Moo! Andrew Rimas Debates All Things Cow at Brookline Booksmith.

Deangelo Elliott
10 November 2008

Subscribe Hear the most up-to-date news on what is hip in Boston humanities and entertainment. I haven't read Upton Sinclair's stockyard show of 1906, "The Jungle,"but I know what's in it, and go "Eech."I like the Pretenders and respect Chrissie Hynde's long-held endorsement of veganism and pleather. I saw a Penn Teller bit some years back, "Pets or Meat?,"where they deftly and disturbingly divvied up human use of the animal kingdom, using balloons twisted into animal shapes to do so. But I continue to eat steak ( like my pa did ) and I wear a black leather jacket ( like the Ramones did ). But I've also been interested much in cultural history and that led me my pursuit of this subject. I read books where history was put thru a lens"- as Mark Kurlansky did with "Cod"and "Salt"- "and I'm interested in how it can reflect something broader.". And Rimas thought : "How did we get to this spot? Beef is so omnipresent, what series of events brought me to this? That opened up so many other queries - dairy in diet and pervasiveness of the meat industry. I started thinking about this from a historian's point of view : at what point did we start using cattle in our culture? I showed the concept to a mate at Leeds [Fraser] a professor of agriculture. Where are we now? How did we get into this real difficulty, the sustainability of our cattle industry? The elemental query the book makes an attempt to answer : How has human civilization been influenced by this animal? The solution is incredibly, in strategies I found surprising. We waste lots of water, corn and oil on it. It also takes some fascinating, divergent trails, including best cuts of beef and trips to, well, the bullfighting arena, which Rimas visited when he and his other half lived in Spain for 2 years. It became natural to do it as a travelogue.

I don't understand it.' When I first went, it really blew me away re what I was seeing. "it had been a handsome bullfight, with unusual grace and talent."Rimas notes a four-year-old bull's life and death in the ring, could be preferable to a much shorter stockyard life, finished with a shot to the head. Largest surprise whilst doing the research? " Most likely the largest surprise was how prevalent the taste for meat has been in our culture from a particularly early period,"claims Rimas.

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beaglebods said:
its clear we are obviously correct .
16 November 2008 02:07:49

Cole Phillips said:
It's this way - On weeked nights, in-house DJs spin danceable tunes and will basically play requests.
16 November 2008 16:57:29

Boston said:
I'm always interested in original Ramones Tour Shirts.
19 November 2008 14:05:18

Dwayne Barber said:
Then she stride] into the Palm Court, looks up at the superbly revived laylight and falls into a reverie about golden days long past.
26 November 2008 07:05:51

Finn Talley said:
I've just read through the whole thing and am going)to print the thing and study it again and then ask some newbie questions !
30 November 2008 02:33:28

Ibrahim Molina said:
Biggest surprise while doing the research? "probably the biggest surprise was how prevalent thetaste for beef has been in our culture from a very early period,"claims Rimas. !
20 April 2009 12:45:10

bilgenv said:
MAJOR LUV .
12 May 2009 03:17:37