Book Review: Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat by Chloe Sorvino

 

Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat by Chloe Sorvino

352 pages, Hardcover

December  2022, Atria Books

I can’t divorce my reading of this book from thirty years and five months since I decided to become vegan on January 31st, 1993. Many things have changed since then. Bill Clinton was just starting his presidency. The ultimate signs that I have been vegan a long damn time, are the growth of products (vegan cheese or the existence of dozens of brands)  was unthinkable and I have adult co-workers who are legal teachers younger than my veganism.

The main reason I wanted to read this book relates to my inspiration to become vegan. In 1992 the straight-edge hardcore scene (essentially my tribe at the time) had plenty of vegans inspired by bands like Earth Crisis, Raid, Vegan  Reich, and Outspoken. I had role models who were vegan but it was reading books.  Diet for a New  America by John Robbins, Animal  Factories by Peter Singer, and Jim Mason. They didn’t just suggest the idea that eating animals was unethical but they were filled with facts and numbers that highlighted the scope of the industry and the destruction of the animal product industries. These books rule, they hold a special place on my shelf. The fact is they are as out of date as the Vegan Rella cheese we tried to convince ourselves was good in 1994.

When I became  Vegan these books were important tools for changing lives.  Now documentaries, like Meet Your Meat, Earthlings, Forks over Knives, and Cowspiracy, have inspired younger generations.

My hope was that Raw Deal would have updated facts. Written by Chole Sorvino who comes to the subject with her own bias. She and  I are never going to agree, I respect huge swathes of this book but I can’t understand some conclusions she comes to.   

I do think this book is important and should be read with some reservations and trigger warnings. Sorvino who covers food and drink for Forbes a magazine that describes itself as a leading source for reliable business news and financial information. So basically she writes for the ultimate capitalism about food so just understand that.  She can’t deny how awful these industries are but, in the end, will twist herself in pretzels to find excuses to eat meat. I can’t understand how anyone can watch a video of a slaughterhouse and still be so heartless to eat this stuff but Chole Sorvino writes in graphic detail about directly killing animals with her own hand and then devotes part of the book explaining where she buys her meat. I can’t understand that at all. Maybe you can, but I can’t.

What are the good and important updates in this book? The clear and present danger that eating Animal products is for climate change is clear here. We knew in the 90s, but the facts updated here are important. 14.5  % of Greenhouse gas emissions come from Livestock production for one easy-to-digest fact. The amount of water and grain wasted has only gotten worse.  This book highlights the sexual and physical toll the meat industry has on human workers, which should be no surprise coming from an industry that turns living, feeling being into plastic-wrapped products. There are a few updated facts like one from 2018  that showed climate change is making food less nutritious in general.

The information about lab-grown meat, something I have excepted as helpful against my better judgment is all good information. I found it interesting the length the Just Egg guy is going to keep control of his company. So yes this book has valuable stuff in Raw Deal.

The What-about-ism is strong when Sorvino tries and fails to make the supply issues of  Impossible or Beyond comparable to meat in a negative light. Of course, we lived and ate vegan for a long time without those products and they could never be as destructive as food that has to consume as much grain, water, and pee/poop like meat products do.  

Raw Deal is an important but at the same time problematic book in my personal opinion. I generally prefer at this point not to be combative about these issues and live by example. The fact is meat is murder not just in my head, but in my heart. I know I live behind enemy lines. This culture views non-human animals as products that can be sacrificed for taste buds. This is a conclusion reinforced by author Chole Sorvino. Any book about the meat industry that returns to that conclusion is ultimately a part of the problem. We can’t sustainably feed this planet meet and have future generations so we need books that don’t just give the fact but offer radical solutions.