The Verb

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The Verb: The Changing Language of Veganism: Experiments in Living

The Changing Language of Veganism: Experiments in Living

BBC Radio 4 - The Verb, The Changing Language of Veganism: Experiments in Living

With Benjamin Zephaniah, Jonathan Safran Foer, Agustina Bazterrica and Rachael Allen

Ian McMillan is joined by guests Benjamin Zephaniah, Jonathan Safran Foer, Agustina Bazterrica and Rachael Allen

Are you what you eat? The way we talk and think about food has changed a lot in recent years, particularly when it comes to the idea of eating ethically and the concept of  veganism. Once a punchline, it's now a multi-million pound industry. What do the words we use to talk about food tell us about the underlying moral issues? Why is food so tied up with shame? Can we find the language to become 'good enough' eaters?

Joining Ian to talk about the language of food from 'clean' to 'dirty' are Benjamin Zephaniah, who became a vegan instinctively before he even knew the word for it, and who is perhaps best loved for his plea to be kinder to animals at Christmas; 'Talking Turkey'.  The novelist  Jonathan Safran Foer first examined morality and food in his 2009 non-fiction book 'Eating Animals', and it's a subject he has returned to in his latest book 'We are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast'. Argentinian novelist Agustina Bazterrica explains the challenges of not eating meat in a country where it is central to the culture, and discusses her dystopian novel 'Tender is the Flesh'.  And meat runs throughout the poetry of Rachael Allen, who is in fact a vegan.

Presenter: Ian McMillan
Producer: Jessica Treen

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