Another thing cooking is, or can be, is a way to honor the things we're eating, the animals and plants and fungi that have been sacrificed to gratify our needs and desires, as well as the places and the people that produced them. Cooks have their ways of saying grace too... Cooking something thoughtfully is a way to celebrate both that species and our relation to it.
The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Search for a Perfect Meal in a Fast-Food World (ed. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009) - ISBN: 9781408807255