AUTHOR: Anderson, Martha Jane

PUBLICATION: Social Life and Vegetarianism. Mt. Lebanon, N.Y. : [United Society of Believers], 1893.

 

References vegetarianism and kitchen labor; also makes a link among “veteran vegetarians” who have been involved in reform movements for years; vegetarianism and Grahamism, abolition, women’s rights, Temperance, and dress reform.

RELATED TITLES:
Graham, Sylvester.

North Family of Shakers. Mount Lebanon Cedar Boughs

 

The “Introduction” provides context and information about the Shakers or “United Society of Believers.” Each society comprises between two and six  families in a community and each society is “under the counsel and direction of a central Ministry or Bishopric” (1-2). Each family includes two Elders and two Eldresses: “As there is perfect equality of the sexes in our home, guaranteed by the law of absolute purity, which frees woman from masculine dominance, the sisterhood are insured the right to manage their own affairs, to carry on such work as they deem proper and profitable in earning an honest livelihood” (2).

“Health Notes from Mount Lebanon” describes the kitchen and cooking tools, including a cold room which is kept cool by piping in mountain water. “It lessens the labor considerably not to cook meat, and after some twenty years’ experience, we find we can do as well without it. There are veteran vegetarians among us who have worked many years in the field of reform, but with most of us it has been a gradual growth” (4-5). Anderson claims that those who come to live in the community are often made healthier by the diet, which she describes: “Our breakfast usually consists of oatmeal or wheat mush, baked or boiled potatoes, tomatoes cooked with milk and bread crumbs, warm apple sauce and Graham pie. ... Dinner is more varied. There are three kinds of vegetables, sometimes the addition of soup, plain fruit sauce, either pie, pudding, or other boiled dessert. ... For supper we have boiled rice with sugar and cream, or mashed potato, tomato stew, apples baked, or in sauce, and preserves. We frequently have the addition of fresh creamed cottage cheese or crisp celery; the latter we think good for the nerves” (5). “Tea and coffee are used on our table in moderate quantities, no one taking more than one cupful at a meal; some prefer hot water” (7).  Anderson recommends that the poor save their money and buy fruit instead of meat, thus saving on medicine as well (8). “The more one becomes accustomed to plain food, the finer grows the sense of taste; rich, greasy viands become alike obnoxious to sight, palate and stomach” (8).

The community does not use feather mattresses (11) and in matters of dress “The sisters wear knit or flannel underwear in winter, and our skirts are attached to waists. We do not encase ourselves in corsets, believing that nature constructed the intercostal muscle and ribs to be self-supporting, and that any artificial aid weakens the thorax and compresses the vitals to the detriment of the health, besides destroying freedom of motion” (14). The “Common Sense Recipes” that follow begin with a number of explicitly Graham-inspired dishes (bread, pie-crust, gruel), soups, and vegetable recipes. While some of the recipes call for butter or cream, the consumption of fat is discouraged. The poem "Table Monitor" concludes the short book, by stressing the avoidance of waste and rich combinations of foods by following the advice given.