Eating Apes by Dale Peterson, reviewed:

This book has a terrible title, conjuring up images of roast loin of chimp or gorilla stew. It is absolutely appropriate. Now that I am familiar with Dale Peterson’s style, I am convinced that he chose the title intentionally, for he intended to upset the reader.

We are uneasy about the idea of eating the apes because they behave more like us than any other mammals: they walk upright on their hind legs; they use tools; they laugh and show grief; and they are among the few mammals that understand that it is themselves that they see in a mirror. We share 98.74 per cent of our DNA with chimpanzees, making them our closest living relatives, and this ought to transcend the idea of our using them for food.

But this “we” cannot be applied to the indigenous peoples of Central Africa. From time immemorial, they have hunted and eaten the animals that share their habitat. So if they have always eaten gorilla and chimpanzee meat, why should it be a problem now? Because the great apes have now been so assaulted by hunting and disease that they are careering towards extinction. Times of London