{"id":959,"date":"2011-02-17T01:00:49","date_gmt":"2011-02-17T06:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/info-libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/?p=959"},"modified":"2023-07-07T18:27:49","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T18:27:49","slug":"1902","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/02\/17\/1902\/","title":{"rendered":"Year 42 – 1902: A Comprehensive Guide-Book to Natural, Hygienic & Humane Diet by Sidney H. Beard"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Published: New York, 1902<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sign of the times point most distinctly to a rapidly approaching era in which Man will return to his original food, and by so doing enter into a much happier and more peaceful state of existence upon this planet.\u201d \u2014 Stephen H. Beard<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that this idealistic plea for vegetarianism was written in Britain in 1902 rather than, say, California in the 1970s, but it\u2019s true. \u00a0At the turn of the 20th century, Britain was in the midst of a food reform movement. \u00a0Vegetarianism, once the domain of fringe religious and political groups, had made some serious inroads into mainstream culture. \u00a0For example, the Vegetarian Society, established in 1847 for the promotion of vegetarian acceptance and understanding, by 1900 could claim over five thousand members. \u00a0Even a few Masonic lodges had resolved to be entirely \u201cflesh-free.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sidney Hartnoll Beard was a leading proponent of the movement and a popular lecturer at universities and community halls. \u00a0He was acutely aware of the growing acceptance of vegetarianism, and saw an opportunity for greater exposure. \u00a0Though his early writings had included a host of incendiary titles \u2014 Ten Reasons Why the Use of Flesh-Food should be Abandoned by All Humane, Cultured, Philanthropic and Religious Persons<\/em>, and Is Flesh-Eating Morally Defensible?<\/em> among them \u2014 he chose a much gentler title for this, his first book to be published in both Britain and the U.S.<\/p>\n

A cursory glance through A Comprehensive Guide-Book<\/em> yields plenty of strange or obsolete foods (nuttose, protose, plasmon) along with bizarre, long-abandoned health advice (eating fruits and vegetables at the same meal is a \u201chygienic blunder\u201d). Further inspection, however, reveals Beard\u2019s book to be an earnest plea for conscientious health that seems remarkably prescient, given today\u2019s local\/organic\/natural food movement. \u00a0He recommends certain fruit juices for their anti-oxidant properties; he encourages an Eastern-inspired notion of moderation; and, perhaps most perceptively, he recommends simple methods of cooking that bring out food\u2019s natural flavor rather than hiding it with the endless cascades of bland, \"\"<\/a>unhealthy gravy so common to British and American diets at the time.<\/p>\n

Considered a seminal classic today, the book received mixed reviews at the time of its publication. \u00a0Publishers\u2019 Weekly<\/em> praised its abundance of \u201ctoothsome dishes\u201d that will appeal to \u201cevery house-keeper, irrespective of her food-creed.\u201d \u00a0New England Magazine<\/em>, however, was skeptical of recipes \u201ccopiously interlarded with preachments intended \u2018to stimulate the growth of the higher self.\u2019\u201d Still, the magazine did praise Beard, if only cynically, for his respectable, though ultimately futile effort to convert \u201chuman carnivora\u201d to vegetarianism.<\/p>\n

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Find it in the library<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published: New York, 1902 \u201cThe sign of the times point most distinctly to a rapidly approaching era in which Man will return to his original food, and by so doing enter into a much happier and more peaceful state of existence upon this planet.\u201d \u2014 Stephen H. Beard It\u2019s hard to believe that this idealistic plea for vegetarianism was written in Britain in 1902 rather than, say, California in the 1970s, but it\u2019s true. \u00a0At the turn of the 20th century, Britain was in the midst of a food reform movement. \u00a0Vegetarianism, once the domain of fringe religious and political […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":false,"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=959"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4253,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959\/revisions\/4253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}