Plant-based and cell-cultured meat, milk, and egg producers aim to replace industrial food production with animal-free fare that tastes better, costs less, and requires a fraction of the energy inputs. These products are no longer relegated to niche markets for ethical vegetarians, but are heavily funded by private investors betting on meat without animals as mass-market, environmentally feasible alternatives that can be scaled for a growing global population.
This volume examines conceptual and cultural opportunities, entanglements, and pitfalls in moving global meat, egg, and dairy consumption toward these animal-free options. Beyond surface tensions of “meatless meat” and “animal-free flesh,” deeper conflicts proliferate around naturalized accounts of human identity and meat consumption, as well as the linkage of protein with colonial power and gender oppression. What visions and technologies can disrupt modern agriculture? What economic and marketing channels are required to scale these products? What beings and ecosystems remain implicated in a livestock-free food system?
A future of meat without animals invites adjustments on the plate, but it also inspires renewed habits of mind as well as life-affirming innovations capable of nourishing the contours of our future selves. This book illuminates material and philosophical complexities that will shape the character of our future/s of food.
Brianne Donaldson is a farmed animal advocate and Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Monmouth College.
Christopher Carter is Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of San Diego in the Theology and Religious Studies Department. His research focuses on black and womanist theological ethics, environmental ethics, and animals and religion
Contributors: Brian Henning, Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies, Gonzaga University, USA; Ethan Brown, CEO, Beyond Meat; Michael Anderson, Doctoral Candidate, Graduate Theological Union, USA; Jaya Bhumitra, Director of Corporate Outreach, Mercy for Animals; Vasile Stanescu, Assistant Professor of Communication and Theater, Mercer University, USA; Joey Tuminello, Doctoral Candidate and Teaching Fellow, University of North Texas, USA, and Program Coordinator for Farm Forward; Steven McMullen, Assistant Professor of Economics, Hope College, USA; Song Tian, Associate Professor, Institute for History and Philosophy of Science, Beijing Normal University, China; Shivani Bothra, Doctoral Candidate, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand; Christopher Carter, Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow, University of San Diego, USA; Matthew Calarco, Associate Professor of Philosophy, California State University Fullerton, USA; Eileen Crist, Associate Professor of Science and Technology in Society, Virginia Tech University, USA; Michael Marder, Ikerbasque Research Professor of Philosophy, University of Basque Country Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Brianne Donaldson, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Monmouth College, USA; Rebekah Sinclair, Doctoral Candidate, University of Oregon, USA; Carol Adams, Author and activist; Aaron Gross, Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego, USA, and CEO, Farm Forward; Adam Wolpa, Associate Professor of Art and Art History, Calvin College, USA
