Guest guest Posted March 23, 2006 Report Share Posted March 23, 2006 Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) Vegetarianism: The Road to Satyagraha -------- Arun M. Sannuti The world remembers Mohandas K. Gandhi as a great man, who taught the power of peace. Without this message, Gandhi would have just been another revolutionary, just another nationalist, in a country that was struggling to throw off the rule of a foreign nation. Where did Gandhi discover this message? How was he able to learn his method when all the other nationalists were learning to fight? He learned it one step at a time, and as one of his first steps, he became a true vegetarian, someone who chose vegetarianism because of beliefs and morals, not due simply to a cultural heritage. Vegetarianism is rooted in Indian culture and religion as a part of the doctrine of ahimsa, which the Vedas espouse and which Gandhi later appropriated for his own Satyagrahi movement. Ahimsa, in the Vedic tradition, means " having no ill feeling for any living being, in all manners possible and for all times... it should be the desired goal of all seekers. " (1) The Laws of Manu, one of the sacred texts of the Hinduism, states that " Without the killing of living beings, meat cannot be made available, and since killing is contrary to the principles of ahimsa, one must give up eating meat. " (2) Jainism, which is prominent in Gandhi's home state of Gujarat, espouses strict vegetarianism and restraint from the use of any products made from the slaughter of animals. Vegetarianism pervades the life of all Indians, for even those who do not entirely believe in the religious reasons for avoiding meat, live in a culture where, due to the economics of meat-eating, vegetarianism is a part of life. In India, meat is expensive, a luxury which is not part of the normal lifestyle, and thus difficult to find. Gandhi, when explaining the vegetarian practices of India to his vegetarian friends in England, put it this way: " In practice, almost all the Indians are vegetarians. Some are so voluntarily, and others compulsorily. The latter, though always willing to take, are yet too poor to buy meat. This statement will be borne out by the fact that there are thousands in India who have to live on one pice a day. These live on bread and salt. " (3) This was the culture into which Gandhi was born. Some Indians wanted to discard the old traditions and thus espoused meat-eating, since they believed that the ancient customs made Indians weak and allowed the British to conquer and rule them. Since Britons ate meat, some Indian nationalists pounced on vegetarianism as a deleterious habit. Gandhi's childhood friend, the " tragedy " in his life, Sheik Mehtab believed in the powers of meat-eating. He told the young Gandhi: " We are a weak people because we do not eat meat. The English are able to rule over us, because they are meat-eaters. You know how hardy I am, and how great a runner too. It is because I am a meat-eater. Meat-eaters do not have boils or tumours, and even if they sometimes happen to have any, these heal quickly. Our teachers and other distinguished people who eat meat are no fools. They know its virtues. You should do likewise. There is nothing like trying. Try, and see what strength it gives. " (4) Mehtab also argued that meat-eating would cure Gandhi's other problems, including his irrational fear of the dark. Gandhi observed that both Mehtab and Gandhi's brother, also a meat-eater, possessed greater physical strength and athletic ability than himself. Gandhi saw indications that meat-eating produced stronger and more courageous men, not only in the British culture, but in India as well. The Kshatriyas, the warrior caste of India, had always eaten meat, and it was generally thought that their diet was one of the sources of their strength. (5) With these arguments, Mehtab eventually convinced Gandhi, well hidden from his parents, to eat meat. At first, Gandhi abhorred it. " The goat's meat was as tough as leather. I simply could not eat it. I was sick and had to leave off eating. " (6) However, now that Mehtab knew that Gandhi was convinced of the benefits of eating meat, he would surrender. At extraordinary expense, he managed to get a room in a restaurant and have meat expertly prepared by a trained chef. After eating meat in this manner, hidden from his parents, Gandhi " became a relisher of meat-dishes, if not the meat itself. " (7) Yet this came at a price for the painfully honest young Gandhi. He knew that every time he ate meat, he broke an implicit promise to his parents, especially his mother, who would have regarded her youngest son's meat-eating with horror. Gandhi vowed to give up meat, though he thought at the time, as he said in his autobiography, that " it is essential to eat meat, and also essential to take up food 'reform' in the country. " He tempered his decision by promising himself that " when they are no more and I have found my freedom, I will eat meat openly, but until that moment arrives, I will abstain from it. " (8) Thus, Gandhi based his decision not on the morals or ideals of vegetarianism, but on his desire to honor his parents. Gandhi, by his own admission, was not a true vegetarian. Only his respect for his parents forced him to remain a vegetarian. Gandhi believed in eating meat, because he believed that only by fighting, through physical strength, would his country be free. So, where did Gandhi learn his vegetarianism? From his descriptions of his mother, one can conclude that religion and its culinary aspects occupied a very important portion of her life. Gandhi remembered in his autobiography, " The outstanding impression of my mother has let on my memory is that of saintliness...She would take the hardest vows and keep them without flinching. " (9) He goes on to mention her devotion to God through fasting. Fasting was at the core of her religious life. Yearly, she would fast during Chaturmas, and she often subjected herself to fasting more rigorous than was required by religion or tradition. No doubt, this tradition of renunciation of culinary pleasure included her vegetarianism, though her upbringing was probably such that she never consciously thought of vegetarianism as a sacrifice. Just as his father's proclivity for carnal pleasure and Gandhi's fundamental disrespect for that aspect of his father's psyche, led to brahmacharya, the renunciation of sexual activity, Gandhi's love for his mother and his respect for her fasting capabilities led to his realization that moral strength can be achieved through vegetarianism and fasting. In other ways, Gandhi's true vegetarianism was implicitly tied with his feelings for his mother. As he prepared to study for his law degree in England, others warned him repeatedly that he would end up eating meat, since it was required of those living in England. His mother did not want her son to become a meat-eater, and forced a vow from him; under the administration of a Jain monk, Gandhi vowed to his mother that he would not touch wine, women or meat, and thus secured her permission to go to England. Without this oath, Gandhi might not have ever become a true vegetarian. En route and within England, he had to refuse to eat meat repeatedly. He was told, " It is all very well so far but you will have to revise your decision in the Bay of Biscay. And it is so cold in England that one cannot possibly live there without meat. " (10) When he finally reached England, he discovered the difficulty of continuing the practice of vegetarianism. His landladies, who agreed to provide board as well as housing, did not know what to cook except for boiled vegetables and bread; he described himself as starving at times. Although he had eaten meat previously and considered it a good substance, he stuck to his vow. As he once tearfully told a friend who was badgering him to eat meat, " I also know that you are telling me again and again about [eating meat] because your feel for me. But I am helpless. A vow is a vow. It cannot be broken. " (11) As Erikson explains, the vow represented not simply a promise to Gandhi's mother, but a connection to her, and to his motherland and mother-religion. As long as Gandhi held to his vow, he could escape his home sickness, since he was linked to home through his vow to his mother. Thus, he continually challenged his female associates to help him keep his vow, forcing them to become vicariously his mother, while subtly demanding his male associates to play the part of Mehtab and attempt to convince him to eat meat. (12) In all of his descriptions of England, men were the ones who attacked his vegetarian practices, and women, even meat-eating ones, who tried to support him, at least in some small way. When he returned from England to discover that his mother had died during his absence, his vegetarianism became a permanent connection to her and her memory. No longer could he think of eating meat, even though his parents were " no more " and he had found his " freedom. " But Gandhi could not think of eating meat for a more basic reason than an ethereal connection with his mother. In England he received a revelation, which helped form his vision of the Satyagrahi movement. As Gandhi indicated in the chapter of his autobiography entitled " My choice, " his lifelong vegetarianism did not result from his mother's feelings on the matter; rather, he made a moral decision to keep the practice of vegetarianism. This decision was a necessary change in his life, for if he were simply to be a vegetarian due to his mother's influence, he would not have been a person capable of his own choices. As Erikson posits, " the future Satyagrahi had to learn to choose actively and affirmatively what not to do - an ethical capacity not to be confused with the moralistic inability to break a prohibition. " (13) And choose he did. Even though Gandhi resisted the temptation to break his vow, he still faced the practical problem