Veggie Victorians

[Eleanor Rose]

(Wordpress)
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In 1839, the actress and writer Fanny Kemble was quoted as saying that if she had to do her own cooking she "should inevitably become a vegetarian." Well that got me wondering. Were a lot of Victorians vegetarians? Was that a "thing" in the 19th century? Well as it turns out, there is in fact a strong chance that this was an even more mainstream concept than it is today!!

Today's vegetarians may well know that a diet excluding meat in not a new idea. It was actually considered a diet choice before the 19th century. Likely before the 19th century the main argument for a vegetarian diet was a moral one, but by the mid-19th century there was an organized movement focused around vegetarianism for good health. Health was one of the great obsessions of our Victorian friends and for good reason. There were frequent and devastating outbreaks of disease during the Victorian era. Our Victorian friends lived in fear of influenza, typhus and cholera and they faced the dreaded possibility of scarlet fever or typhoid.

Looking back there appears to be two lines of thought in support of vegetarianism in the 19th century. The first is medicinal. Many Victorians believed that a diet which excluded meat was better for general health and helped to avoid certain types of disease. They also believed certain vegetables had curative properties. The other line of thought remained the moral argument that it was immoral to kill and eat animals.

I found the passage below from Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management about the reasons people may have strayed from a vegetarian diet historically.

"Man, in his primitive state, lives upon roots and the fruits of the earth, until, by degrees, he is driven to seek for new means, by which his wants may be supplied and enlarged. He then becomes a hunter and a fisher. As his species increases, greater necessities come upon him, when he gradually abandons the roving life of the savage for the more stationary pursuits of the herdsman. These beget still more settled habits, when he begins the practice of agriculture, forms ideas of the rights of property, and has his own, both defined and secured. The forest, the stream, and the sea are now no longer his only resources for food. He sows and he reaps, pastures and breeds cattle, lives on the cultivated produce of his fields, and revels in the luxuries of the dairy; raises flocks for clothing, and assumes, to all intents and purposes, the habits of permanent life and the comfortable condition of a farmer."

Do you think this is true today? It does seem the more we expand and advance the more we feel we need and thus the more we seek.

"Corn Lady" by Lithographers Clay and Richmond, Buffalo, NY. 1880's.​

 

[Eleanor Rose]

Anthropomorphic vegetable and fruit people were popular on seed packets and trading cards in the Victorian era. Thought I'd share a few more.

 

[donna]

Wonderful illustrations. Always reminds me of a favorite game when young, Mr. Potato Head

 

[Mrs. V]

She looks simply radishing! And there they stroll, two peas in a pod...and, the gentleman seems well rooted...

Sorry, feeling very punny today!

 

[Eleanor Rose]

She looks simply radishing! And there they stroll, two peas in a pod...and, the gentleman seems well rooted...

Sorry, feeling very punny today!

 

[Deleted User CS]

Miss Ellie. Thanks for sharing this very interesting information on the concept of vegetarianism during the Victorian Period. This newly found concept does not surprise me having been developed and then experimented in the best of all historical times. The Victorian Period of history was one of intellectual enlightenment as well as the betterment of one's physical structure and physical well being. In other words, the theme of body, mind and spiritual awareness having been first experimented during this very important time period of history. It certainly was the best of all historical times. David.

 

[FarawayFriend]

I think the Victorians were similarly enthused about vegetarianism as today's hipsters. Describing a slightly post-Victorian episode, but a very amusing read is T.C. Boyle's "Road to Wellville" that deals with the turn of the century phenomenon (but sheds a light on today's food prophets too)

https://www.goodreads.com/de/book/show/24738.The_Road_to_Wellville

As for painting veggies and fruit in the shape of man, Giuseppe Arcimbolo (1526-1593) was a master in that art. Here is his painting "Summer":

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

Horace Greeley was a vegetarian (he was born in the town next to me, Amherst, NH) and he could be quite a bore about it.

The Long Marriage of Vegetarianism and Social Activism | Arts ...
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/.../the-long-marriage-of-vegetarianism-and-social-a...


Oct 14, 2011 - The suffragist Susan B. Anthony and the abolitionist and New York Tribune publisher Horace Greeley were among the famous reformers who ...

And for the weirder side of vegetarianism in the late 1800s there is this link:

The abolitionist, vegetarian, octagon-obsessed utopia that never was

https://timeline.com/the-abolitionist-vegetarian-octagon-obsessed-utopia-that-never-w...


Dec 26, 2017 - He worked at the New York Tribune under the tutelage of its founder, abolitionist Horace Greeley, who compared the adoption of a vegetarian ...
http://uudb.org/articles/horacegreeley.html

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I read a big biography of Greeley a few years ago and he was hard on the boarding house landladies with his vegetarianism requests and rules.

 

[JOHN42768]

"Where"s the Beef?" Veggies are meant to be a side to accompany the entree.

 

[captaindrew]

Those are some creepy looking characters, if that's what you look like when your a vegetarian somebody pass me a cheeseburger ASAP!

 

[Eleanor Rose]

Here you go @captaindrew ! You will rock this look!

 

[Scooter_B]

View attachment 312400
(Wordpress)
​

In 1839, the actress and writer Fanny Kemble was quoted as saying that if she had to do her own cooking she "should inevitably become a vegetarian." Well that got me wondering. Were a lot of Victorians vegetarians? Was that a "thing" in the 19th century? Well as it turns out, there is in fact a strong chance that this was an even more mainstream concept than it is today!!

