Vegetable Diet As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in All Ages

by Alcott, William A.; Thomas, Anna

• ISBN13: 9781449423148
• ISBN10: 1449423140
• Edition: Facsimile
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-10-16
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Summary

The dedicated lifestyle philosophy advocated in Alcott's Vegetable Dietmight have been written by a contemporary vegetarian food critic. Alcott's complete disdain for meat and all animal products consumed as food would, in fact, be called a vegan diet. His book focuses on the superiority of a vegetable diet for supporting health and recovering from disease, and it contains dozens of letters testifying to that belief by various medical experts and many citizens who report in great detail the benefits of the vegetable diet for their health and lifestyle. In addition, the book includes a complete defense of the vegetable diet on anatomical, physiological, medical, political, economic, and moral grounds, with the final argument devoted to the immorality of men "plunging their hands in blood," as antithetical to the tenets of true Christianity. The book also contains chapters on the nature and preparation, through narrative recipes, of "farinaceous or mealy substances," fruits, roots, buds, shoots, leaves, and stalks, as well as "receipts" for most of the common garden vegetables of the day. More a defense of the vegan lifestyle than a cookbook, Alcott's passionate assertions that disease could be cured and health enhanced by the program was debated, debunked, and successfully disseminated widely throughout the northeastern region of the new country.

Author Biography

William A. Alcott (1798-1859), physician, relative of Little Women author Louisa May Alcott, and founding member of the American Vegetarian Society, was also an educator, reformer, physician, and author of 108 books. He became one of the most prolific authors in early American history, and he wrote frequently on health and educational reform, as well as physical education, school and house design, family life, and diet. Many of his works are still widely cited today.