Vegetable Diet (1843)

A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the mid-Victorian diet with details of food types, storage, weekly menus & preparation.

American Literature, 2013

Handbook of Eating and Drinking

The philosophical literature may seem to be replete with arguments for vegetarianism based on harm to animals. However, these arguments turn out to be arguments for veganism, not vegetarianism. This chapter explores whether anything can be said for vegetarianism. Some reasons motivating vegetarianism seem to be very personal, and so not the sorts of things that could be the foundation of a moral argument. Meanwhile, though they may hold some weight, arguments about vegetarianism as a “middle way” between veganism and omnivorism are highly contingent. Both of these routes, then, may seem unsatisfying to the vegetarian. Could there be a principled case for vegetarianism? Tzachi Zamir is the one philosopher who has argued at length for vegetarianism over veganism, but a close examination of his arguments show that they are not as compelling as they first seem. A final option remains open: there may be potential for arguments critiquing the eating of animals’ flesh and/or their bodies that are independent of concerns about harms to animals in food production. Such arguments, which have been hinted at in animal ethics, offer a critique of meat consumption, but not, necessarily, of egg and dairy consumption. Perhaps, then, they could form the basis of a principled case for vegetarianism that does not immediately become a case for veganism. The consequences of such an argument, if one can be made, are not simple.

The Journal of American Culture, 1979

Heap high the farmer's wintery hoard Heap high the golden corn, No richer gift has autumn poured From out our lavish horn. This verse from a n ode to the ear of corn, written by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1890) reveals a n attitude toward food which seems quaint from today's vantage point. Its lines are imbued with a sense of wonder and of heart-felt thankfulness for this simple, staple food. Today corn can be purchased canned, frozen, shucked, popped, puffed, dried, flaked, salted, carmalized, ground, baked, fried and ready for roasting. It is available everywhere and to everyone, every season of the year. There are few who view its ripening as a dramatic autumnal event which determines survival itself. Today's poets no longer seem inspired to dote upon the harvest. Artists too have changed their approach to the depiction of our most basic need: food. The still life is today, as it always has been, a n art form which remains closely associated with the home. Instead of presenting the sublime, the cosmic and philosophic or the religious, still life limits itself to prosaic subject matter. As such it provides a n ideal barometer of life as it is actually lived. The conventions of still life painting have altered during the past 200 years. These changes document the shifts in the growth, preservation, marketing and consumption of food. Up until the first half of the nineteenth century, mealtime, for the average person, was a dreary routine. Each item on the table required nurturing, weeding or feeding, harvesting or slaughtering. The entire backbreaking cycle from growth to consumption was completed on the homestead. Food was a necessity to be satisfied as efficiently as possible. Since fruits, vegetables and dairy products could not be preserved in these prerefrigeration, precanning and pre-freezing days, all but the most wealthy people existed on a basic diet of corn pone and salt pork known as the "hawg 'n' hominy" diet. These foods were commonly served three times a day, twelve months a year. One can imagine the delight which accompanied the few weeks every year when fresh fruits and vegetables were available to vary this dull 463