of finding food for himself. After hearing of vegetarian restaurants in the city from his landlady, he searched for one, and when his quest was over, he said, " The sight of it filled me with the same joy that a child feels on getting a thing after its own heart. " (14) This feeling prophesied the change of heart he was about to experience. In the restaurant, he bought a copy of Salt's " Plea for Vegetarianism " (*), which he read cover to cover. The book discussed the moral reasons for being a vegetarian - the inherent violence present in the eating of meat, and the non-violence that could be achieved from abstaining from it. No longer was Gandhi a vegetarian wishing he were a meat-eater. " The choice was now made in favour of vegetarianism, the spread of which hence forward became my mission. " (15) Gandhi had decided that ahimsa was his goal. It became the core of his Satyagrahi movement, and the core of his life. Gandhi had desired meat because he thought that it would provide the strength that Indians would need to overcome the rule of the British. Yet with his choice for vegetarianism, he realized there are other sources of strength - satyagraha, which had the power to end the British raj, while physical strength alone would have been defeated. After his first step towards this moral strength, he started to study Christianity, Hinduism and the other religions of the world. As he soon found through his studies, " renunciation [is] the highest form of religion. " (16) Renunciation of pleasure became his highest goal, and he delighted in the pursuit of this goal as an origin of satyagraha. Vegetarianism was his first source of this new force, since it was a type of self-control, and fasting, as an extension of vegetarianism, later became the ultimate symbol of his self-control. Once Gandhi abandoned of his idea that abstinence from meat made India weak, he realized some of the truths about his country, which he had been blinded from before. In an article for The Vegetarian, the newsletter of the Vegetarian Society in England, he wrote of other reasons why the British could conquer India and hold it so easily, arguing against his own previous theories: " One of the most important reasons, if not the most important one, is the wretched custom of infant marriages and its attendant evils. Generally, children when they reach the great age of nine are burdened with the fetters of married life...Will not these marriages tell upon the strongest constitutions? Now fancy how weak the progeny of such marriages must be. " (17) This freedom allowed him to see the other social ills that were stripping the nation of India of its strengths, problems that he had not noticed before, including the caste system. It also allowed him to reverse around the traditional western definition of strength, turning it into the definition that made his movement so powerful. Meat-eating was a type of aggression, which Gandhi once thought was the only key to mastery. After becoming a true vegetarian, and thus discovering the ideas of ahimsa, he realized that aggression is a path to mastery for those without self-control. Ahimsa, non-violence, is the path to mastery for those with self-control. The idea of renunciation, also part of the revelation that brought him to vegetarianism, eventually brought him to another major philosophy in his life, that of brahmacharya. Gandhi's choice to become vegetarian started him on the road towards ahimsa, renunciation, and finally, satyagraha itself. Without it, he would have never realized the power of morality and never would have become the Mahatma. Notes: 1.. Patanjali Yoga Sutras, 2. 30, as quoted in Steven Rosen, Food for the Spirit; Vegetarianism and the World Religions, (New York, Bala Books, 1987) p. 72. 2.. Quoted in Rosen, p. 72. 3.. Quoted in Erik H. Erikson, Gandhi's Truth, (New York, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1969) p. 151. 4.. Quoted in Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography, Trans. Mahadev Desai, (New York, Dover Publications, Inc., 1983) p. 17. 5.. Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Lloyd I. Rudolph, Gandhi, TheTraditional Roots of Charisma, (Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1983) p. 23. 6.. Gandhi, p. 19. 7.. Ibid. 8.. Ibid. p. 20. 9.. Ibid. p. 2. 10.. Ibid. p. 38. 11.. Ibid. p. 42. 12.. Erikson, p. 142-145. 13.. Ibid. p. 144. 14.. Gandhi, p. 43. 15.. Ibid. 16.. Ibid. p. 60. 17.. Quoted in Erikson, p. 150. (*) Henry Salt was an English philosopher who published the now classic book Animals' Rights: In Relation to Social Progress in 1892. 50th anniversary of Gandhi’s death The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism By Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi from EVU News, Issue 1 /1998 - Español Speech delivered by Gandhi at a Social Meeting organised by the London Vegetarian Society, 20 November 1931 Mr, Chairman, Fellow Vegetarians, and Friends, when I received the invitation to be present at this meeting, I need not tell you how pleased I was because it revived old memories and recollections of pleasant friendships formed with vegetarians. I feel especially honoured to find on my right, Mr. Henry Salt. It was Mr. Salt’s book ‘ A Plea for Vegetarianism’, which showed me why apart from a hereditary habit, and apart from my adherence to a vow administered to me by my mother, it was right to be a vegetarian. He showed me why it was a moral duty incumbent on vegetarians not to live upon fellow-animals. It is, therefore, a matter of additional pleasure to me that I find Mr. Salt in our midst. I do not propose to take up your time by giving you my various experiences of vegetarianism nor do I want to tell you something of the great difficulty that faced me in London itself in remaining staunch to vegetarianism, but I would like to share with you some of the thoughts that have developed in me in connection with vegetarianism. Forty years ago I used to mix freely with vegetarians. There was at that time hardly a vegetarian restaurant in London that I had not visited. I made it a point, out of curiosity, and to study the possibilities of vegetarianism and vegetarian restaurants in London, to visit every one of them. Naturally, therefore, I came into close contact with many vegetarians. I found, at the tables, that largely the conversation turned upon food and disease. I found also that the vegetarians who were struggling to stick to their vegetarianism were finding it difficult from the health point of view. I do not know whether, nowadays, you have those debates, but I used at that time to attend debates that were held between vegetarians and vegetarians and between vegetarians and non-vegetarians. I remember one such debate, between Dr. Densmore and the late Dr. T. R. Allinson. Then vegetarians had a habit of talking of nothing but food and nothing but disease. I feel that that is the worst way of going about the business. I notice also that it is those persons who become vegetarians because they are suffering from some disease or other – that is, from purely the health point of view – it is those persons who largely fall back. I discovered that for remaining staunch to vegetarianism a man requires a moral basis. For me that was a great discovery in my search after truth. At an early age, in the course of my experiments, I found that a selfish basis would not serve the purpose of taking a man higher and higher along the paths of evolution. What was required. was an altruistic purpose. I found also that health was by no means the monopoly of vegetarians. I found many people having no bias one way or the other and that non-vegetarians were able to show, generally speaking, good health. I found also that several vegetarians found it impossible to remain vegetarians because they had made food a fetish and because they thought that by becoming vegetarians they could eat as much lentil, haricot, beans and cheese as they liked. Of course those people could not possibly keep their health. Observing along these lines, I saw that a man should eat sparingly and now and then fast. No man or woman really ate sparingly or consumed just that quantity which the body requires and no more. We easily fall to prey to the temptations of the palate, and therefore when a thing tastes delicious we do not mind taking a morsel or two more. But you cannot keep health under those circumstances. Therefore I discovered that in order to keep health, no matter what you ate, it was necessary to cut down the quantity of your food, and reduce the number of meals. Become moderate; err on the side of less, rather than on the side of more. When I invite friends to share their meals with me I never press them to take anything except only what they require. On the contrary, I tell them not to take a thing if they do not want it. What I want to bring to your notice is that vegetarians need to be tolerant if they want to convert others to vegetarianism. Adopt a little humility. We should appeal to the moral sense of the people who do not see eye to eye with us. If a vegetarian became ill, and a doctor prescribed beef tea, then I would not call him a vegetarian. A vegetarian is made of sterner stuff. Why? Because it is for the building of the spirit and not of the body. Man is more than meat. It is the spirit in man for which we are concerned. Therefore vegetarians should have that moral basis – that a man was not born a carnivorous animal, but born to live on the fruits and herbs that the earth grows. I know we must all err I would give up milk if I could, but I cannot. I have made that experiment times without number. I could not, after a serious illness, regain my strength, unless I went back to milk. That has been the tragedy of my life. But the basis of my vegetarianism is not physical, but moral. If anybody said that I should die if I did not take beef tea or mutton, even on medical advice, I would prefer death. That is the basis of my