Growing up in a household of food-loving Italian-Americans, Marissa Landrigan was always a black sheepshe barely knew how to boil water for pasta. But at college, she thought she’d found her purpose. Buoyed by animal rights activism and a feminist urge to avoid the kitchen, she transformed into a hardcore vegan activist, complete with shaved head.
But Landrigan still hadn’t found her place in the world. Striving to develop her career and maintain a relationship, she criss-crossed the U.S. Along the way, she discovered that eating ethically was far from simpleand cutting out meat was no longer enough. As she got closer to the source of her food, eventually even visiting a slaughterhouse and hunting elk, Landrigan realized that the most ethical way of eating was to know her food and prepare it herself, on her own terms, to eat with family and friends.
Part memoir and part investigative journalism,The Vegetarian’s Guide to Eating Meatis as much a search for identity as it is a fascinating treatise on food.
We are what we eat, and Landrigan holds up her plate like a mirror in this wise, compassionate exploration of her history with food.
The Vegetarian’s Guide to Eating Meatis a nourishing combination of journalistic inquiry, personal recollection, and rallying cry that just might change your life. —Benjamin Percy, author of
Thrill Me,
The Dead Lands,
Red Moon,
The Wildingand
Refresh, Refresh A heartfelt quest for connection, belonging, and honest eating, Landrigan’s book leads beyond the grocery store, awakening us to the origins of food, reminding us that the relational webs we inhabit are messy, earthy, and complex. —Tovar Cerulli, author of
The Mindful Carnivore: A Vegetarian’s Hunt for SustenanceMarissa Landrigan’sessays have appeared in theAtlantic,Salon,Guernica, andOlC$