Customer Reviews

Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf: The Story of One Man, Two Cows, and the Feeding of a Nation

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When I started this book I imagined another informative expose reinforcing my concerns about the eating of beef. However, what I found was a thorough, thoughtful, and engaging study of the dairy and beef industries, in which the author went to painful lengths to give fair consideration to all sides on the issue.

Lovenheim's book is not sensationalist muckracking. While I think his observations would reinforce many of the worries of those concerned about eating beef, or drinking milk induced by bovine growth hormone, the most striking part of this work is the otherwise overlooked consideration of cows as living creatures. I was struck by his descriptions of the cows' actual sense of community, their adaption and response (or seeming lack thereof) in the face of continual danger; that in fact they aren't quite the dumb animals we have been raised to believe they are. Lovenheim makes you consider that these animals are different than plants, and that you are making a conscious decision to take a living feeling creature and choosing to process it as a commodity entirely out of your own dietary choice and convenience.

The author's sensitivity, compassion, and admiration for those engaged in the various aspects of the dairy and beef industries is admirable. He also gives ample consideration to the historical place of beef in our diets, frequently alluding to his own Jewish spiritual tradition.

This is a substantive, worthwhile, and quite "readable" work. I highly recommend it; I was pleased to have picked it up, and felt I had both learned and acquired greater sensitivity as a result of completing it.

This book first caught my eye when it was featured on BookTV, what struck me the most was that the author was not a vegetarian. Although at first glance this book might appear as a story of the dirty meat industry, it is instead unbiased truth. Yes, the meat industry is dirty and farmers don't have it easy, but it allows one to not feel pressed to give up meat, but presents the facts, or the story which allows the reader to become informed and go from there. From this story which I could hardly ever put down, I realized that I could not eat a cow. Furthermore, it also showed me that there was a lot more about the food I eat than I realized, which led me to other books. I encourage anyone and everyone to read this book and to understand where their meat comes from, and how they should go from there.

Author Peter Lovenheim provides a rare glimpse into the life trajectory of an animal in today's modern agribusiness industry. Intended as a dispassionate chronicle of a calf from birth to slaughter, I found it one of the saddest books I've read. The animal farmers we meet are normal, basically decent people. Yet because of the economic priorities and inertia of how the business is done, the animals suffer mightily at their hands. Removed from their mothers at birth, they're deprived of her protective milk, and many sicken. Tethered by the neck, shivering in wooden hutches with no opportunity to play and minimal protection from the bitter winter weather, it's little wonder that only nine of 15 calves survive their first two months. And these are the ones not sent at once to slaughter. Cows are cycled through artificially inseminated pregnancies, milked (literally and metaphorically) through a string of calves until their production drops below quota. Then, as a final gesture of thanks for their service, they're put to death. That is if they don't first become "downers," when they are winched and dragged to the dead/dying pile to await the renderer's bullets.

This book should be on the reading list of all who continue to eat meat.

I enjoyed this book because of the insight it provides to the life of farmers who produce beef for consumption in the US. I read Diet for a New America, years ago, and thought that this book added an important dimension to the whole vegetarian, organic debate. The author makes us realize that to change our diet from meat based to vegetarian, will require a major shift for American Farmers. The author has done a wonderful job of showing the differences between large farm economics and the sometimes harsh realities of the small farmer's finances. I'd recommend the book to anyone.

Standing in line in a McDonald's one day with his daughter, the author has one of those epiphanies we've been hearing about in the TV commercials these days--he suddenly realizes the disconnect that exists between his consumption of a hamburger and how much he really knows about those cow's lives and the people who raise them for our delectation. He buys cows number 7 and 8 from a local rancher, and he sets out to raise them himself from calf to burger to find out as much as he can about the process. Recalling Sinclair's The Jungle, the book is an unfliching and detailed look at the entire beef and milk industry, but it also provides interesting insights into the day-to-day lives of the hard-working farmers and ranchers whose business it is to supply these products for our tables. Overall, an interesting and frank account of this area of American farm life.

I found Mr. Lovenheim's book to be exceptionally engaging and very thought-provoking. I am a mother of two, cooking for a family of four. We've never considered vegetarianism; just wanted to be more aware of how food, and especially meat, makes it to our refrigerator, and then to our table. I disagree with a couple of the other reviewers--several people in the book are vegetarians, and only one is what I would call "zany," not a "kook." Mr. Lovenheim witnessed the process to which he was committed: conception to consumption. He made it easy to understand that the people who raise these animals do it for a living, not as a hobby farm, and not to keep pets. Reading this book, however, reinforces the concept that you get what you pay for. I won't eat hamburgers at McDonald's and other fast-food outlets, knowing that the ground beef they're using is not a great quality, as was evidenced at the auctions. I didn't and will continue to not eat veal, and my pursuit of a local source for freezer beef will continue. I will be a better-informed consumer having read this book.