vegetarianism. I would love to think that all of us who called ourselves vegetarians should have that basis. There were thousands of meat-eaters who did not stay meat-eaters. There must be a definite reason for our making that change in our lives, from our adopting habits and cus-toms different from society, even though sometimes that change may offend those nearest and dearest to us. Not for the world should you sacrifice a moral principle. Therefore the only basis for having a vegetarian society and proclaiming a vegetarian principle is, and must be, a moral one. I am not to tell you, as I see and wander about the world, that vegetarians, on the whole, enjoy much better health than meat-eaters. I belong to a country which is predominantly vegetarian by habit or necessity. Therefore I cannot testify that that shows much greater endurance, much greater courage, or much greater exemption from disease. Because it is a peculiar, personal thing. It requires obedience, and scrupulous obedience, to all the laws of hygiene. Therefore, I think that what vegetarians should do is not to emphasise the physical consequences of vegetarianism, but to explore the moral consequences. While we have not yet forgotten that we share many things in common with the beast, we do not sufficiently realise there are certain things which differentiate us from the beast. Of course, we have vegetarians in the cow and the bull -- which are better vegetarians than we are - but there is something much higher which calls us to vegetarianism. Therefore, I thought that, during the few minutes which I give myself the privilege of addressing you, I would just emphasise the moral basis of vegetarianism. And I would say that I have found from my own experience, and the experience of thousands of friends and companions, that they find satisfaction, so far as vegetarianism is concerned, from the moral basis they have chosen for sustaining vegetarianism. In conclusion, I thank you all for coming here and allowing me to see vegetarians face to face. I cannot say I used to meet you forty or forty-two years ago. I suppose the faces of the London Vegetarian Society have changed. There are very few members who, like Mr. Salt, can claim association with the Society extending over forty years. Mr. Henry S. Salt was Assistant Master at Eaton 1875-1884, Honorary Secretary of the Humanitarian League, 1891-1919. He has been a vegetarian for over fifty years, and has never had reason to doubt the superiority of the diet. He was an octogenarian at the moment of Gandhi’s speech. and a writer whose opinion of the present ‘civilisation’ may be gathered from the title of his book ’Seventy years among Savages’. -- © European Vegetarian Union - http://www.ivu.org/evu Why Hitler Was Not a Vegetarian by Rynn Berry One of the comments often aimed at those such as myself, who write about famous vegetarians of the past--and how many of them were paragons of virtue who practiced non-violence and compassion--is the following: " But wasn't Hitler a vegetarian?' one such example began when in 1991 I wrote to the New York Times commenting on the vegetarianism of Isaac Bashevis Singer and how this important feature of Singer's life had been glossed over in his recent obituary. I had interviewed Singer for my book Famous Vegetarians and Their Favorite Recipes and he had been vehement on the issue of respect for animals. Two weeks later, under the headline: 'The Vegetarian Road to World Peace,' the Times published a reply to my letter from the well known author and New Yorker essayist, Janet Malcolm. It is worth quoting in full: " Rynn Berry's fine letter about Isaac Bashevis Singer's vegetarianism reminded me of the comment Mr. Singer made at a luncheon to a women who noticed approvingly that he had refused to eat the meat course, and who said that her health had improved when she, too, gave up meat. 'I do it for the health of the chickens,' Mr. Singer said. Mr. Singer's belief, quoted by Mr. Berry, " that everything connected with vegetarianism is of the highest importance, because there will never be any peace in the world so long as we eat animals,' may have puzzled readers. What does eating or not eating meat have to do with world peace? " Milan Kundera gives us the answer on page 289 of The Unbearable Lightness of Being : 'True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind's true moral test (which lies deeply buried from view) consists of its attitude toward those who are at its mercy: the animals. And in this respect, mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.' Janet Malcolm's response to my letter drew a reply from another Times reader. Under the headline " what about Hitler? " the writer castigated Ms. Malcolm for implying that the universal acceptance of vegetarianism will bring about world peace because, 'Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian all his life and wrote extensively on the subject. " To me this response was all-too-predictable; for I have yet to give a talk on vegetarianism in which the tasteless question of Hitler's vegetarianism has not been raised. Invariably, at every bookstore signing, at every lecture, on every phone-in talk show, at least one person has asked me half mockingly: " Is Hitler in your book? " or " Why didn't you put Hitler in your book? " Following the latest letter on September, 1991, the New York Times published two rejoinders to this question. Under the headline, " Don't Put Hitler Among the Vegetarians, " the correspondent(Richard Schwartz, author of Judaism and Vegetarianism ) pointed out that Hitler would occasionally go on vegetarian binges to cure himself of excessive sweatiness and flatulence, but that his main diet was meat-centered. He also cited Robert Payne, Albert Speer, and other well-known Hitler biographers, who mentioned Hitler's predilection for such non-vegetarian foods as Bavarian sausages, ham, liver, and game. Furthermore, it was argued, if Hitler had been a vegetarian, he would not have banned vegetarian organizations in Germany and the occupied countries; nor would he have failed to urge a meatless diet on the German people as a way of coping with Germany's World War II food shortage. Under the headline, " He Loved His Squab, " another correspondent cited a passage from a cookbook that had been written by a European chef, Dione Lucas, who was an eyewitness to Hitler's meat-eating. In her Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook (1964), Lucas, drawing on her experiences as a hotel chef in Hamburg during the 1930s, remembered being called upon quite often to prepare Hitler's favorite dish, which was not a vegetarian one. " I do not mean to spoil your appetite for stuffed squab, " she writes, " but you might be interested to know that it was a great favorite with Mr. Hitler, who dined at the hotel often. Let us not hold that against a fine recipe though. " Not even the august New York Times has a staff large enough to verify all the facts in the letters published in the Letters to the Editor section; so I decided to look up the specific passages in Payne's biography of Hitler and Dione Lucas's The Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook that cast doubt on Hitler's vegetarianism. Sure enough, Robert Payne, whose biography of Hitler, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, has been called definitive, scotches the rumor that Hitler might have been a vegetarian. According to Payne, Hitler's vegetarianism was a fiction made up by his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels to give him the aura of a revolutionary ascetic, a Fascistic Gandhi, if you will. It is worth quoting from Payne's biography directly: " Hitler's asceticism played an important part in the image he projected over Germany. According to the widely believed legend, he neither smoked nor drank, nor did he eat meat or have anything to do with women. Only the first was true. He drank beer and diluted wine frequently, had a special fondness for Bavarian sausages and kept a mistress, Eva Braun, who lived with him quietly in the Berghof. There had been other discreet affairs with women. His asceticism was fiction invented by Goebbels to emphasize his total dedication, his self-control, the distance that separated him from other men. By this outward show of asceticism, he could claim that he was dedicated to the service of his people. " " In fact, he was remarkably self-indulgent and possessed none of the instincts of the ascetic. His cook, an enormously fat man named Willy Kanneneberg, produced exquisite meals and acted as court jester. Although Hitler had no fondness for meat except in the form of sausages, and never ate fish, he enjoyed caviar. He was a connoisseur of sweets, crystallized fruit and cream cakes, which he consumed in astonishing quantities. He drank tea and coffee drowned in cream and sugar. No dictator ever had a sweeter tooth. " So there we have it: Hitler doted on Bavarian sausages and caviar. Not even the loosest definition of vegetarianism could be stretched to fit these gastronomic abominations. Yet, because non-vegetarians often have an elastic definition of what constitutes a vegetarian, they think that people like Hitler who eat fish, pigeon and sausages are vegetarians. By this criterion, even jackals and hyenas, who eat fruits and vegetables between kills, could be classified as vegetarians. Dr. Roberta Kalechofsky makes a similar point in her essay entitled " Hitler's Vegetarianism: A Question of How You Define Vegetarianism " 2 : " Biographical material about Hitler's alleged or qualified vegetarianism are contradictory. He was sometimes described as a ' vegetarian,' but his fondness for sausages, caviar, and occasionally ham was well known. On the other hand, on the basis of foods he was known to like or eat, 'red meat' is never listed. His alleged vegetarianism was often coupled with a description of him as an ascetic individual. For example, the April 14th, 