For a Moment of Taste

The world today eats more than seven times the amount of meat it consumed in 1950. In India alone, the meat eaten per person has more than doubled in just a decade. To meet this growing demand, some 77 billion land animals and trillions of fish are killed globally every year.

These creatures aren’t just numbers. They were breathing, feeling beings whose lives were precious to them. But most were reared in intensive farming systems, alongside thousands or even millions of others in severe confinement, or faced other kinds of brutalities as they were used to mass-produce cheap meat, eggs or dairy foods.

For a Moment of Taste is a probing, revelatory work by Poorva Joshipura, a senior member of an affiliate of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), that draws on investigations by her and other researchers into the treatment of animals as part of standard but shocking industry practices. It shows what happens to them from birth until slaughter; how today’s meat, egg and dairy production systems came to be; the current state of these industries in India; and the consequences of where they are headed if dietary trends do not change. It also lays out the health and environmental impacts of the production and consumption of animal-based products.

This eye-opening book is sure to make you reflect on how foods you choose can help save animals’ lives, improve your health, and preserve the planet.