Righteous porkchop : finding a life and good food beyond factory farms / Nicolette Hahn Niman.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [281]-312) and index.

My crash course in modern meat -- An unexpectedly natural turn -- What came first, the chicken-- and the egg -- Facing off with Big Ag -- It's a pig's life -- A door closed, a door opened -- Beef, the most (unfairly) maligned of meats -- The un-sacred (milk) cow -- A bit about fish -- Finding the right foods -- Answering obstacles to reform -- Back on the ranch.

Investigating hog manure pollution was hardly the glamorous assignment Nicolette Hahn Niman pictured when going to work for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in New York. But her odyssey into the inner workings of the "factory farm" industry transformed her into an intrepid environmental lawyer who goes up against the big-business farming establishment. Niman uncovers shocking practices, including inhumane animal confinement and devastating water and air pollution. She organizes a national reform movement to fight these practices and shows that livestock farming can be done in a better way--not only for hogs, but also for poultry, fish, and dairy cows. She also tours the best of farms, where traditional farmers and ranchers treat their animals humanely and have joined with other farmers to successfully market the foods they produce. She profiles the innovative and cost-effective methods these operations have incorporated to make a profit by ethical, sustainable means.--From publisher description.