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mellynuss
Reviews
Sacred Cow: The Nutritional, Environmental and Ethical Case for Better Meat (2020)
A Paen to Paleo
This film is a full-throated defense of eating meat. If you have any radical vegans in your life and need an argument to try to persuade them to abandon their lifestyle or accept yours, this film is it. I was hoping for more of an environmental analysis of regenerative farming, and unfortunately this film comes up shallow. There is only a small section on the carbon impact of beef (and nothing comparing it to other forms of meat eating). And although there is some good footage of regenerative grazing techniques, the film doesn't look at the resources consumed by beef farming or at alternative uses of resources and land. Perhaps this is necessary. The film covers a good deal of ground, from obesity to humane slaughtering techniques to restoring the Chihuahuan desert to 3rd world malnutrition. But for each topic, I found myself wanting more depth. It's hard to talk about the demonization of meat and fat in the American diet without talking about our overreliance on corn and sugar. And is veganism really the same problem as eating too much Fruity Pebbles? Is eating Fruity Pebbles the same problem as factory farming? Is factory farming the same problem as the paucity of nutritional supplements in the 3rd world? Is the paucity of supplements the same problem as using fossil fuels? Instead of a detailed look at how we might solve any of these problems (e.g. land regeneration, obesity, malnutrition, climate change), we just get a panacea: eating meat is good for everything if you do it right. That's a necessary argument if you're confronting an extremist who wants to eliminate all meat from Berkeley, CA by 2020, or if you have someone who needs reassurance that eating even a grass-fed, sustainably raised burger won't damage their enviro street cred. But if you want to persuade someone who thinks that meat is okay -- even nutritious! -- in moderation, but is concerned about land use or climate change, you'll need a different film.