1996 Sunday magazine edition of the New York Times, celebrating its 100th anniversary, included this early description of Hitler's diet in an article previously published on May 30, 1937, " At Home With The Fuhrer.' " It is well known that Hitler is a vegetarian and does not drink or smoke. His lunch and dinner consist, therefore, for the most part of soup, eggs, vegetables and mineral water, although he occasionally relishes a slice of ham and relieves the tediousness of his diet with such delicacies as caviar... " " The New York Times definition of 'vegetarian,' which included foods such as ham is quite a stretch of definition of 'vegetarian.'3 Quite a strech indeed! Even as early as 1911, the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (one of the most widely consulted reference works) defined vegetarianism as follows " vegetarianism, a comparatively modern word, which came into use about the year 1847, as applied to the use of foods from which fish, flesh and fowl are excluded. " 4 So there really is no excuse for an editor of the New York Time writing in the 1930's to be so misinformed as to have called Hitler a vegetarian. Nevertheless, modern biographers who should also know better, have enshrined the myth that Hitler was a vegetarian simply because they have failed to do their homework in this regard; so their books, while scholarly in other respects, are flawed. Even medical doctors who have penned biographies of Hitler are laughably misinformed about the vegetarian diet that they write about with such an air of pompous authority. To take only the most recent example: Fritz Redlich, MD., in his book Hitler, Diagnosis of A Destructive Prophet, says " Several Hitler associates, amongst them Otto Wagener, reported that Hitler became a vegetarian after the death of his niece Angela (Geli) Raubal in 1931. As a teenager, and young man, Hitler certainly ate meat. He also ate meat during his service in World War I and probably before his imprisonment at Landsberg. Hitler's vegetarianism was quite strict. 5 He praised raw food but did not adhere to a diet of uncooked foods, which was a fad at the time. He avoided any kind of meat, with the exception of an Austrian dish he loved, Leberknodl (liver dumpling). " 6 It's typical that Dr. Redlich doesn't feel called upon to explain how Hitler could be a strict vegetarian and still indulge his passion for liver dumplings! Hitler did not describe himself as a " vegetarian " until 1937. It may have been prompted by an emotional response to the death of his niece who had been in love with him and who may have taken her own life. That at least was the thinking of Hitler's close friend Frau Hess: " He had made such remarks before, and had toyed with the idea of vegetarianism but this time according to Frau Hess, he meant it. From that moment on, Hitler never ate another piece of meat except for liver dumplings. " 7 About this passage, which is cited in John Toland's biography of Hitler, Dr. Kalechofsky comments: " This is consistent with other descriptions of Hitler's diet, which always included some form of meat, whether ham, sausages or liver dumplings. " 8 Furthermore, one could infer that Hitler was not a true vegetarian from the poor state of his health. In his letter to the Times , Richard Schwartz mentioned that Hitler had suffered from excessive sweatiness and flatulence. Besides those maladies, he also suffered from rotting teeth, acute gastric disorders, hardening of the arteries (a typical meat-eater's disease), a liver ailment9 , and he had incurable heart disease (progressive coronary sclerosis)10. His doctors gave him heavy doses of drugs that included a ten per-cent cocaine solution11 , strychnine-based pills12 , and injections of pulverized bull's testicles.13 Certainly, he didn't enjoy the robust health that has come to be associated with vegetarianism; on the contrary, his symptoms were those associated with a heavy intake of animal foods. Moreover, during the Reich, vegetarians were forbidden to organize new groups or to start publications. A leading vegetarian magazine, Vegetarian Warte, suspended publication in Frankfurt in 1933. A competing journal, The Vegetarian Press, was allowed to limp along during the Nazi years, but it was severely hamstrung: It was prohibited from using the term " vegetarian movement, " and it was barred from publishing the time and place of vegetarian gatherings. Consequntly,vegetarians, willing to run the risk of imprisonment or worse, were compelled to meet in secret. Hitler outlawed the Mazdean society--which was based on the vegetarian teachings of Zoroaster--ostensibly because its president, Dr. Rauth, was Jewish. But all other vegetarian societies were declared illegal and were forced to become members of the German Society for Living Reform. Members of these former vegetarian societies were subject to searches in their homes; during these raids, the Gestapo even confiscated books that contained vegetarian recipes. While he was chancellor, Hitler did nothing to advance the cause of vegetarianism in Germany. With a stroke of his pen he could have made vegetarianism the dietary law of the land. Instead, he did everything he could to thwart it. In the course of doing the fact checking in the Hitler biographical literature, I couldn't help noticing how passionate Hitler was in his denunciation of the evils of tobacco. He said, " 'I wouldn't offer a cigar or cigarette to anyone I admired since I would be doing them a bad service. It is universally agreed that non-smokers live longer than smokers. and during sickness have more resistance.' " 14 In fact, he had a standing offer of a gold watch for anyone within his circle who would forswear tobacco. To his mistress, Eva Braun, however, he gave an ultimatum: " 'Either give up smoking or me.' " 15 It struck me that if Hitler had been a bona fide vegetarian, he would have been as outspoken against flesh-eating as he was against smoking, but I searched in vain for any such diatribe. Certainly, there was no standing offer of a gold watch for giving up meat-eating; nor did he give Eva Braun the ultimatum " Give up meat-eating or me. " Finally, I decided to check the reference to Hitler's favorite dish in Dione Lucas's The Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook.. It's worth noting that Dione Lucas was a sort of precursor of the popular television " French " chef, Julia Childe. One of the first to open a successful cooking school in the US, Lucas was also one of the first chefs to popularize French Cuisine on television in the 1950s and 60s. During the 1930s, prior to her coming to the US, she had worked as a chef at a hotel in Hamburg, where Adolf Hitler was one of her regular customers. On one of my book hunting forays, I found a copy of her Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook in a second hand book shop. Blowing off the dust and cobwebs that had settled on its covers, I opened it and turned to page 89. There, as plain as the Chaplinesque mustache on the Fuhrer's face, was Hitler's favorite recipe. " I learned this recipe when I worked as a chef before World War II, in one of the large hotels in Hamburg, Germany. I do not mean to spoil your appetite for stuffed squab, but you might be interested to know that it was a great favorite with Mr. Hitler, who dined at the hotel often. Let us not hold that against a fine recipe though. " 16 Almost as revealing as the opening paragraph was the one that followed it: " One of the great nuisances about eating squab is the dozens of tiny bones you must contend with for every morsel of flesh you get. By the time you have finished, your plate looks like a charnel house, you are exhausted, and there is a lingering suspicion that the game was not worth the candle. " 17 Seated in his Berlin bunker, gripping the 7.65 Walther pistol that would end his life, Hitler must have echoed Lucas's sentiments as he surveyed the ruins of his Reich--the charnel house that was Europe, the physical and mental exhaustion; and the sense that the game was not worth candle. It's all there--the fall of " the thousand year Reich " in a dish of squab! Hitler is presumed to have died from a self-inflicted gun-shot wound; his mistress, Eva Braun, from a self-administered dose of potassium cyanide. When Hitler had consulted his doctor as to the most efficient method of committing suicide, his doctor recommended that he shoot himself through the temple, and at the same time, bite down on an ampoule of potassium cyanide. It is noteworthy that Hitler, this alleged vegetarian and lover of animals, had no compunction about first testing the cyanide on his dog Blondi.18 It is ironic that people should be so willing to gloss over the truth about Isaac Bashevis Singer's absolute commitment to the welfare of animals, yet be so willing to believe a myth about Hitler's vegetarianism. It is also ironic that my letter to the editor about Isaac Bashevis Singer's vegetarianism would have touched off a chain of letters that ended by exploding the myth of Hitler's vegetarianism. Of course, there is no cogent reason why this myth should have embarrassed a movement that contributes so much to " the health of chickens, " as Singer once phrased his concern, the health of humans and the ecological health of the planet. Nonetheless, it doesn't hurt to have it finally settled on the record that Pythagoras, Leonard da Vinci, Tolstoy, Shaw, Gandhi, and Singer were vegetarians, but that Mr. Hitler--who liked his pigeons stuffed and roasted--was not. ---------- About the Author Rynn Berry is the historical advisor to the NAVS (North American Vegetarian Society) and is on the Advisory Board of Earth Save. In his lectures, articles, and books, he has specialized in the study of vegetarianism from an historical perspective. His first book, The New Vegetarians, was a collection of biographical sketches and interviews of famous contemporary vegetarians. His second book, Famous Vegetarians and