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Mar. 11th, 2007
The New York Times
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March 11, 2007
The Goods
For the Converted, and a Few Others
By BRENDAN I. KOERNER
SOME vegetarians exhibit a missionary impulse, forever trying to convince their friends that eating meat is cruel, unhealthy or wasteful. When spoken words — or a copy of “The Jungle” — fail to persuade, these herbivores may start using disturbing visual aids: photographs of caged calves or documentaries on the short, brutish lives of confined chickens.
Vegetarians who prefer a more whimsical approach, however, can now choose the four-plate Food for Thought dishware set. Three of the plates are decorated with clinical schematics of commonly eaten animals, showing exactly where bacon is hacked off a pig, or loin chops removed from a lamb — potentially unpleasant reminders of meat’s back story. And, as a macabre twist, one of the plates features a similarly diagrammed dog, implicitly asking what separates an Angus bull from a beloved family pet.
Charles S. Anderson, the plates’ designer, says he is a “vegetarian by default,” by virtue of his wife’s renouncing of meat. His primary goal in creating the dishes was not to advocate a bloodless diet, he says, but rather to celebrate one of his great passions: plastic.
“I have about 150,000 plastic pieces,” said Mr. Anderson, owner of the Charles S. Anderson Design Company in Minneapolis. “I look at plastic as a folk art. It’s a pretty amazing, pretty futuristic material.” More
( Read more... )
Printer Friendly Format Sponsored By
March 11, 2007
The Goods
For the Converted, and a Few Others
By BRENDAN I. KOERNER
SOME vegetarians exhibit a missionary impulse, forever trying to convince their friends that eating meat is cruel, unhealthy or wasteful. When spoken words — or a copy of “The Jungle” — fail to persuade, these herbivores may start using disturbing visual aids: photographs of caged calves or documentaries on the short, brutish lives of confined chickens.
Vegetarians who prefer a more whimsical approach, however, can now choose the four-plate Food for Thought dishware set. Three of the plates are decorated with clinical schematics of commonly eaten animals, showing exactly where bacon is hacked off a pig, or loin chops removed from a lamb — potentially unpleasant reminders of meat’s back story. And, as a macabre twist, one of the plates features a similarly diagrammed dog, implicitly asking what separates an Angus bull from a beloved family pet.
Charles S. Anderson, the plates’ designer, says he is a “vegetarian by default,” by virtue of his wife’s renouncing of meat. His primary goal in creating the dishes was not to advocate a bloodless diet, he says, but rather to celebrate one of his great passions: plastic.
“I have about 150,000 plastic pieces,” said Mr. Anderson, owner of the Charles S. Anderson Design Company in Minneapolis. “I look at plastic as a folk art. It’s a pretty amazing, pretty futuristic material.” More
( Read more... )