Mindful Carnivore

January 23, 2012
In his first book, Cerulli, who has written for such publications as Outdoor America and Massachusetts Wildlife, recounts his journey from meat eater to vegetarian, then vegan and, finally, back to eating meat. Growing up in Vermont and later working as a logger and, Cerulli has a deep connection to the land and nature, which makes him think seriously about his changing eating habits and, at times, gives his writing a deeply meditative qualityAs a graduate of The New School for Social Research who is currently studying the “diverse perspectives on human relationships with the natural world,” Cerulli also offers historical expositions on topics like vegetarianism, logging, wildlife conservation, ecology, religion, philosophy and hunting peppered through out. The combination of these two writing style works nicely to give the reader a thorough background of the author and his struggle to find a “holistic way of eating and living,” but it is the latter third of the book, when Cerulli takes his first tentative steps to becoming a hunter, that his writing truly shines—it transform the story into a touching and thought-provoking exploration on not only what we eat but how we eat it.