York: Dial Press.

  you wind up killing the very creatures you have dedicated your life to studying Note the obvious similarity in thinking between the scientists who kill animals that they devote their lives to studying and the cockfighters described in the previous chapter who are responsible for the deaths of roosters that they raise from eggs and claim to love and respect.

  He wrote of his pigeons In Preece, R. (2005). Brute souls, happy beasts, and evolution: The historical status of animals. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press. (p. 347).

  “for mere damnable and detestable curiosity.” Browne, J. (2002). Charles Darwin: The power of place. Prince ton, NJ: Prince ton University Press. (p. 421).

  he amended the sentence Both versions are cited in Burghardt, G. M., & Herzog, H. A. (1980). Beyond conspecifics: Is Brer Rabbit our brother? Bioscience, 30, 763–768.

  Claude Bernard, who wrote Rudacille, D. (2000). The scalpel and the butterfly: The war between animal research and animal protection. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. (p. 36).

  Most modern ethologists agree However, several prominent animal behaviorists have recently suggested that many similarities between the behaviors of humans and animals (e.g., tool use, the sense of fair play) are superficial and not the result of evolutionary continuity. See, for example, Bolhuis, J. J., & Wynne, C. D. L. (2009). Can evolution explain how the mind works? Nature, 458, 832–833.

  All of them said yes when it came to pain Herzog, H. (1991). Animal consciousness and human conscience. Contemporary Psychology, 36, 7–8. The sociologist Mary Phillips obtained the same results in an ethnographic study of several animal research facilities. Phillips, M. T. (1993). Savages, drunks, and lab animals: The researcher’s perception of pain. Society and Animals, 1(1), 61–81. For a perspective on the nuanced views that scientists have on the use of animal in research see Marris, E. (2006). Animal research: Grey matters. Nature, 444(7121), 808–810.

  Recent survey of 155 Knight, S., Vrij, A., Bard, K., & Brandon, D. (2009). Science versus human welfare: Understanding attitudes toward animal use. Journal of Social Issues, 65, 463–483.

  the swim test was reassigned The actual procedures used in animal experiments are often obscured by the arcane language of scientific papers. I read some of the articles on these experiments that were published in scientific journals. In no case, were the details of how the swim test was administered spelled out. For an excellent discussion of the use of language in science see Birke, L., Arluke, A., & Michael, M. (2007). The sacrifice: How scientific experiments transform animals and people. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press.

  Like most scientists who use mice as models of fundamental biological processes For an alternative opinion about the attitudes of scientists toward mice, see “World’s Scientists Admit They Just Don’t Like Mice,” which appeared in The Onion, a satirical newspaper. One scientist is quoted as saying “Even just seeing them in a cage makes me feel good inside…I hate those little fuckers.” (www.theonion.com/content/node/30800)

  Some by cervical dislocation There is a macabre debate among neuroscientists about how long rodents remain conscious after decapitation. Estimates range from three seconds to over thirty seconds. This debate is discussed at length in Carbone, L. (2004). What animals want: Expertise and advocacy in laboratory animal welfare policy. New York: Oxford University Press.

  fretting over the morality of their work The philosopher Michael Allen Fox developed a similar thought experiment using the movie Planet of the Apes. Fox, M. A. (1986). The case for animal experimentation. Berkeley: University of California Press. Fox wrote the book as a defense of animal research. However, in a strange turnabout, immediately after the book was published, he changed his mind about the ethics of animal research and disavowed his own argument.

  the argument from margi
nal cases For a succinct and accessible overview of the argument from marginal cases and other recent philosophical perspectives on the moral status of animals, see Singer, P. (2003). Animal liberation at 30. The New York Review of Books, 50(8), 23–26. The marginal case argument is treated at length in Dombrowski, D. A. (1997). Babies and beasts: The argument from marginal cases. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

  Geneticists say that mouse research See, for example, Roberts, R. B., & Threadgill, D. W. (2005). The mouse in biomedical research. In E. J. Eisen (ed.), The mouse in animal genetics and breeding research (319–140). London: Imperial College Press.

  the philosopher Nel Noddings Noddings, N. (2003). Caring: A feminine approach to ethics. Berkeley: University of California Press. (p. 156).

  A 2009 Zogby survey found The Zogby poll was conducted in February 2009 and was commissioned by the Foundation for Biomedical Research.

  transformation of the mouse from pest to pet to model organism For an excellent history of the role of mice in American biomedical research see Rader, K. A. (2004). Making mice: Standardizing animals for American biomedical research, 1900–1955, Prince ton, NJ: Prince ton University Press.

  Founded in 1929 by Clarence Little One of the reasons that Little settled upon mice as the ideal research animal was that he realized humans did not care about them. Critser, G. (December 2007). Of mice and men: How a twenty-gram rodent conquered the world of science. Harper’s Magazine, 65–76.

  Developing a new strain can take a year and run $100,000 Waltz, E. (2005). Price of mice to plummet under NIH’s new scheme. Nature Medicine, 11, 1261.

  99.5% of mouse genes have a known human counterpart Paigen, K. (2003). One hundred years of mouse genetics: An intellectual history. II. The molecular revolution (1981–2002). Genetics, 163(4), 1227–1235.