The History of Vegetarianism
I attended the 6th International Congress of Vegetarian Nutrition at Loma Linda University a few years back, and one session really stood out for me: Vegetarian diets: past, present and the future, presented by Claus Leitzmann, PhD, from Justus Liebig University, Germany. I was thinking about this lecturer the other day, so I pulled out my notes and writings from it and wanted to share it with you today in honor of World Vegan Month. Leitzmann described how ancient cultures, such as in Egypt, China, India, Peru and Mexico used a predominantly plant-based diet. Plato (Greece, 428-348 BCE) said that the town people should eat vegetarian because meat eaters needed the doctor more often. Ovid (Italy 47-17 AD) made strong arguments against eating meat, and the poet Plutarch (Greece 45-120 AD) was a vegetarian due to his love of animals.
There were vegetarians during the Renaissance, including Leonardo da Vinci, who was famously quoted as saying, “The time will come when we will condemn the eating of animals just as today we condemn the eating of our own kind, the consuming of humans.”
During the Age of Enlightenment (17 – 18th century), vegetarian influences included Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau. In 19th century Europe, the lawyer Gustav von Struwe believed that plant food was the basis of a new world view. Things were also happening in the US during the same period; Sylvester Graham believed in eating plenty of raw food, and John Harvey Kellogg founded his sanitarium in Battle Creek on the ideals that vegetarianism could heal people of diseases. George Barnard Shaw famously said, “Animals are my friends and I don’t eat my friends.” And Albert Einstein said, “Nothing will increase the chance of survival for life on Earth as much as the evolution of the vegetarian diet.”
In the 1950s, few really talked about vegetarian nutrition. By the ‘60s, vegetarian nutrition started making an appearance in western societies. Still, in the 1990s the opinion was that the vegetarian diet had a greater risk, while the risk of meat-eating was small. But flash forward to the 21st century, when we entered into an era that saw headlines that said plant foods could help prevent certain diseases, and a 2002 Time magazine cover asked, “Should you be a vegetarian?”
The future for vegetarian nutrition is bright. People no longer want animals to suffer, to be killed, and to live miserable lives to please our own taste buds. Who needs that?” asked Leitzmann. “The future for vegetarian nutrition also includes issues of health and hygiene. People no longer want to suffer from the obesity epidemic, especially for their children. They are concerned about sustainability; people want a stable quality of life for themselves, their children, and for years to come. We, as consumers, have to build the future.
Image: Farmers Market, Pasadena, CA by Sharon Palmer, RDN