Vegetarianism

“Those meals! Those endless, extravagant meals in which they all indulged all the year

round!…First two soups, one hot and one cold were served simultaneously; then two kinds of

fish followed, again one hot and one cold. Then came an entrée, then a meat dish, followed by a

sorbet. This was followed by game — grouse or partridge, pheasant, duck, woodcock or snipe.

In the summer, when there was no game, there were quails from Egypt, fattened in Europe, and

ortolans from France ‘which cost a fortune’. An elaborate sweet followed, succeeded by a hot

savory with which was drunk the port so comforting to English palates. The dinner ended with a

succulent array of peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, raspberries, pears and grapes, all

grouped in generous pyramids among the flowers that adorned the table.”

Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the well-to-do sat down to

dinners of alarming richness. The modern vegetarian movement was a reaction to this, and was

derived from the Age of Enlightenment, which emphasized the questioning of traditional

institutions, customs and morals, and the recognition of the need for major reformation of the

human condition. One the earliest vegetarians of the nineteenth century was Percy Bysshe

Shelley, who converted to the meat-less diet in 1812. Fervent in his renunciation of meat

consumption, he also added a political dimension to the cause, citing meat production–which

then was the reserve of the privileged–as a reason for food shortages among society’s most

needy.

Joseph Brotherton, MP and social reformer, was principal in the formation of a traditional

organization of vegetarians. With his wife, who published the first vegetarian cookbook in 1812,
they formed the Vegetarian Society in 1847 at a conference in Ramsgate. By 1853, the Society

boasted of 889 members, all motivated by their beliefs in a “simple life and ‘pure’ food,

humanitarian ideals and strict moral principles.”

The London Food Reform Society was formed in 1877, with baker Dr. T.R. Allinson one

of its founding members. The two societies merged in 1885, with the LFRS becoming the

London branch of The Vegetarian Society until 1888, when there was a breakaway and the

formation of The London Vegetarian Society, with its own publication — The Vegetarian. In

1889 the Vegetarian Federal Union was established with the aim of bringing together all

vegetarian societies, local, national and overseas. 1897 saw the second International Congress in

London. The International Vegetarian Union succeeded the Vegetarian Federal Union in 1908,

and a Congress was held in Nice. Since then, Congresses have taken place in many parts of the

world.

By the 1880s vegetarian restaurants were popular in London, offering cheap and

nutritious meals in respectable settings, and vegetarian cookbooks abounded. Found in every

quarter of the town, the names were cheerful, such as the Apple Tree, within the City precincts,

The Orange Grove in St Martin’s Lane, The Porridge Bowl in Holborn, The Rose, Finsbury

Way, The Waverley in the Borough, and not far from Oxford Street, the Wheatleaf. Porridge was

one of the mainstays of the vegetarian regime and the choices afforded included maize-mash and

wheaten porridge; but the piece de resistance was, naturally, the Scotch oatmeal. Other recipes

available included: vegetable goose, stuffing minus the bird; lentil cutlet with tomato sauce;

steak-pie in a vegetable form; rump-steak from pot herbs; and macaroni, in various forms, was

always in favor. With desserts, there were few things which could not be made on vegetarian
principles–though suet was not allowed, plum pudding could be made without it–plum porridge,

made of boiled wheat, sweetened and spiced, and with raisins. By the standards set by the

Vegetarian Society, all food was cooked with all vegetable salts retained, and with no salt, soda

or other substances added.

In periodicals of the time, two different accounts of a visit to a vegetarian restaurant were

shared:

Passing up a flight of stairs we entered a large, cheerful-looking room, tastefully and quietly

decorated, and lit by incandescent electric lamps…vegetable soup; lentil cutlets with tomato

sauce–shaped like regular cutlets of meat, and were beautifully browned. Mashed potatoes with

the cutlets; finished with a pot of tea. Cost 12 pence (24 American cents) and a penny for the

napkin.

MENU

Soups: Vegetable, mock turtle, lentil

Porridges: with sugar and syrup, oatmeal, wheaten, maize-mush, Anglo-Scotch

Savories: lentil cutlet and tomato sauce, haricots, potatoes and sauce, savory

omelet, rice and tomatoes, macaroni and tomatoes, vegetable roast beef a la

Francaise

Extra vegetables: cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, parsnips, mashed

potatoes, haricots, tomatoes, macaroni, rice

Sweet puddings: tapioca custard, cabinet pudding, lemon cheesecake, bread-and-

butter pudding, macaroni and fruit

 Pastries: plum, damson, apple, pear and apricot tarts

Stewed fruits: figs, dates, plums, French plums, damsons, apricots, apples,

pineapple, pears; with cream, an option

Sundries: tea, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, minerals, soda-and-milk

At Furnivall Street, just off Holborn, a short flight of steps leads one into the

spotless front hall of the Food Reform Restaurant. In the office to the right the

smiling cashier offers you a small pamphlet of Dietetic Hints or a package of

sample menus. At attention are trim waitresses in blue gowns, white caps and

aprons:

Plain course dinner for one shilling: Choice of soup or porridge…3 pence;

a savory…5 pence; a sweet…3 pence; cheddar cheese or fruit; coffee or

lemonade.

Savory is a compound of nuts or vegetables with a sauce, or of two or

three vegetables cooked together such as Rice Milanaise, Baked Potatoes,

Turnip Tops, or Haricot Fritters, Tomato Sauce and Baked Potatoes.

Fresh vegetables in season, cooked, a specialty: choice of cauliflower,

grilled tomatoes, spring cabbage, potatoes in four different ways for 2

pence; boiled parsnips, and a selection of three for 5 pence.

Great attraction of the house is its sixpenny teas. A cup costs 2 pence, a pot 6 pence. A

roll is 1 pence and butter is also pence. This restaurant is liberal: offers watercress, scones,

preserves, buttered tea cake, ripe fruit.

 From the following, more luxurious Vegetarian luncheon, one may suspect that it was not

only the carnivores who made an annual retreat to Marienbad or the cheaper Brighton: Purée de

Céleri à la crème; Omlettes aux tomates; œufs durs au gratin; Risotto milanaise; Asperges;

Sauce hollandaise; Salade de légumes; Crème caramel renversée; Pommes à la royale;

Fromage.

Listed in Mrs. Mill’s Reform Cookery Book were the addresses of vegetarian and health

food stores, where the Edwardian vegetarian could shop for Hovis health bread or flour,

vegetable meats, Muesli, or other vegetable- or nut-based products. In London, the selection of

stores included The Food Reform Restaurant, J.F. Croal, and Mapleton’s Nut Food Company.

Vegetarian stores were available in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool and

Manchester–such as the Pitman Stores in Birmingham and Chapman’s Health Foods Depot in

Liverpool. Even Scottish vegetarians were able to shop wisely and healthily in such stores as

Edinburgh’s Heath Foods Depot, and Glasgow’s The Health Food Supply.

It seems a bit funny that a movement we consider to be “modern” had its roots in the

“repressed” Victorian days, but the more I research, the more I see that our society has a much

deeper tie to our past than we realize.