Caucasian Vegetarians (1855)

AUTHOR: Alcott, William Andrus

KEYWORDS: food and diet, race

SUMMARY (Ridvan Askin, edited Deborah Madsen):

Alcott addresses “opponents of a radical dietetic reform” who believe that “a well-selected vegetable diet is insufficient to give needful strength.” Alcott asserts that there is ample  empirical evidence to the contrary. One proof is the prevalence of vegetarianism and Temperance in the Caucasus region. Alcott relies on, and cites, an article from the National Magazine to make his case. According to that article, Alcott writes, the people of the Caucasus barely drink alcohol and depend on a predominantly vegetarian diet. In fact, their warriors apparently only live on very small daily rations of “grain mixed with honey.” Alcott relies on the National Magazine's racist depiction of these fighters as particularly strong, fierce, and prone to murder as evidence that vegetarianism does not cause a weak physical constitution, since “their simple vegetarian fare” quite obviously does not disadvantage the people of the Caucasus - not even on the battle-field. In passing, Alcott mentions the “rice eaters” of India and Japan, who subsist “on a handful of rice and a little fruit.” Again citing the article from the National Magazine, Alcott ends the article by emphasizing that any doubts concerning vegetarianism are obviously misplaced in the face of the “strong and symmetrical Caucasian maintaining 'great muscular strength and wonderful power of endurance' through life, on four ounces of grain a day with a little honey, or, perhaps, four ounces of grain and honey both.”

Last updated on May 18th, 2024

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