My only question for the author would be whether he investigated the possibility of a kosher slaughterhouse, or if perhaps there were none in a practical distance from York. I understand that specific rules apply as to how an animal is killed in a kosher slaughterhouse, and having read this book, I'll be able to find out from my local beef cattle farmer whether I have a choice in where and how my next purchase of freezer beef is killed and processed.

Thank you to the author for an unflinching look into a topic most of us take for granted. Extremely interesting material, written in an easy-to-follow manner that makes looking at an uncomfortable reality a little more comfortable.

Being vegetarian for 7 years I have read many books relating to animal welfare etc.... This book was one of the most informative, and also fun and quirky books I have ever read. I gobbled this book up so fast and feel I have come away with a much better understanding of the dairy industry than I ever thought I could.
This is NOT a downer of a book that drones on about the evils of agriculture! This book is real life, there are ups, and there are downs... read this book and inform yourself!

Peter Lovenheim is inquisitive, thoughtful and presents his story in a detailed and unbiased way. He questions the world around him and gets answers... people could learn a lot from this book.

im waiting for the sequel!

This book is not for the faint of heart where animals are concerned, but it IS for those who want to know what life is like for an American calf, as told by someone who simply wondered about this hidden reality. The story is not biased toward animal rights or vegetarianism; rather, it is the factual and firsthand account of someone who chose to be informed rather than not.

For those of us who dare to wonder about the food we eat, where it comes from, and who is affected by our decisions, this is a book that will open our eyes and hearts. It is a well told story in an easily readable style, and although it may not tell you about a world you want to belong in, it will tell you about a world we have chosen to create.

In his book Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf, Peter Lovenheim sets out to follow one animal from "conception to consumption." The idea for his research came to Lovenheim while he was at McDonalds with one of his daughters. It was 1997 and Happy Meals were in high demand, as the toys that accompanied the food were Teenie Beanie Babies. While waiting in line, "[i]t struck [Lovenheim] odd that a company selling ground beef would offer toys in the shape of cattle" (xii). It was then that he decided to trace the methods through which an animal must go to become food for human intake. Thus, he purchased calves. His two years of following the process are documented in the form of an easy-to-read novel.

From the beginning of his accounts, the author makes it clear that his goal is to observe and not interfere with the process. On the contrary, Lovenheim manipulates the methods by offering emotional sentiment and special treatment to the animals and thus, ends up meddling with the usual progression of events. This can be found in various places throughout the book.

Again, Lovenheim deviates from his original position of not interfering with the methods used in the practice of raising cattle. Further along in the book, the author acknowledges that he is providing his calves with special treatment, but continues with the particular behavior. Finally, Peter, the man who owns the farm on which the calves are housed, confronts Lovenheim.

The author's ultimate interference comes at the end of the book when he decides the fate of the cows. The outcome of the narrative is somewhat expected by the reader. This is, in large part, due to the fact that through his research, the author creates a more personal relationship with his calves than dairy farmers usually do.

Lovenheim's accounts of the process come across as being rather biased. Perhaps it was just the author sharing his reaction to what he was witnessing firsthand, but the chosen language presents a slanted view.

Finally, an underlying theme of Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf surfaces as Lovenheim describes the workers of the dairy farm industry and their detachment from the animals with whom they deal on a regular basis. This shows up in numerous places throughout the book.

Peter Lovenheim set out to trace the process through which a cow must go from "birth to burger." While his plan to follow the journey of one cow was thrown off course, he did provide a detailed account of what happens at dairy farms. Although sometimes coming across as possessing a bias, by means of this book, Lovenheim was able to vividly depict a portrait to educate readers about the everyday occurrences on a diary farm.

I picked up this book with some trepidation. Living in ranch country, adjacent to large ranches, I am well aware of how ranch cattle are treated. But I wanted to see how it works out in an area where dairy cattle are raised. I find that though there is some difference in the "quality of life" between cows with the freedom to range for 6 months of the year vs. barn-penned stock, the general attitude of those who make their business from livestock appears pretty much the same. It is too easy for them to look at a cow as an economic unit, and discount the fact these are sentient, and sometimes quite intelligent beings who are working for them and deserve good care for it.
We ourselves kept a dairy cow and her progeny for several years. We did have the calves mainly slaughtered on the farm for our own meat, in the most humane way possible. Still it was always a jolt to see what had once been a real animal hanging on hooks in the van, ready to be dissected. The other animals recognized it too, in fact when they even smelled the "death van" approaching the farm they would begin bellowing.
We still eat some meat, and are fortunate in having farmers in our area who raise grass-fed beef without antibiotics, and do on- the-ranch slaughtering, thus avoiding the heavy corn "finishing" in huge factory feed-lots that not only stresses the animal, but could have serious side-effects for the one who eats this meat as well. After reading this book, I would certainly urge all parents to forego MacDonalds and its imitators, avoid supermarket meat(especially hamburger) and seek out farmers who offer grass-fed beef that is humanely treated. You may not be able to eat as much meat, but you will be better for it!
It is the only way that producers will realize that people do want good guality food and are willing to pay for it.