Find this essay!

December 31, 2013 8:59 AM

In the 70's (I think) there was an essay written on meat-eating that argues that the animals we eat exist because we bred them for eating and if they are raised humanely then they have had a life which they would not have had. The author might have been Annie Dillard, John Ashbery, or Wendell Berry. I just would like to find this specific essay. Please do not turn this into a discussion of the rightness or wrongness of the premise.
posted by agatha_magatha to Writing & Language (3 answers total)

Is it "The Pleasures of Eating" by Wendell Berry?
posted by jbickers at 9:15 AM on December 31, 2013

The River Cottage Meat Book makes just this argument in some great detail. I think it is more recent than your timeframe, but if you're after the argument and not just the essay that is a wonderful book to pick up.

ETA: Oh, and it might cite to or otherwise reference your essay if you can't find it another way.
posted by gauche at 9:38 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks--not exactly what I was thinking of--but good info in line with the spirit.
posted by agatha_magatha at 12:56 PM on January 1, 2014