Such a great account of the journey of a woman in butchery; brilliant precise descriptions, fascinating experiences, loved it.

Posted on Zerofiltersaurus.wordpress.com on 30th August-

The premise: So look, before I launch into my actual review, it’s important that you know where I’m coming from. This is, in lots of ways, a great book. That does not mean that I agree with everything in it. In fact, I object to most of it. Before reading, I was a concerned meat eater. By the end of the first chapter, I declared myself a vegetarian. The first chapter is powerful and hard hitting (well, as is the entire book) and I think that everyone should read it. I really do. Ignorance is not okay. Yet this is Camas Davis’ ultimate argument for meat eating - correct the ignorance and it is okay. However, this book is not about whether or not we should eat animals. It is Camas’ story, of how her life went pretty tits up, which led her to going on a journey to get back to her true self. By way of learning how to cut up animals in France.


It’s a bit like: Let’s just say an alternative title could have been Eat, Kill, Love.


The author: Camas Davis, formally a food writer (wow, lucky I check for typos, nearly said she was ‘formally a good writer’...the writing here is luscious, have no fear)
What drew me in...was wondering how bad a mid life crisis would be needed in order to want to go and learn all about how to butcher animals. I was also interested in reading something I absolutely knew I would disagree with, because I believe it’s important to at least try to understand different points of view as opposed to just pointing and thinking, ‘that’s wrong’, which does nothing for cohesion.


Let’s get the bad bits out of the way first. It’s a horrible read for animal lovers. But that hardly surprises you, does it? Two of my favourite creatures, ducks and snails, are eaten in this book. (She went to France, after all) It’s also very vivid, in a tell it as it is way...actually that’s a good thing, we NEED to be told how it is, but you know what I mean. Some people don’t like that. Those people probably don’t read my blog though.


And now for the good stuff. It exposes many truths about meat and the meat industry. Definitely not ALL the truths, but that’s not what she set out to do. Camas argues that animals should have a good life and a good death. Yes, such a thing apparently exists. Who can really argue with that? Except all of those who simply care about paying as little as possible for their meat, but anyway. She also touches on the fact that meat eating is a cultural issue, as illustrated when someone points out to her that for many people across the world have no choice given what is available to eat locally. She also wants people to get educated about meat, and that if they are going to eat meat there is a responsible way to do it. This includes making use of as much of the animal as possible. (Here was where my own concerns began, as I would eat muscle but not liver, kidney etc and knew this wasn’t right) Never heard of head cheese? Welcome. Foodies will bloody love this too.


You should read this if you want to eat meat without facing up to where it comes from and the journey it makes in order to get to your mouth. In fact, I reckon if you’re not willing to face up to it, then you shouldn’t be allowed to fill your face with it.


Aside from all the animals and killing it’s a classic tale of self discovery and giving your life a total makeover. Camas Davis is someone who knew what wasn’t working for her, and she set about pursuing her passion, throwing herself totally in to it and taking big bold risks. The lesson from this book is to follow your heart. Camas got fired as a magazine editor, came out of a long relationship, said to herself fuck this, hopped on a plane to France to learn whole animal butchery. I mean, shit man, that is quite some trajectory. But I find passion, regardless of what it is for, infectious and wonderful to see. I was mesmerised by the incredible details that she recalls, and was pulled in by how much she was savouring her new experiences.
In a nutshell: Killing It is an original memoir in the spirit of ‘pursue your passion and follow your heart’. And your kidney, jambon, trotter, foie gras, coppa and loin...


Rating 5⭐️


A deep quote to see us out: “because we figured out how to eat meat long ago, our brains grew big enough to make us capable of questioning the ethics of eating the very ingredient that allowed us to ask such questions.”


Killing It was published on 26th July 2018 by Picador. Thanks to Camas Davis, Picador and NetGalley for the ARC.