Welcome! Your veg-curiosity is a wonderful thing that will serve you very well!
Hungry Beautiful Animals is here to help you find joy and abundance in greener eating.
Going vegan needn’t feel depriving. Arriving at perfection isn’t even a thing —it's about striving for flourishing and discovering a new world of delicious and liberating possibilities along the way.
No shame. No blame. Just the joy of discovery!
Here’s what to expect from HUNGRY BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS…
Convert Curiosity into Conviction: Let’s face it. Making dietary changes can feel daunting when you’re not sure where you stand. This book will help you connect more deeply and mindfully with the feelings and values that piqued your curiosity about our food system, strengthening your sense of purpose and inspiring you to keep striving.
Fresh Plant-Based Nuggets: Going vegan is about inviting abundance into your life, not limiting your options. Discover practical strategies for incorporating more plants into your diet without having to tackle any preachy numbered lists. All of the gain, none of the shame.
Heartwarming Tales: There’s nothing in the world like a good story for inspiring curiosity and emboldening courage. Prepare to be dazzled by the exploits of dumpster-diving philosophers, evacuating geese, grape-pilfering racoons, partying orcas, bees moving house, and Gus Halteman–the intrepid bulldog who inspired this book!
Laughs Included: Trying new things can feel high stakes and over-serious. But through loving eyes, being a newbie’s pretty funny too. Think about your first date, first job, first baking attempt (Nailed it!). Taking risks is so much easier when we banish shame and laugh at ourselves with love, and that we do in Hungry Beautiful Animals.
Community Vibes: Following curiosity toward courageous action is always easier with friends by your side. Count on plenty of field-tested advice for strengthening relationships and building community (even and especially with those who disagree).
About HUNGRY BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS
Perhaps you’ve looked at factory farming or climate change and thought, I should become a vegan. Maybe you succeeded and things are going beautifully. Maybe you’re trying, but it’s a slog. But very probably, like most people who’ve entertained this aspiration, you haven’t found the gumption to try. And that might feel deflating–even demoralizing. Why is it so hard to do something that we strongly suspect we should?
Well, in our world, roast turkey emanates gratitude, steak confers virility, shawarma is the center of the street party, and chicken soup represents a mother’s love. Against attachments this precious, simply swapping meat for plants won’t work. Animal products are just too woven into the shaping forces that make us who we are to imagine living joyfully without them!
In Hungry Beautiful Animals, philosopher Matthew C. Halteman shows us how–despite all the forces arrayed against going vegan–we can create an abundant life for everyone without using animals for food. It might seem that moral rectitude or environmental judgment should do the trick, but they can’t. Going vegan must be about flourishing, for all life. Shame and blame don’t lead to flourishing. We must do it with joy, instead.
Hungry Beautiful Animals is more than philosophy: it’s a book of action, of forgiveness, of love. Funny and wise, this book frees us joyfully to want what we already know we need.
More Ways to Bring Joy into Your Journey
From mouth watering plant-based recipes to buying a donkey lunch (yes, really!), we’ve curated some piping hot resources to help you spread the joy of your journey.