Their Favorite Recipes is a biographical history of vegetarianism that ranges from Pythagoras and the Buddha to Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, the Beatles and beyond. In his new book Food for the Gods: Vegetarianism and the World's Religions, Rynn has written essays on vegetarianism in each of the world's religions: Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He has also included conversations with prominent vegetarian thinkers from each of these religions. In the back of the book FFG has collected delicious vegan recipes from each religious tradition. Rynn is also the author of the monograph Why Hitler Was Not a Vegetarian, which according to Publisher's Weekly " lays to rest the myth that Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian. " Rynn contributes frequently to both scholarly and spiritual publications. At the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia, where Rynn did his graduate and undergraduate work, he specialized in ancient history and comparative religion A popular lecturer, in New York, where he lives, Rynn teaches a college course on the history of vegetarianism (the first of its kind in the nation). His hobbies include book collecting, listening to classical music, translating ancient Greek authors, and theater-going; his favorite pastimes include running, swimming, tennis and cycling. With co-authors Chris Suzuki and Barry Litsky, Rynn is also the author of the best-selling restaurant and shopping guide, The Vegan Guide to New York City. 1 Robert Payne, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler(New York: Praeger, 1973), pp. 346-7. 2 Roberta Kalechofsky, “Hitler’s Vegetarianism: A Queston of How You Define Vegetarianism,” (Unpublished Essay, 1997). 3 ibid., p.1. 4 “Vegetarianism,” The Encyclopedia Britannica,1911 ed., 27-28, p. 967. 5 Italics mine. 6 Fritz Redlich, Hitler: Diagnosis of a Destructive Prophet(Oxford: OUP, 1998), pp.77-8 7 John Toland Adolf Hitler(Garden City: Doubleday, 1976), p. 256. 8 Kalechofsky, op. cit., p.2. br> 9 Toland, op cit., p.826. 10 ibid.,p.745. 11 ibid., p. 821. 12 ibid., pp. 824-5. br> 13 ibid.,p. 761. 14 ibid., p. 741. 15 ibid.,p. 741. 16 Dione Lucas with Darlene Geis, The Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook (New York: Bernard Geis Associates, 1964), p. 89. 17 ibid.,p.89. 18 Redlich, op. cit., p.216. 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Guest guest Posted March 23, 2006 Report Share Posted March 23, 2006 IMHO, World leaders are remembered by what they leave behind, such as Hitler and his extermination camps, and sometimes by what is not done, such as using non-violence as Gandhi, ML King, Jesus, etc. to effect a change, and thereby effecting a world-change, one creates further separation, hatred and violence and another creates peace, love and harmony... Ahisma comes from within and radiates without... Regardless of eating habits... Ana Nisargadatta , " Adamson " <adamson wrote: > > > Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) > Vegetarianism: The Road to Satyagraha > > > > > > -- ------ > > Arun M. Sannuti > > The world remembers Mohandas K. Gandhi as a great man, who taught > the power of peace. Without this message, Gandhi would have just been > another revolutionary, just another nationalist, in a country that was > struggling to throw off the rule of a foreign nation. Where did Gandhi > discover this message? How was he able to learn his method when all the > other nationalists were learning to fight? He learned it one step at a > time, and as one of his first steps, he became a true vegetarian, > someone who chose vegetarianism because of beliefs and morals, not due > simply to a cultural heritage. > > Vegetarianism is rooted in Indian culture and religion as a part > of the doctrine of ahimsa, which the Vedas espouse and which Gandhi > later appropriated for his own Satyagrahi movement. Ahimsa, in the Vedic > tradition, means " having no ill feeling for any living being, in all > manners possible and for all times... it should be the desired goal of > all seekers. " (1) The Laws of Manu, one of the sacred texts of the > Hinduism, states that " Without the killing of living beings, meat cannot > be made available, and since killing is contrary to the principles of > ahimsa, one must give up eating meat. " (2) Jainism, which is prominent > in Gandhi's home state of Gujarat, espouses strict vegetarianism and > restraint from the use of any products made from the slaughter of > animals. Vegetarianism pervades the life of all Indians, for even those > who do not entirely believe in the religious reasons for avoiding meat, > live in a culture where, due to the economics of meat-eating, > vegetarianism is a part of life. In India, meat is expensive, a luxury > which is not part of the normal lifestyle, and thus difficult to find. > Gandhi, when explaining the vegetarian practices of India to his > vegetarian friends in England, put it this way: > > " In practice, almost all the Indians are vegetarians. Some are so > voluntarily, and others compulsorily. The latter, though always willing > to take, are yet too poor to buy meat. This statement will be borne out > by the fact that there are thousands in India who have to live on one > pice a day. These live on bread and salt. " (3) > > This was the culture into which Gandhi was born. Some Indians > wanted to discard the old traditions and thus espoused meat-eating, > since they believed that the ancient customs made Indians weak and > allowed the British to conquer and rule them. Since Britons ate meat, > some Indian nationalists pounced on vegetarianism as a deleterious > habit. Gandhi's childhood friend, the " tragedy " in his life, Sheik > Mehtab believed in the powers of meat-eating. He told the young Gandhi: > > " We are a weak people because we do not eat meat. The English are > able to rule over us, because they are meat-eaters. You know how hardy I > am, and how great a runner too. It is because I am a meat-eater. > Meat-eaters do not have boils or tumours, and even if they sometimes > happen to have any, these heal quickly. Our teachers and other > distinguished people who eat meat are no fools. They know its virtues. > You should do likewise. There is nothing like trying. Try, and see what > strength it gives. " (4) > > Mehtab also argued that meat-eating would cure Gandhi's other > problems, including his irrational fear of the dark. Gandhi observed > that both Mehtab and Gandhi's brother, also a meat-eater, possessed > greater physical strength and athletic ability than himself. Gandhi saw > indications that meat-eating produced stronger and more courageous men, > not only in the British culture, but in India as well. The Kshatriyas, > the warrior caste of India, had always eaten meat, and it was generally > thought that their diet was one of the sources of their strength. (5) > With these arguments, Mehtab eventually convinced Gandhi, well hidden > from his parents, to eat meat. At first, Gandhi abhorred it. " The goat's > meat was as tough as leather. I simply could not eat it. I was sick and > had to leave off eating. " (6) However, now that Mehtab knew that Gandhi > was convinced of the benefits of eating meat, he would surrender. At > extraordinary expense, he managed to get a room in a restaurant and have > meat expertly prepared by a trained chef. After eating meat in this > manner, hidden from his parents, Gandhi " became a relisher of > meat-dishes, if not the meat itself. " (7) Yet this came at a price for > the painfully honest young Gandhi. He knew that every time he ate meat, > he broke an implicit promise to his parents, especially his mother, who > would have regarded her youngest son's meat-eating with horror. Gandhi > vowed to give up meat, though he thought at the time, as he said in his > autobiography, that " it is essential to eat meat, and also essential to > take up food 'reform' in the country. " He tempered his decision by > promising himself that " when they are no more and I have found my > freedom, I will eat meat openly, but until that moment arrives, I will > abstain from it. " (8) Thus, Gandhi based his decision not on the morals > or ideals of vegetarianism, but on his desire to honor his parents. > Gandhi, by his own admission, was not a true vegetarian. Only his > respect for his parents forced him to remain a vegetarian. Gandhi > believed in eating meat, because he believed that only by fighting, > through physical strength, would his country be free. > > So, where did Gandhi learn his vegetarianism? From his > descriptions of his mother, one can conclude that religion and its > culinary aspects occupied a very important portion of her life. Gandhi > remembered in his autobiography, " The outstanding impression of my > mother has let on my memory is that of saintliness...She would take the > hardest vows and keep them without flinching. " (9) He goes on to mention > her devotion to God through fasting. Fasting was at the core of her > religious life. Yearly, she would fast during Chaturmas, and she often > subjected herself to fasting more rigorous than was required by religion > or tradition. No doubt, this tradition of renunciation of culinary > pleasure included her vegetarianism, though her upbringing was probably > such that she never consciously thought of vegetarianism as a sacrifice. > Just as his father's proclivity for carnal pleasure and Gandhi's > fundamental disrespect for that aspect of his father's psyche, led to > brahmacharya, the renunciation of sexual activity, Gandhi's love for his > mother and his respect for her fasting capabilities led to his > realization that moral strength can be achieved through vegetarianism > and fasting. > > In other ways, Gandhi's true vegetarianism was implicitly tied > with his feelings for his mother. As he prepared to study for his law > degree in England, others warned him repeatedly that he would end up > eating meat, since it