Archives in Biomedical Engineering & Biotechnology

Food is and always has been a serious issue for public health, agriculture, the environment, and ethics. First, a brief sketch of the history of the philosophical vegetarianism is offered. This overview will allow several contemporary concerns about agricultural systems, resultant environmental harms, threats to public health, food insecurity, and dietary choices to be historically contextualized and interrelated. The conceptual map presented more or less chronologically here does not pretend to be comprehensive. But despite its necessary incompleteness and unavoidable selectivity the hope is that it may prove of modest use to inform food-secure consumers who enjoy a range of healthy food options, desire to safeguard public health, support sustainable agriculture, maintain ecological integrity, and work for climate stability. In the Western hemisphere, the idea of philosophical vegetarianism has a history of nearly 1,000 years in ancient Greece. The belief that it is wrong to eat animals was propounded by many of the most eminent ancient philosophers: Pythagoras, Empedocles, Theophrastus, who succeeded Aristotle as head of the Lyceum, Plutarch, Plotinus, and Porphyry. Porphyry, a prolific polymath, compiled a wide range of arguments against vegetarianism, critiqued them in detail, and defended at length his own Plotinian arguments for vegetarianism, in his work De Abstinentia ab Esu Animalium [1]. In ancient Rome, Pythagoras' arguments for philosophical vegetarianism won over the Stoic philosopher, statesman, orator, and dramatist Seneca, who reported improved health and vigor as benefits of abstaining from meat. Seneca believed that Stoic philosophy, which grounds the virtues of wisdom, justice, and temperance in pursuit of living in agreement with nature, dictates simple, simply prepared, frugal meals of foods that are close at hand. Thus, Seneca advocated moderate, unfussy eating and condemned foods requiring great labor, expense, or trouble. Seafood, imported foods, meat from hunted animals, and exotic mushrooms he criticized as decadent luxuries. The respected Roman Stoic teacher Musonius Rufus also emphasized the virtues of simplicity and frugality in eating. He argued that the proper diet consists of the least expensive and most readily available foods: raw fruits in season, raw and cooked vegetables, milk, cheese, honeycombs, and cooked grains. Like Seneca, Musonius rejected meat as too crude for human beings and more suitable for wild animals. Musonius concluded that responsible people favor what is easy to obtain over what is difficult, what involves no trouble over what does, and what is available over what isn't, because doing so promotes self-control and virtue of character. For him, these values called for a lacto-vegetarian diet

2018

Horttechnology, 2003

Vegetarianism dates back to a time before recorded history and, as many anthropologists believe, most early humans ate primarily plant foods, being more gatherers than hunters. Human diets may be adopted for a variety of reasons, including political, esthetic, moral, environmental and economic concerns, religious beliefs, and a desire to consume a more healthy diet. A major factor influencing the vegetarianism movement in the present time is primarily associated with better health. Epidemiologic data support the association between high intake of vegetables and fruit and low risk of chronic diseases and provide evidence to the profound and long-term health benefits of a primarily vegetarian diet. Vegetables and fruit are rich sources of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber as well as biologically active nonnutrient compounds that have a complementary and often multiple mechanisms of actions, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, hypocholesterolemic, and hypolipidemic properties, and mechanisms that stimulate the human immune system. Because of the critical link established between diet and health, consumers have begun to view food as a means of self-care for health promotion and disease prevention. Functional foods are targeted to address specific health concerns, such as high cholesterol or high blood sugar levels, to obtain a desired health benefit. Functional properties identified in a number of plant species have led to a modern day renaissance for the vegetarian movement.

Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology, 1998

Vegcnarianismis increasil'lQ. .il:l worIcIwIde popularity. While there is an abynciance ofJiterature on the nutritional aspe<lts of yegetaria/:llim there remains a paucity of research by social.~ienti~. onveg~tarl.an beliefs, motives and experienceS.Thisf!8per reports an exploratory study to examliW h(JW tt\eldentltYand experiences Of being vegetarian affected•~selection. This entailed the examinatiOr\of the motives fOr converting to vegetariafll$fJ'lasweuas~QVertirne. Also examined were the lIOtialconstnllntsandsocial supPOrts present fOlP'~lgeta..,. i n ' lrelatiOr\ships, availability ofpre~fc;Iod items,and suppor-=~~=~~. •~~r~~~ys:~m~=~~m:e:e~= '='I==-•••.. /~=U:t~=:~~=a:=~~t~t ime will Ii~~e or~Uatec;lther rnoflves. Vegetarians f1nc:1 botIl.~•. apd.$OppOrt for their foodways. S0Cf81 constraints. .~tomaintainthe centrality of meat irithe strUCture of meals. Moreover, vegetarianism affects socl8l i'8IatIonships.

Food and Foodways, 1993

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2015

In this paper I'm going to illustrate and discuss first the Peter Singer's utilitarian approach to the defense of a vegetarian diet. Then I'm going to show some objections to the above-mentioned argument, particularly objections raised by virtue ethicists. Finally I'm trying to build a better argument based on the capabilities approach in Martha Nussbaum's version.