For years, there has been no doubt that widespread consumption of meat is both environmentally destructive and morally dubious. A growing chorus of scientists, health experts, and activists champion the benefits of a plant-based diet. Nevertheless, change has been slow to arrive, and the chasm between our appetites and our collective well-being seems impossibly vast. We know we must transition to a more plant-based world. But what would such a world look like, and how do we realistically get there?

One group of people has been grappling with this question for decades: vegans. Once mocked for its hempy puritanism, the vegan movement has grown into a veritable cultural juggernaut. Yet visions of what our food system should look like continue to conflict. Is the healthful vegan lifestyle appealing—or alienating? Are high-tech meat alternatives merely a repeat performance of harmful fast-food values? Is modern veganism itself misguided-a wrong answer to the right questions?

In The Good Eater, Harvard-trained sociologist (and vegan) Nina Guilbeault, PhD, vividly explores the movement’s history and its present-day tensions by grappling with the most fundamental question of all: Is there a truly ethical way to eat? What emerges is a fascinating portrait of how social change happens, with profound implications for our plates—and our planet.