was required of those living in England. His > mother did not want her son to become a meat-eater, and forced a vow > from him; under the administration of a Jain monk, Gandhi vowed to his > mother that he would not touch wine, women or meat, and thus secured her > permission to go to England. Without this oath, Gandhi might not have > ever become a true vegetarian. En route and within England, he had to > refuse to eat meat repeatedly. He was told, " It is all very well so far > but you will have to revise your decision in the Bay of Biscay. And it > is so cold in England that one cannot possibly live there without meat. " > (10) When he finally reached England, he discovered the difficulty of > continuing the practice of vegetarianism. His landladies, who agreed to > provide board as well as housing, did not know what to cook except for > boiled vegetables and bread; he described himself as starving at times. > Although he had eaten meat previously and considered it a good > substance, he stuck to his vow. As he once tearfully told a friend who > was badgering him to eat meat, " I also know that you are telling me again > and again about [eating meat] because your feel for me. But I am > helpless. A vow is a vow. It cannot be broken. " (11) > > As Erikson explains, the vow represented not simply a promise to > Gandhi's mother, but a connection to her, and to his motherland and > mother-religion. As long as Gandhi held to his vow, he could escape his > home sickness, since he was linked to home through his vow to his > mother. Thus, he continually challenged his female associates to help > him keep his vow, forcing them to become vicariously his mother, while > subtly demanding his male associates to play the part of Mehtab and > attempt to convince him to eat meat. (12) In all of his descriptions of > England, men were the ones who attacked his vegetarian practices, and > women, even meat-eating ones, who tried to support him, at least in some > small way. When he returned from England to discover that his mother had > died during his absence, his vegetarianism became a permanent connection > to her and her memory. No longer could he think of eating meat, even > though his parents were " no more " and he had found his " freedom. " > > But Gandhi could not think of eating meat for a more basic reason > than an ethereal connection with his mother. In England he received a > revelation, which helped form his vision of the Satyagrahi movement. As > Gandhi indicated in the chapter of his autobiography entitled " My > choice, " his lifelong vegetarianism did not result from his mother's > feelings on the matter; rather, he made a moral decision to keep the > practice of vegetarianism. This decision was a necessary change in his > life, for if he were simply to be a vegetarian due to his mother's > influence, he would not have been a person capable of his own choices. > As Erikson posits, " the future Satyagrahi had to learn to choose > actively and affirmatively what not to do - an ethical capacity not to > be confused with the moralistic inability to break a prohibition. " (13) > > And choose he did. Even though Gandhi resisted the temptation to > break his vow, he still faced the practical problem of finding food for > himself. After hearing of vegetarian restaurants in the city from his > landlady, he searched for one, and when his quest was over, he said, > " The sight of it filled me with the same joy that a child feels on > getting a thing after its own heart. " (14) This feeling prophesied the > change of heart he was about to experience. In the restaurant, he bought > a copy of Salt's " Plea for Vegetarianism " (*), which he read cover to > cover. The book discussed the moral reasons for being a vegetarian - the > inherent violence present in the eating of meat, and the non- violence > that could be achieved from abstaining from it. No longer was Gandhi a > vegetarian wishing he were a meat-eater. " The choice was now made in > favour of vegetarianism, the spread of which hence forward became my > mission. " (15) Gandhi had decided that ahimsa was his goal. It became > the core of his Satyagrahi movement, and the core of his life. > > Gandhi had desired meat because he thought that it would provide > the strength that Indians would need to overcome the rule of the > British. Yet with his choice for vegetarianism, he realized there are > other sources of strength - satyagraha, which had the power to end the > British raj, while physical strength alone would have been defeated. > After his first step towards this moral strength, he started to study > Christianity, Hinduism and the other religions of the world. As he soon > found through his studies, " renunciation [is] the highest form of > religion. " (16) Renunciation of pleasure became his highest goal, and he > delighted in the pursuit of this goal as an origin of satyagraha. > Vegetarianism was his first source of this new force, since it was a > type of self-control, and fasting, as an extension of vegetarianism, > later became the ultimate symbol of his self-control. > > Once Gandhi abandoned of his idea that abstinence from meat made > India weak, he realized some of the truths about his country, which he > had been blinded from before. In an article for The Vegetarian, the > newsletter of the Vegetarian Society in England, he wrote of other > reasons why the British could conquer India and hold it so easily, > arguing against his own previous theories: > > " One of the most important reasons, if not the most important one, > is the wretched custom of infant marriages and its attendant evils. > Generally, children when they reach the great age of nine are burdened > with the fetters of married life...Will not these marriages tell upon > the strongest constitutions? Now fancy how weak the progeny of such > marriages must be. " (17) > > This freedom allowed him to see the other social ills that were > stripping the nation of India of its strengths, problems that he had not > noticed before, including the caste system. It also allowed him to > reverse around the traditional western definition of strength, turning > it into the definition that made his movement so powerful. Meat- eating > was a type of aggression, which Gandhi once thought was the only key to > mastery. After becoming a true vegetarian, and thus discovering the > ideas of ahimsa, he realized that aggression is a path to mastery for > those without self-control. Ahimsa, non-violence, is the path to mastery > for those with self-control. The idea of renunciation, also part of the > revelation that brought him to vegetarianism, eventually brought him to > another major philosophy in his life, that of brahmacharya. Gandhi's > choice to become vegetarian started him on the road towards ahimsa, > renunciation, and finally, satyagraha itself. Without it, he would have > never realized the power of morality and never would have become the > Mahatma. > > Notes: > > 1.. Patanjali Yoga Sutras, 2. 30, as quoted in Steven Rosen, > Food for the Spirit; Vegetarianism and the World Religions, (New York, > Bala Books, 1987) p. 72. > 2.. Quoted in Rosen, p. 72. > 3.. Quoted in Erik H. Erikson, Gandhi's Truth, (New York, W. W. > Norton & Company, Inc., 1969) p. 151. > 4.. Quoted in Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography, Trans. Mahadev > Desai, (New York, Dover Publications, Inc., 1983) p. 17. > 5.. Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Lloyd I. Rudolph, Gandhi, > TheTraditional Roots of Charisma, (Chicago, The University of Chicago > Press, 1983) p. 23. > 6.. Gandhi, p. 19. > 7.. Ibid. > 8.. Ibid. p. 20. > 9.. Ibid. p. 2. > 10.. Ibid. p. 38. > 11.. Ibid. p. 42. > 12.. Erikson, p. 142-145. > 13.. Ibid. p. 144. > 14.. Gandhi, p. 43. > 15.. Ibid. > 16.. Ibid. p. 60. > 17.. Quoted in Erikson, p. 150. > (*) Henry Salt was an English philosopher who published the now > classic book Animals' Rights: In Relation to Social Progress in 1892. > > > 50th anniversary of Gandhi's death > The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism > By Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi > > from EVU News, Issue 1 /1998 - Español > > Speech delivered by Gandhi at a Social Meeting organised by the London > Vegetarian Society, 20 November 1931 > > Mr, Chairman, Fellow Vegetarians, and Friends, > > when I received the invitation to be present at this meeting, I need not > tell you how pleased I was because it revived old memories and > recollections of pleasant friendships formed with vegetarians. I feel > especially honoured to find on my right, Mr. Henry Salt. It was Mr. Salt's > book ` A Plea for Vegetarianism', which showed me why apart from a > hereditary habit, and apart from my adherence to a vow administered to > me by my mother, it was right to be a vegetarian. He showed me why it > was a moral duty incumbent on vegetarians not to live upon > fellow-animals. It is, therefore, a matter of additional pleasure to me > that I find Mr. Salt in our midst. > > I do not propose to take up your time by giving you my various > experiences of vegetarianism nor do I want to tell you something of the > great difficulty that faced me in London itself in remaining staunch to > vegetarianism, but I would like to share with you some of the thoughts > that have developed in me in connection with vegetarianism. Forty years > ago I used to mix freely with vegetarians. There was at that time hardly > a vegetarian restaurant in London that I had not visited. I made it a > point, out of curiosity, and to study the possibilities of vegetarianism > and vegetarian restaurants in London, to visit every one of them. > Naturally, therefore, I came into close contact with many vegetarians. I > found, at the tables, that largely the conversation turned upon food and > disease. I found also that the vegetarians who were struggling to stick > to their vegetarianism were finding it difficult from the health point > of