Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
For Activist Appreciation Month, John Sanbonmatsu talks about his new book, "The Omnivore's Deception," a deeply observed philosophical meditation on the nature of our relationship with animals. Peeling back the myriad layers of myth, falsehoods, and bad faith that keep us eating meat, the book offers a novel perspective on our troubled relations with animals in the food economy. The problem with raising and killing animals for food isn't just that it's "bad for the environment,” but the wrong way to live a human life. John reads passages from his chapters on slavery, Michael Pollan, and "femivorism."
John Sanbonmatsu, Professor of Philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, is an internationally recognized scholar in Critical Animal Studies. His most recent book, "The Omnivore's Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves" (2025)--recently issued in special paperback edition by PETA--has been called “the best book ever written” on veganism and animal rights by Our Hen House, Jeffrey Moussaief Masson, and FORBES magazine. John is editor of the book "Critical Theory and Animal Liberation," as well as creator and curator of the CleanMeat-Hoax website, which criticizes cellular or synthetic meat as a distraction from animal advocacy. His op-eds on animal issues have appeared in CounterPunch, Huffington Post, and other places.
Connect with John: johnsanbonmatsu.com
Get John's book: amazon.com/Omnivores-Deception-Wrong-Animals-Ourselves/dp/1479825964
Access our full Activist Appreciation Month program: idausa.org/ActivistMonth
Contact our Animal Activist Support Line for 24/7 free counseling: idausa.org/ActivistSupport
Support our sustainable activism resources and services: idausa.org/campaign/sustainable-activism/support-animal-activists-and-interfaith-vegan-advocacy
For Activist Appreciation Month, John Sanbonmatsu talks about his new book, "The Omnivore's Deception," a deeply observed philosophical meditation on the nature of our relationship with animals. Peeling back the myriad layers of myth, falsehoods, and bad faith that keep us eating meat, the book offers a novel perspective on our troubled relations with animals in the food economy. The problem with raising and killing animals for food isn't just that it's "bad for the environment,” but the wrong way to live a human life. John reads passages from his chapters on slavery, Michael Pollan, and "femivorism."
John Sanbonmatsu, Professor of Philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, is an internationally recognized scholar in Critical Animal Studies. His most recent book, "The Omnivore's Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves" (2025)--recently issued in special paperback edition by PETA--has been called “the best book ever written” on veganism and animal rights by Our Hen House, Jeffrey Moussaief Masson, and FORBES magazine. John is editor of the book "Critical Theory and Animal Liberation," as well as creator and curator of the CleanMeat-Hoax website, which criticizes cellular or synthetic meat as a distraction from animal advocacy. His op-eds on animal issues have appeared in CounterPunch, Huffington Post, and other places.
Connect with John: johnsanbonmatsu.com
Get John's book: amazon.com/Omnivores-Deception-Wrong-Animals-Ourselves/dp/1479825964
Access our full Activist Appreciation Month program: idausa.org/ActivistMonth
Contact our Animal Activist Support Line for 24/7 free counseling: idausa.org/ActivistSupport
Support our sustainable activism resources and services: idausa.org/campaign/sustainable-activism/support-animal-activists-and-interfaith-vegan-advocacy
