Vegan Turns to Hunting, Writes Book

A vegan-turned-hunter reignites the connection between humans and their food sources and continues the dialogue begun by Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver in his newly released book, The Mindful Carnivore: A Vegetarian’s Hunt for Sustenance

As a boy, Tovar Cerulli spent his summers fishing for trout and hunting bullfrogs. While still in high school, he began to experiment with vegetarianism. By the age of twenty he was a vegan. A decade later, in the face of declining health, he returned to omnivory and within a few years found himself headed into the woods, rifle in hand.

Through his personal quest, Cerulli bridges these disparate worldviews and questions moral certainties. Are fishing and hunting barbaric, murderous anachronisms? Or can they be respectful ways for humans to connect with nature (and their food)? How harmless is vegetarianism? Can hunters and vegetarians be motivated by similar values and instincts?

In this time of intensifying concern over ecological degradation and animal welfare, how do we make peace with the fact that, even by growing organic vegetables, life is sustained by death? Drawing on personal experience, philosophy, history and religion, Cerulli shows how America’s overly sanitized habits of consumption have disconnected us with our food, resulting in many of the spiritual and environmental crises we now face.

“Within these pages Tovar Cerulli navigates our role in the cycle of life in a way that is spiritual, intuitive, and profoundly real. By witnessing his transformation from staunch vegan to thoughtful hunter, we are reminded that mindful hunting not only makes us stewards of the land, but thoughtful eaters and more awake human beings. Bravo!”

-Georgia Pellegrini, author of Girl Hunter and Food Heroes

“Cerulli offers penetrating insights into not only where our food comes from, but what our daily dietary choices say about who we are as human beings.”

-Hank Shaw, author of Hunt, Gather, Cook

“A personal tale of how one man comes to terms with the meat on his plate and a historical look at humanity’s connection to animals. The Mindful Carnivore delivers new insight in the too often simplistic vegetarian versus carnivore argument.”

-Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer

“Entertaining and erudite. Cerulli’s refreshingly evenhanded tone allows readers to judge the author’s argument on the merits of his literary and personal evidence. Today’s noisy media environment often consists of rigid, uninformed viewpoints passed off as the sole truth. Cerulli provides a welcome antidote to the bluster.” -Kirkus Reviews

Tovar Cerulli graduated from The New School and has worked as a logger, carpenter and freelance writer. In 2009, he was awarded a graduate school fellowship by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He lives in Vermont with his wife, Catherine, their Labrador retriever, and an eclectic mix of cookbooks. Visit his website at www.tovarcerulli.com.