Jonathan Safran Foer Considers the Merits of 'Eating Animals'

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To the list of descriptors commonly attached to Jonathan Safran Foer's name -- novelist, wunderkind, "corrupt and debased" -- we can now add conflicted omnivore. That's the driving theme of his new book, Eating Animals, a copy of which just arrived at FiTR HQ. Foer's book, according to the accompanying press materials, is a "carefully researched, beautifully written, often funny, and heartfelt exploration of what we eat and why, which will duly compel meat eaters, vegetarians, and vegans alike to take a much closer look at their own dinner plates." Expect Pollan-meets-Food, Inc.-like visits to factory farms, as well as Foer's philosophical ruminations on whether or not to teach his young son that it's okay to eat the same animals pictured children's books. The book is due out on November 2; we can't think of a more appropriate companion publication to Julie Powell's Cleaving: A Story of Meat, Marriage, and Obsession.