Deborah Levy’s witty take on the hysteria surrounding ‘Mad Cow Disease’ is both highly amusing and deeply disturbing. Written in the form of a diary of a steak in a butcher’s shop, the narrative charts a progression into madness. Using typographical errors, omissions and forays into other languages, Deborah Levy describes a “mind that has been symbolically culled”. Referencing Freud, psychoanalysis, Jean-Martin Charcot, the English pride in madness and the herd mentality, Diary of a Steak is both thought-provoking and poignant.