Author’s note
I was truly excited to write Ethical Omnivores: Better Eating for Everyone because it offered a chance to deeply engage with questions that matter to so many people: How to eat well, live ethically, and still enjoy food in all its richness. Ethical omnivorism is a pathway that often gets overlooked in public and academic discussions, which tend to draw sharp lines between vegetarianism and non-reflexive eating. I wanted to carve out space for a more inclusive and flexible approach—one that acknowledges the ethical tensions we all face around food and offers practical, principled ways forward for everyone. Writing this book allowed me to synthesize scholarship, real-world practices, and values into a book that I hope feels both accessible and inspiring for those seeking to make meaningful change, one thoughtful meal at a time.
Book blurb
Many eaters are concerned about the impact that their food choices have on the environment, animals, and human health. Ethical omnivorism is at once a new food ethic, diet, and global movement aimed at providing a flexible path for eaters committed to bringing about lasting change one meal at a time.
While publications in food ethics are largely dominated by vegetarian titles, this book explores the viability of omnivorism, a dietary choice which is not devoid of animal products, but one which embraces eating local, eating organic, and eating humanely raised food products. In doing so, ethical omnivorism builds on the local food movement’s desire to know where food comes from and stresses the importance of maintaining high animal welfare and environmental standards.
Overall, this book provides a foundational overview of ethical omnivorism as a food movement and guidance for those interested in eating ethically, while recognizing that many factors influence dietary choices. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of food studies, food, agriculture and animal ethics, environmental philosophy, and those more widely interested in making ethical food choices.