view. > > I do not know whether, nowadays, you have those debates, but I used at > that time to attend debates that were held between vegetarians and > vegetarians and between vegetarians and non-vegetarians. I remember one > such debate, between Dr. Densmore and the late Dr. T. R. Allinson. Then > vegetarians had a habit of talking of nothing but food and nothing but > disease. I feel that that is the worst way of going about the business. > I notice also that it is those persons who become vegetarians because > they are suffering from some disease or other – that is, from purely the > health point of view – it is those persons who largely fall back. I > discovered that for remaining staunch to vegetarianism a man requires a > moral basis. > > For me that was a great discovery in my search after truth. At an early > age, in the course of my experiments, I found that a selfish basis would > not serve the purpose of taking a man higher and higher along the paths > of evolution. What was required. was an altruistic purpose. I found also > that health was by no means the monopoly of vegetarians. I found many > people having no bias one way or the other and that non-vegetarians were > able to show, generally speaking, good health. I found also that several > vegetarians found it impossible to remain vegetarians because they had > made food a fetish and because they thought that by becoming vegetarians > they could eat as much lentil, haricot, beans and cheese as they liked. > Of course those people could not possibly keep their health. > > Observing along these lines, I saw that a man should eat sparingly and > now and then fast. No man or woman really ate sparingly or consumed just > that quantity which the body requires and no more. We easily fall to > prey to the temptations of the palate, and therefore when a thing tastes > delicious we do not mind taking a morsel or two more. But you cannot > keep health under those circumstances. Therefore I discovered that in > order to keep health, no matter what you ate, it was necessary to cut > down the quantity of your food, and reduce the number of meals. Become > moderate; err on the side of less, rather than on the side of more. When > I invite friends to share their meals with me I never press them to take > anything except only what they require. On the contrary, I tell them not > to take a thing if they do not want it. > > What I want to bring to your notice is that vegetarians need to be > tolerant if they want to convert others to vegetarianism. Adopt a little > humility. We should appeal to the moral sense of the people who do not > see eye to eye with us. If a vegetarian became ill, and a doctor > prescribed beef tea, then I would not call him a vegetarian. A > vegetarian is made of sterner stuff. Why? Because it is for the building > of the spirit and not of the body. Man is more than meat. It is the > spirit in man for which we are concerned. Therefore vegetarians should > have that moral basis – that a man was not born a carnivorous animal, > but born to live on the fruits and herbs that the earth grows. I know we > must all err I would give up milk if I could, but I cannot. I have made > that experiment times without number. I could not, after a serious > illness, regain my strength, unless I went back to milk. That has been > the tragedy of my life. But the basis of my vegetarianism is not > physical, but moral. If anybody said that I should die if I did not take > beef tea or mutton, even on medical advice, I would prefer death. That > is the basis of my vegetarianism. > > I would love to think that all of us who called ourselves vegetarians > should have that basis. There were thousands of meat-eaters who did not > stay meat-eaters. There must be a definite reason for our making that > change in our lives, from our adopting habits and cus-toms different > from society, even though sometimes that change may offend those nearest > and dearest to us. Not for the world should you sacrifice a moral > principle. Therefore the only basis for having a vegetarian society and > proclaiming a vegetarian principle is, and must be, a moral one. I am > not to tell you, as I see and wander about the world, that vegetarians, > on the whole, enjoy much better health than meat-eaters. I belong to a > country which is predominantly vegetarian by habit or necessity. > Therefore I cannot testify that that shows much greater endurance, much > greater courage, or much greater exemption from disease. Because it is a > peculiar, personal thing. It requires obedience, and scrupulous > obedience, to all the laws of hygiene. > > Therefore, I think that what vegetarians should do is not to emphasise > the physical consequences of vegetarianism, but to explore the moral > consequences. While we have not yet forgotten that we share many things > in common with the beast, we do not sufficiently realise there are > certain things which differentiate us from the beast. Of course, we have > vegetarians in the cow and the bull -- which are better vegetarians than > we are - but there is something much higher which calls us to > vegetarianism. Therefore, I thought that, during the few minutes which I > give myself the privilege of addressing you, I would just emphasise the > moral basis of vegetarianism. And I would say that I have found from my > own experience, and the experience of thousands of friends and > companions, that they find satisfaction, so far as vegetarianism is > concerned, from the moral basis they have chosen for sustaining > vegetarianism. In conclusion, I thank you all for coming here and > allowing me to see vegetarians face to face. I cannot say I used to meet > you forty or forty-two years ago. I suppose the faces of the London > Vegetarian Society have changed. There are very few members who, like > Mr. Salt, can claim association with the Society extending over forty > years. > > Mr. Henry S. Salt was Assistant Master at Eaton 1875-1884, Honorary > Secretary of the Humanitarian League, 1891-1919. He has been a > vegetarian for over fifty years, and has never had reason to doubt the > superiority of the diet. He was an octogenarian at the moment of Gandhi's > speech. and a writer whose opinion of the present `civilisation' may be > gathered from the title of his book 'Seventy years among Savages'. > > > -- ------------ > > > > © European Vegetarian Union - http://www.ivu.org/evu > > Why Hitler Was Not a Vegetarian > by Rynn Berry > > One of the comments often aimed at those such as myself, who write about > famous vegetarians of the past--and how many of them were paragons of > virtue who practiced non-violence and compassion--is the following: " > But wasn't Hitler a vegetarian?' one such example began when in 1991 I > wrote to the New York Times commenting on the vegetarianism of Isaac > Bashevis Singer and how this important feature of Singer's life had been > glossed over in his recent obituary. I had interviewed Singer for my > book Famous Vegetarians and Their Favorite Recipes and he had been > vehement on the issue of respect for animals. > > Two weeks later, under the headline: 'The Vegetarian Road to World > Peace,' the Times published a reply to my letter from the well known > author and New Yorker essayist, Janet Malcolm. It is worth quoting in > full: " Rynn Berry's fine letter about Isaac Bashevis Singer's > vegetarianism reminded me of the comment Mr. Singer made at a luncheon > to a women who noticed approvingly that he had refused to eat the meat > course, and who said that her health had improved when she, too, gave up > meat. 'I do it for the health of the chickens,' Mr. Singer said. > > Mr. Singer's belief, quoted by Mr. Berry, " that everything connected > with vegetarianism is of the highest importance, because there will > never be any peace in the world so long as we eat animals,' may have > puzzled readers. What does eating or not eating meat have to do with > world peace? > > " Milan Kundera gives us the answer on page 289 of The Unbearable > Lightness of Being : > > 'True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the > fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind's true moral test > (which lies deeply buried from view) consists of its attitude toward > those who are at its mercy: the animals. And in this respect, mankind > has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all > others stem from it.' > > Janet Malcolm's response to my letter drew a reply from another Times > reader. Under the headline " what about Hitler? " the writer castigated > Ms. Malcolm for implying that the universal acceptance of vegetarianism > will bring about world peace because, 'Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian all > his life and wrote extensively on the subject. " > > To me this response was all-too-predictable; for I have yet to give a > talk on vegetarianism in which the tasteless question of Hitler's > vegetarianism has not been raised. Invariably, at every bookstore > signing, at every lecture, on every phone-in talk show, at least one > person has asked me half mockingly: " Is Hitler in your book? " or " Why > didn't you put Hitler in your book? " > > Following the latest letter on September, 1991, the New York Times > published two rejoinders to this question. Under the headline, " Don't > Put Hitler Among the Vegetarians, " the correspondent(Richard Schwartz, > author of Judaism and Vegetarianism ) pointed out that Hitler would > occasionally go on vegetarian binges to cure himself of excessive > sweatiness and flatulence, but that his main diet was meat- centered. He > also cited Robert Payne, Albert Speer, and other well-known Hitler > biographers, who mentioned Hitler's predilection for such non- vegetarian > foods as Bavarian sausages, ham, liver, and game. Furthermore, it was > argued, if Hitler had been a vegetarian, he would not have banned > vegetarian organizations in Germany and the occupied countries; nor > would he