Portman Speaks Out on ‘Eating Animals’ - Popcast | Entertainment

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. After reading Jonathan Safran Foer's book “Eating Animals,” actress and Harvard alum Natalie Portman used 3,661 of them to paint a image of disgust for the world’s carnivores, via The Huffington Post.

Don’t be fooled—Portman is petite, but she has a lot to say. After all, she goes so far as to proclaim that the book “changed me from a twenty-year vegetarian to a vegan activist.”

She talks about being interrogated for her belief in making animals pets or companions instead of dinner, but has been hesitant to feel “as if I know better than someone else.” Now the 27-year-old is letting her animal-loving voice be heard.




“Perhaps others disagree with me that animals have personalities, but the highly documented torture of animals is unacceptable,” she writes. “And the human cost Foer describes in his book, of which I was previously unaware, is universally compelling.”

Portman goes on to compare serving meat for dinner guests to advocating rape. She writes, sarcastically, “I don't believe in rape, but if it's what it takes to please my dinner hosts, then so be it.”




The gist of “Eating Animals” seems to be that we as humans with free will should stop to consider the connection between environmental conditions and the food we are consuming.

Portman is just one of many celebrities who have given up on meat.

She concludes that she agrees with Foer, who in the end realizes that the big question is about we are in the grand scheme of things and how will we define ourselves.

What Do You Think? Do Portman's strong opinions sway you? Are you interested in reading the book she talks about? Click here to comment

Message Edited by Audrey_Morrison on 10-27-2009 06:25 PM