Beef

ruth ozeki

At first glance, a novel that promises to expose the unethical practices of the American meat industry may not be at the top of your reading list, but Ruth Ozeki's debut, My Year of Meats is well worth a second look. Like the author, the novel's protagonist, Jane Takagi-Little, is a Japanese-American documentary filmmaker; like Ozeki, who was once commissioned by a beef lobbying group to make television shows for the Japanese market, Jane is invited to work on a Japanese television show meant to encourage beef consumption via the not-so-subliminal suggestion that prime rib equals a perfect

AMERICAN RESEARCH STAFF
Tokyo Office
January 5, 1991
My American Wife!...

Here is list of IMPORTANT THINGS for My American Wife!

DESIRABLE

1. Attractiveness, wholesomeness, warm personality
2. Delicious meat recipe ( Pork and other meats is second class meats, so please remember this easy "Pork is Possible, but Beef is Best!")
3. Attractive, docile husband 4. Attractive, obedient children
5. Attractive, wholesome lifestyle
6. Attractive, clean house...

UNDESIRABLE

1. Physical imperfections
2. Obesity
3. Squalor
4. Second class peoples

The series, My American Wife! , initally seems like a dream come true for Jane as she criss-crosses the United States filming a different American family each week for her Japanese audience. Naturally, the emphasis is on meat, and Ozeki has fun with out-there recipes such as rump roast in coke and beef fudge; but as Jane becomes more familiar with her subject, she becomes increasingly aware of the beef industry's widespread practice of using synthetic estrogens on their cattle and determines to sabotage the program.

Cut to Tokyo where Akiko Ueno struggles through the dull misery of life with her brutish husband, who happens to be in charge of the show's advertising. After seeing one of Jane's subversive episodes about a vegetarian lesbian couple, Akiko gets in touch and the two women plot to expose the meat industry's hazardous practices. Romance, humor, intrigue, and even a message— My Year of Meats has it all. This is a book that even a vegetarian would love.

Genres fictionjapanfoodcontemporarybook clubnovelsliterary fictionaudiobookadultasia

383 pages, Paperback

First published June 1,1998

Literary awards

audie award, kiriyama prize,

Places

tokyo, the united states of america, japan,

This edition

Format: 383 pages, Paperback
Published: April 1, 2000 by Piper
ISBN: 9783492230025
ASIN: 3492230024
Language: German

Characters More characters

About the author

ruth ozeki

Ruth Ozeki (born in New Haven, Connecticut) is a Japanese American novelist. She is the daughter of anthropologist Floyd Lounsbury.

Ozeki published her debut novel, My Year of Meats, in 1998. She followed up with All Over Creation in 2003. Her new novel, A Tale for the Time Being, was published on March 12, 2013.

She is married to Canadian land artist Oliver Kellhammer, and the couple divides their time between New York City and Vancouver.