Pet or food: Animals and alimentary taboos in contemporary children’s literature

Abstract

In books for pre-school and early school-age children (4-9 years of age) published in Poland between 2008 and 2014 it is possible to observe a new alimentary taboo. Though statistics show that we consume more meat than ever, we seem to be hiding this fact from the children. The animal is disconnected from the meat, which becomes just a thing we eat so that there is no need to consider animal suffering or to apply moral judgement to this aspect. The analysed books, written by Scandinavian, Spanish and American and Polish authors, do not belong to the mainstream of children’s literature, but, by obscuring the connection between the animal and the food we consume, they seem to testify to the problem with this aspect of our world that the adults – authors, educators and parents.