Though we allow that animal products all contain a share of
the nutritive constituents necessary for our existence, because the
animal has taken sustenance from the vegetable kingdom, never-
theless, when we eat flesh, we are but eating grains and vegetables
at second hand. The life that was in the vegetable passes into
the eater; and though we may receive it in part by eating the flesh
of the animal, how much better to get it direct by eating the food
originally provided for our use!
The gift of taste came from God, just as much as sight or
hearing; and we should derive enjoyment from the healthy exer-
cise and proper use of these special senses. Through habitual
indulgence in stimulants, condiments, and highly seasoned foods,
the taste becomes perverted, and as a result, can detect but few
flavors in food, principally salt, sweet, bitter, and sour. By par-
taking of simple, natural foods, carefully prepared, and served in
an appetizing manner, we may so develop the sense of taste as
to find genuine satisfaction in the flavors from the food we are
eating, as a lover of music does in hearing a star musical per-
formance, or as an artist does in seeing some masterpiece in an
art gallery.
The process by which meat is made tender (ripe) is nothing
but partial decomposition. Insidious, poisons are thus developed,
and are added to those present during life. This is not true of
foods from the vegetable kingdom. These contain within them-
selves the very essence of life, manifest in the tiny organ of
reproduction, and if hidden in the earth, will soon give proof of
life within, thus assuring us of the purity and freedom from putre-
faction and poisons of the food that is to build bone and sinew.
44
SCIENCE of FOOD ancC COOKERY
VEGETARIAN DIET AND ENDURANCE
The history of nations, as well as the records of athletic con-
tests, testifies that the vegetarian diet is capable of. developing the
highest degree of strength and endurance. The seemingly in-
vincible. Spartans were an illustration of this fact. The Romans,
moreover, were vegetarians in the days of their prime; and their
degeneracy began when they gave themselves up to the indulgence
of unrestrained appetite, includ-
ing the use of flesh and strong
drink. The fallacy of maintain-
ing that the vegetarian diet will
lessen energy is made plain
when we consider the endurance
of vegetarians generally. In
India, China, and Japan there
are possibly eight hundred mil-
lion people, strong, active,
healthy, and long-lived, the
larger* proportion of whom sel-
dom if ever eat animal flesh.
The Chinese coolie, though
not a. giant in stature, will draw
a load of human freight at the
speed of a horse's trot, for a
distance of from thirty to forty
miles at a time ; and his diet con-
sists of rice, dates, vegetables,
and rarely a small portion of fish. The Hindu messengers, who
carry dispatches long distances, day after day, live principally on
rice. The Irish peasant, who ranks among the most active and ag-
gressive of men, subsists chiefly on potatoes, buttermilk, and simple
cooked vegetables. The native Andean Indian is able to do a day's
work which for its magnitude is said to be beyond comparison with
that of our ordinary day laborer, often carrying on his shoulder
burdens of two hundred pounds weight, day after day ; and his food
is largely bananas and whole meal cereal. The fare of the Russian
Page 24
Presented as published in 1921. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Though we allow that animal products all contain a share of the nutritive constituents necessary for our existence, because the animal has taken sustenance from the vegetable kingdom, nevertheless, when we eat flesh, we are but eating grains and vegetables at second hand. The life that was in the vegetable passes into the eater; and though we may receive it in part by eating the flesh of the animal, how much better to get it direct by eating the food originally provided for our use!
The gift of taste came from God, just as much as sight or hearing; and we should derive enjoyment from the healthy exercise and proper use of these special senses. Through habitual indulgence in stimulants, condiments, and highly seasoned foods, the taste becomes perverted, and as a result, can detect but few flavors in food, principally salt, sweet, bitter, and sour. By partaking of simple, natural foods, carefully prepared, and served in an appetizing manner, we may so develop the sense of taste as to find genuine satisfaction in the flavors from the food we are eating, as a lover of music does in hearing a star musical performance, or as an artist does in seeing some masterpiece in an art gallery.
The process by which meat is made tender (ripe) is nothing but partial decomposition. Insidious, poisons are thus developed, and are added to those present during life. This is not true of foods from the vegetable kingdom. These contain within themselves the very essence of life, manifest in the tiny organ of reproduction, and if hidden in the earth, will soon give proof of life within, thus assuring us of the purity and freedom from putrefaction and poisons of the food that is to build bone and sinew.
VEGETARIAN DIET AND ENDURANCE
The history of nations, as well as the records of athletic contests, testifies that the vegetarian diet is capable of. developing the highest degree of strength and endurance. The seemingly invincible. Spartans were an illustration of this fact. The Romans, moreover, were vegetarians in the days of their prime; and their degeneracy began when they gave themselves up to the indulgence
of unrestrained appetite, including the use of flesh and strong drink. The fallacy of maintaining that the vegetarian diet will lessen energy is made plain when we consider the endurance of vegetarians generally. In India, China, and Japan there are possibly eight hundred million people, strong, active, healthy, and long-lived, the larger* proportion of whom seldom if ever eat animal flesh.
The Chinese coolie, though not a. giant in stature, will draw a load of human freight at the speed of a horse's trot, for a distance of from thirty to forty miles at a time ; and his diet consists of rice, dates, vegetables,
and rarely a small portion of fish. The Hindu messengers, who carry dispatches long distances, day after day, live principally on rice. The Irish peasant, who ranks among the most active and aggressive of men, subsists chiefly on potatoes, buttermilk, and simple cooked vegetables. The native Andean Indian is able to do a day's work which for its magnitude is said to be beyond comparison with that of our ordinary day laborer, often carrying on his shoulder burdens of two hundred pounds weight, day after day ; and his food is largely bananas and whole meal cereal. The fare of the Russian