Seeing Ourselves as Aspiring Vegans: A Radical New Approach to Veganism with Hungry Beautiful Animals Author Matthew Halteman

Every now and then I read a book that creates such an impact in the way I see things that I can’t keep it to myself. I feel the need to reach out from my microphone and into your headphones and lure you with an invisible finger with the smell of fresh vegan croissants, out of your chair, only this time, to your local bookstore, to get what I now consider to be the best book on veganism I’ve ever read. Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Matt Halteman author of the book in question: Hungry Beautiful Animals: The Joyful Case for Going Vegan. He is a professor of philosophy at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan and fellow at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, UK.

You’ve got to leave it to a philosopher to connect our inner world, ethics, activism for animals and the practicalities of life and our messy habits in such a way that you’ll feel yourself entering the pages of his book and wondering if the room has started spinning or it’s your entire inner world, readjusting itself piece by piece, thinking of your daily choices in an entirely new way, where also, finally, shame and blame have no place on the page. I don’t know how he did it, but only a true master and teacher of philosophy can take a framework many of us find intimidating and present it in a way where you feel you’re more in a pub and less in a lecture hall, with someone who is wicked smart, telling you a story with so much wit and perfect writing you’ll wonder why you ever thought philosophy and ethics could be a dry subject. Today’s conversation with Matt, was exactly that, a perfect example of what you get in the pages of the book: an inspiring and hopeful talk about the choices we make, the belief systems we have, and how we can take steps to align our values and ethics with our daily habits.

We talk about his own journey of going vegan after having three catalysts, including a four legged friend named Gus, he shares how his family’s animal farming background inspired his own path in an unusual way, why going vegan, being an aspiring vegan is a headspace we all want to hang out in, whether we’ve been vegan for 2 months or 2 decades. The role of comparison, shame and blame and why it’s time for a shift in vegan advocacy and in our own view of a beautiful and possible world where we go from scarcity to flourishing. We get into those vegan ethical conundrums, how we can navigate relationships with loved ones who eat and live differently through knowledge and full acceptance of our “inner family” (perhaps the best part of this episode for me). More so than anything else, Matt will leave you intoxicated with joy and hope for the animals, our own inner peace and our place on this planet.

When I sat down to record with Matt he was sitting in his office with the most impressive bookshelves filled with titles from one end to the other, but you’d never guess that a professor, a writer, a philosopher, can take you on a ride so fun and engaging that he has without a doubt developed one of the skills I admire most in a human, to take excessive amounts of interesting and intricate knowledge and centuries old wisdom, and give it to you straight.

I loved his book so much we’ll be having a separate installment with a special book club in depth look in our next episode, something you know I reserve for books that have made a profound impact in my life and have stuck with me in a way where, when someone asks that cruel question of “tell me what your top favorite books are”, the cover just appears in your mind’s eye as if betraying all the others.

In one of the most fun conversations I’ve had in our podcast, enjoy Matt Halteman, and his Hungry Beautiful Animals. 

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