Veganism and the Romantics Part 2: Battle against Consumerism

Food and consumerism are irrefutably linked and we are all slaves to the system. Today, unsurprisingly, the lowest wealth bracket suffers the highest rates of obesity; after all, good quality food just doesn’t come cheap. However, what we are experiencing today is not an anomaly. We can trace this trend as far back as the 18^th century, where meat prices soared and the poorest people were left without. A working class diet consisted mainly of bread, milk, porridge, potatoes and vegetables; no meat involved. In fact, it’s ludicrous to suppose a poorer person would have access to meat when they could, at times, barely afford bread. As a result of supply and demand, a free market philosophy and poor regulation, the price of bread could rise rapidly, resulting in “bread riots”!

As a result, eating meat became a symbol of greed and extravagance and it was an act only reserved for the upper classes.  The Romantic poets were outraged by the situation and saw a meatless diet as a way to distance themselves from a consumerist society.

Many poorer people were driven to workhouses in order not to starve. Ironically, they received a more balanced diet here than they were able to afford otherwise. The table below was taken from a workhouse in Hertford, 1729.

Verified Vegan

"We can see quite plainly that our present civilisation is built on the exploitation of animals, just as past civilisations were built on the exploitation of slaves, and we believe the spiritual destiny of man is such that in time he will view with abhorrence the idea that men once fed on the products of animals' bodies"  Donald Watson, 1944 

The term ‘vegan’ is a relatively new one, coined in 1944 by a man named Donald Watson; it promotes the abstinence of all animal products. That means no: meat, fish, eggs, dairy, honey or any materials derived from the killing of animals such as silk or leather.

Veganism in modern society is looked upon as something of a cult; when I first found out about the movement several years ago I pictured dread-locked hippies dancing around fires, smearing fruit over each other’s faces and mating with goats. For some reason, that obviously appealed to me and I eventually made the transition myself.

Despite my pledge, I had never really taken the time to learn about the roots of veganism up until recently. What I thought was a modern food revolution had actually taken foundation years before, during the 18^th and 19^th centuries!

Spurred on by this discovery, I have started to dig deeper into the world of veganism and vegetarianism, especially focusing on their appearance and influence in literary texts. Several of these texts will be featured on this blog.