The Ultimate Betrayal: Is there Happy Meat?

What was your inspiration to write the book?
The inspiration for The Ultimate Betrayal started with the environmental impact of animal agriculture. I have always been deeply concerned with human’s impact on the planet’s eco-systems. My activism started many years ago with environmental issues and much of my research and writing was around animal farming’s effect on the earth. I started writing the book on this subject, but around the same time, I was seeing a dramatic shift where I live just north of San Francisco in Sonoma County, CA., toward local, slow food featuring “humane” meat, dairy and eggs. I was even seeing people who were previously vegetarian, buying meat because now they had the options of a local butcher selling “happy” meat. I felt that this was an important development to research and report on and that is what I have done with The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat?

What do you hope to achieve with your book?
I hope that animal advocates will read the book and remember the studies and stories for those conversations where alternative animal products come up. It is happening more and more that people are saying, “but my eggs are free-range” or “my meat is organic” and they feel that the conversation is over, that they have done the right thing, and the animal had a happy life. I hope that my book will educate activists to respond in these moments and shift the conversation, expressing that we appreciate that they care and are trying to do the right thing, “but did you know…” I hope the book reaches those people directly that think by paying more for these labels, they are supporting sustainable farms with happy animals. It is simply not true. They deserve to know the truth behind the labels.
 
What’s the response been so far to your book?
The response has been very positive and more than I could have imagined. I have had people contact me from all over the U.S. and Canada saying that they loved the book and were going to give it to family and friends. I had a conversation recently with a woman who read my book and has since gone vegetarian. She said that she was justifying her meat eating by seeking out the high priced, humane labels, feeling that at least she was getting the “best” and “most humane” meat. But something was nagging at her and when she came across my book, she had the courage to read it, and she has not eaten meat since. I’m honored to have been part of her journey and hope that the book will change more lives and in reflection, save animals lives.
 
What are your next plans?
I have a couple of other ideas for books, but the one I am most excited about is a vegan themed sci-fi novel. I have always been a huge sci-fi fan. You can do so much with fantasy, I could perhaps reach a different genre of readers and open their eyes to the suffering of animals in a circuitous way.

Click on the photo below to Meet the Animals:

 More Info on the book:

Drawing on peer-reviewed research, worker and rescuer testimony, and meeting the farmed animals themselves, The Ultimate Betrayal explores the recent shift in raising and labeling animals processed for food and the misinformation around this new way of farming. This book explores how language manipulates consumers’ concepts about sustainability, humane treatment, and what is truly healthy. It answers important questions surrounding the latest small-scale farming fad:

About Hope Bohanec

Hope Bohanec has been active in animal protection and environmental activism for over 20 years and is a nationally recognized leader and speaker in the animal protection movement. Many years ago while living eighty feet off the ground in a redwood tree so it would not be cut, Hope dedicated herself to animal and environmental causes, and has since organizing countless events, demonstrations, and fundraisers. She has lead campaigns like getting the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to sign a VegDay Resolution encouraging meat-free eating in the city and was the Sonoma County Coordinator for a statewide proposition to help protect farm animals. She co-founded the North Bay’s Compassionate Living Outreach while working as the Campaigns Director at In Defense of Animals. Hope lives with her soul mate and co-author, Cogen Bohanec, in Penngrove, California, just an hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge where they have been blissfully married for 13 years.

 

Cogen Bohanec is currently pursuing his Masters Degree in Buddhist Studies at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) and is a student of Sanskrit at UC Berkeley. He holds a Bachelors Degree in History from Sonoma State University and is a third degree black belt in Shotakan Karate. He is the owner and chief instructor of Sonoma Yoga Martial Arts in Penngrove, California where he teaches both Karate and Yoga. He has spent over a decade assisting Hope with numerous animal protection and environmental issues, as well as being a co-author and co-lecturer with her in a variety of articles and presentations.