Today's vegetarians may well know that a diet excluding meat in not a new idea. It was actually considered a diet choice before the 19th century. Likely before the 19th century the main argument for a vegetarian diet was a moral one, but by the mid-19th century there was an organized movement focused around vegetarianism for good health. Health was one of the great obsessions of our Victorian friends and for good reason. There were frequent and devastating outbreaks of disease during the Victorian era. Our Victorian friends lived in fear of influenza, typhus and cholera and they faced the dreaded possibility of scarlet fever or typhoid.

Looking back there appears to be two lines of thought in support of vegetarianism in the 19th century. The first is medicinal. Many Victorians believed that a diet which excluded meat was better for general health and helped to avoid certain types of disease. They also believed certain vegetables had curative properties. The other line of thought remained the moral argument that it was immoral to kill and eat animals.

I found the passage below from Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management about the reasons people may have strayed from a vegetarian diet historically.

"Man, in his primitive state, lives upon roots and the fruits of the earth, until, by degrees, he is driven to seek for new means, by which his wants may be supplied and enlarged. He then becomes a hunter and a fisher. As his species increases, greater necessities come upon him, when he gradually abandons the roving life of the savage for the more stationary pursuits of the herdsman. These beget still more settled habits, when he begins the practice of agriculture, forms ideas of the rights of property, and has his own, both defined and secured. The forest, the stream, and the sea are now no longer his only resources for food. He sows and he reaps, pastures and breeds cattle, lives on the cultivated produce of his fields, and revels in the luxuries of the dairy; raises flocks for clothing, and assumes, to all intents and purposes, the habits of permanent life and the comfortable condition of a farmer."

Do you think this is true today? It does seem the more we expand and advance the more we feel we need and thus the more we seek.

View attachment 312401
"Corn Lady" by Lithographers Clay and Richmond, Buffalo, NY. 1880's.​

Very interesting thanks.

 

[Eleanor Rose]

Let me round up @NH Civil War Gal and some of my other friends and we'll come along with you @captaindrew !

 

[captaindrew]

Aaahhhhh this is more like it

 

[Northern Light]

Aaahhhhh this is more like it View attachment 312561

What is that thing?

 

[captaindrew]

What is that thing?

Just a picture on the net, wanted to find the most insane looking burger I could for the occasion, looks awesome doesn't it

 

[Eleanor Rose]

@Northern Light , there's a place in Las Vegas that serves a "Quadruple Bypass Burger." It has four beef patties and 20 slices of bacon. And there used to be a chain in NC that served a burger made with 50 ounces of beef patties and four toppings. If a patron could eat all of it along with a side of fries and a 24 oz drink their meal was free. What were folks thinking to even try it???

 

[Northern Light]

@Northern Light , there's a place in Las Vegas that serves a "Quadruple Bypass Burger." It has four beef patties and 20 slices of bacon. And there used to be a chain in NC that served a burger made with 50 ounces of beef patties and four toppings. If a patron could eat all of it along with a side of fries and a 24 oz drink their meal was free. What were folks thinking to even try it???

Yikes, and I don't even have a bun with my little veggie burger! Fries are rarely found on my plate, either.

 

[Northern Light]

View attachment 312400
(Wordpress)
​

In 1839, the actress and writer Fanny Kemble was quoted as saying that if she had to do her own cooking she "should inevitably become a vegetarian." Well that got me wondering. Were a lot of Victorians vegetarians? Was that a "thing" in the 19th century? Well as it turns out, there is in fact a strong chance that this was an even more mainstream concept than it is today!!

Today's vegetarians may well know that a diet excluding meat in not a new idea. It was actually considered a diet choice before the 19th century. Likely before the 19th century the main argument for a vegetarian diet was a moral one, but by the mid-19th century there was an organized movement focused around vegetarianism for good health. Health was one of the great obsessions of our Victorian friends and for good reason. There were frequent and devastating outbreaks of disease during the Victorian era. Our Victorian friends lived in fear of influenza, typhus and cholera and they faced the dreaded possibility of scarlet fever or typhoid.

Looking back there appears to be two lines of thought in support of vegetarianism in the 19th century. The first is medicinal. Many Victorians believed that a diet which excluded meat was better for general health and helped to avoid certain types of disease. They also believed certain vegetables had curative properties. The other line of thought remained the moral argument that it was immoral to kill and eat animals.

I found the passage below from Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management about the reasons people may have strayed from a vegetarian diet historically.

"Man, in his primitive state, lives upon roots and the fruits of the earth, until, by degrees, he is driven to seek for new means, by which his wants may be supplied and enlarged. He then becomes a hunter and a fisher. As his species increases, greater necessities come upon him, when he gradually abandons the roving life of the savage for the more stationary pursuits of the herdsman. These beget still more settled habits, when he begins the practice of agriculture, forms ideas of the rights of property, and has his own, both defined and secured. The forest, the stream, and the sea are now no longer his only resources for food. He sows and he reaps, pastures and breeds cattle, lives on the cultivated produce of his fields, and revels in the luxuries of the dairy; raises flocks for clothing, and assumes, to all intents and purposes, the habits of permanent life and the comfortable condition of a farmer."

Do you think this is true today? It does seem the more we expand and advance the more we feel we need and thus the more we seek.

View attachment 312401
"Corn Lady" by Lithographers Clay and Richmond, Buffalo, NY. 1880's.​

I bet that as soon as man found fire, he found a slab of meat to throw onto it!