An enlightening and delicious look at how vegans – and their critics – are redefining the way the world eats in the twenty-first century.
For years, there has been no doubt that widespread consumption of meat is both environmentally destructive and morally dubious. A growing chorus of scientists, health experts, and activists champion the benefits of a mostly plant-based diet. Nevertheless, change has been slow to arrive, and the chasm between Americans' appetites and our collective needs seems impossibly vast. We know we must transition to a more plant-based world. But what would such a world look like, and how do we realistically get there?
One group of people has been grappling with this question for decades: vegans. Once mocked for its hempy puritanism, the vegan movement has grown from a fringe identity into a veritable cultural juggernaut, primarily through the power of persuasion. Who better to guide society into a greener future? Yet conflict over these questions persists. Is the healthful vegan lifestyle appealing – or alienating? Are high-tech meat alternatives merely a repeat performance of harmful fast-food values? Is modern veganism itself misguided – a wrong answer to the right questions?
In The Good Eater, Harvard-trained sociologist (and vegan) Nina Guilbeault vividly explores the movement's history and its present-day tensions. What emerges is a fascinating portrait of how social change happens, with profound implications for our plates – and our planet.

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Nina Guilbeault, PhD (née Gheihman) is currently Co-Founder and Director of Partnerships at Plant Futures, and previously a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Sustainable Food Initiative at the University of California, Berkeley. Her work has been covered by The Atlantic, The Telegraph, and Refinery29. The coauthor of Habits of Inequality, she holds a doctorate in sociology from Harvard University and a Certificate of Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. She lives in Berkeley.