8 June 2025 Judging by their hipster looks and ironic patter, the couple in the coffee shop were from out of town. She was dark-haired and petite, telling the cashier she was “inordinately fond” of the shop’s local crafts. Meanwhile her friend—bearded, wearing black Converse sneakers and torn jeans—ordered lattes. “Cool,” I thought, as shop staff bustled around the espresso machine (another recent arrival in our small town.) Here we are, farm and city types together, in one big happy coffee shop family. Kumbaya. But then they amended their order. “Do you have an alternative milk?” she asked. Her friend agreed. Oat milk “would be preferred.” I felt my shoulders slump. These folks weren’t just from the city, they’re from a rising culture that views animal products – meat and milk – with suspicion. They’d rather drink fluid assembled on an industrial scale by a Swedish corporation than milk from cows grazing the green fields just outside of town. That’s their right, of course, but as a farmer who’s inordinately fond of seeing livestock on pasture, I worry about being on the wrong side of history. What if the city couple, with their confident preference for factory- made alternatives over the real thing, represent the future? It’s a prospect Nicolette Hahn Niman tackles with gusto in a new expanded and revised edition of her 2014 book, Defending Beef; The ecological and nutritional case for meat. Best known as a high-powered environmental lawyer, Hahn Niman’s personal story covers a wide swath of today’s messy debate about meat and animal products. A self-proclaimed “tree-hugging college student” and vegetarian, Hahn Niman switched from studying biology to law and eventually became a Manhattan-based lawyer for Robert F. Kennedy’s Waterkeeper Alliance. In court she battled large, confined hog and poultry farms in disputes over water quality. When she fell in love and married a California rancher, she shifted from high-heeled attorney to booted ranchhand. Still, she was a little iffy on the meat thing: “Would I Build a foundation to start a successful farm enterprise Term 1 is now available Learn at your own pace! AVAILABLE AT INDIGO/CHAPTERS DEFENDING BEEF THE ECOLOGICAL AND NUTRITIONAL CASE FOR MEAT, 2ND EDITION BY NICOLETTE HAHN NIMAN REVIEWED BY RAY FORD PUBLISHER: CHELSEA GREEN SFC SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 BOOK REVIEW CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHING
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