have failed to urge a meatless diet on the German people as a > way of coping with Germany's World War II food shortage. > > Under the headline, " He Loved His Squab, " another correspondent cited a > passage from a cookbook that had been written by a European chef, Dione > Lucas, who was an eyewitness to Hitler's meat-eating. In her Gourmet > Cooking School Cookbook (1964), Lucas, drawing on her experiences as a > hotel chef in Hamburg during the 1930s, remembered being called upon > quite often to prepare Hitler's favorite dish, which was not a > vegetarian one. " I do not mean to spoil your appetite for stuffed > squab, " she writes, " but you might be interested to know that it was a > great favorite with Mr. Hitler, who dined at the hotel often. Let us not > hold that against a fine recipe though. " > > Not even the august New York Times has a staff large enough to verify > all the facts in the letters published in the Letters to the Editor > section; so I decided to look up the specific passages in Payne's > biography of Hitler and Dione Lucas's The Gourmet Cooking School > Cookbook that cast doubt on Hitler's vegetarianism. Sure enough, Robert > Payne, whose biography of Hitler, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, > has been called definitive, scotches the rumor that Hitler might have > been a vegetarian. According to Payne, Hitler's vegetarianism was a > fiction made up by his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels to give him > the aura of a revolutionary ascetic, a Fascistic Gandhi, if you will. It > is worth quoting from Payne's biography directly: > > " Hitler's asceticism played an important part in the image he projected > over Germany. According to the widely believed legend, he neither smoked > nor drank, nor did he eat meat or have anything to do with women. Only > the first was true. He drank beer and diluted wine frequently, had a > special fondness for Bavarian sausages and kept a mistress, Eva Braun, > who lived with him quietly in the Berghof. There had been other discreet > affairs with women. His asceticism was fiction invented by Goebbels to > emphasize his total dedication, his self-control, the distance that > separated him from other men. By this outward show of asceticism, he > could claim that he was dedicated to the service of his people. " > > " In fact, he was remarkably self-indulgent and possessed none of the > instincts of the ascetic. His cook, an enormously fat man named Willy > Kanneneberg, produced exquisite meals and acted as court jester. > Although Hitler had no fondness for meat except in the form of sausages, > and never ate fish, he enjoyed caviar. He was a connoisseur of sweets, > crystallized fruit and cream cakes, which he consumed in astonishing > quantities. He drank tea and coffee drowned in cream and sugar. No > dictator ever had a sweeter tooth. " > > So there we have it: Hitler doted on Bavarian sausages and caviar. Not > even the loosest definition of vegetarianism could be stretched to fit > these gastronomic abominations. Yet, because non-vegetarians often have > an elastic definition of what constitutes a vegetarian, they think that > people like Hitler who eat fish, pigeon and sausages are vegetarians. By > this criterion, even jackals and hyenas, who eat fruits and vegetables > between kills, could be classified as vegetarians. Dr. Roberta > Kalechofsky makes a similar point in her essay entitled " Hitler's > Vegetarianism: A Question of How You Define Vegetarianism " 2 : > > " Biographical material about Hitler's alleged or qualified vegetarianism > are contradictory. He was sometimes described as a ' vegetarian,' but > his fondness for sausages, caviar, and occasionally ham was well known. > On the other hand, on the basis of foods he was known to like or eat, > 'red meat' is never listed. His alleged vegetarianism was often coupled > with a description of him as an ascetic individual. For example, the > April 14th, 1996 Sunday magazine edition of the New York Times, > celebrating its 100th anniversary, included this early description of > Hitler's diet in an article previously published on May 30, 1937, " At > Home With The Fuhrer.' > > " It is well known that Hitler is a vegetarian and does not drink or > smoke. His lunch and dinner consist, therefore, for the most part of > soup, eggs, vegetables and mineral water, although he occasionally > relishes a slice of ham and relieves the tediousness of his diet with > such delicacies as caviar... " > > " The New York Times definition of 'vegetarian,' which included foods > such as ham is quite a stretch of definition of 'vegetarian.'3 > > Quite a strech indeed! Even as early as 1911, the 11th edition of the > Encyclopedia Britannica (one of the most widely consulted reference > works) defined vegetarianism as follows " vegetarianism, a comparatively > modern word, which came into use about the year 1847, as applied to the > use of foods from which fish, flesh and fowl are excluded. " 4 So there > really is no excuse for an editor of the New York Time writing in the > 1930's to be so misinformed as to have called Hitler a vegetarian. > > Nevertheless, modern biographers who should also know better, have > enshrined the myth that Hitler was a vegetarian simply because they have > failed to do their homework in this regard; so their books, while > scholarly in other respects, are flawed. Even medical doctors who have > penned biographies of Hitler are laughably misinformed about the > vegetarian diet that they write about with such an air of pompous > authority. To take only the most recent example: Fritz Redlich, MD., in > his book Hitler, Diagnosis of A Destructive Prophet, says " Several > Hitler associates, amongst them Otto Wagener, reported that Hitler > became a vegetarian after the death of his niece Angela (Geli) Raubal in > 1931. As a teenager, and young man, Hitler certainly ate meat. He also > ate meat during his service in World War I and probably before his > imprisonment at Landsberg. Hitler's vegetarianism was quite strict. 5 He > praised raw food but did not adhere to a diet of uncooked foods, which > was a fad at the time. He avoided any kind of meat, with the exception > of an Austrian dish he loved, Leberknodl (liver dumpling). " 6 It's > typical that Dr. Redlich doesn't feel called upon to explain how Hitler > could be a strict vegetarian and still indulge his passion for liver > dumplings! > > Hitler did not describe himself as a " vegetarian " until 1937. It may > have been prompted by an emotional response to the death of his niece > who had been in love with him and who may have taken her own life. That > at least was the thinking of Hitler's close friend Frau Hess: " He had > made such remarks before, and had toyed with the idea of vegetarianism > but this time according to Frau Hess, he meant it. From that moment on, > Hitler never ate another piece of meat except for liver dumplings. " 7 > About this passage, which is cited in John Toland's biography of Hitler, > Dr. Kalechofsky comments: " This is consistent with other descriptions of > Hitler's diet, which always included some form of meat, whether ham, > sausages or liver dumplings. " 8 > > Furthermore, one could infer that Hitler was not a true vegetarian from > the poor state of his health. In his letter to the Times , Richard > Schwartz mentioned that Hitler had suffered from excessive sweatiness > and flatulence. Besides those maladies, he also suffered from rotting > teeth, acute gastric disorders, hardening of the arteries (a typical > meat-eater's disease), a liver ailment9 , and he had incurable heart > disease (progressive coronary sclerosis)10. His doctors gave him heavy > doses of drugs that included a ten per-cent cocaine solution11 , > strychnine-based pills12 , and injections of pulverized bull's > testicles.13 Certainly, he didn't enjoy the robust health that has come > to be associated with vegetarianism; on the contrary, his symptoms were > those associated with a heavy intake of animal foods. > > Moreover, during the Reich, vegetarians were forbidden to organize new > groups or to start publications. A leading vegetarian magazine, > Vegetarian Warte, suspended publication in Frankfurt in 1933. A > competing journal, The Vegetarian Press, was allowed to limp along > during the Nazi years, but it was severely hamstrung: It was prohibited > from using the term " vegetarian movement, " and it was barred from > publishing the time and place of vegetarian gatherings. > > Consequntly,vegetarians, willing to run the risk of imprisonment or > worse, were compelled to meet in secret. Hitler outlawed the Mazdean > society--which was based on the vegetarian teachings of > Zoroaster--ostensibly because its president, Dr. Rauth, was Jewish. But > all other vegetarian societies were declared illegal and were forced to > become members of the German Society for Living Reform. Members of these > former vegetarian societies were subject to searches in their homes; > during these raids, the Gestapo even confiscated books that contained > vegetarian recipes. While he was chancellor, Hitler did nothing to > advance the cause of vegetarianism in Germany. With a stroke of his pen > he could have made vegetarianism the dietary law of the land. Instead, > he did everything he could to thwart it. > > In the course of doing the fact checking in the Hitler biographical > literature, I couldn't help noticing how passionate Hitler was in his > denunciation of the evils of tobacco. He said, " 'I wouldn't offer a > cigar or cigarette to anyone I admired since I would be doing them a bad > service. It is universally agreed that non-smokers live longer than > smokers. and during sickness have more resistance.' " 14 In fact, he had > a standing offer of a gold watch for anyone within his circle who would > forswear tobacco. To his mistress, Eva Braun, however, he gave an > ultimatum: " 'Either give up smoking or me.' " 15 It struck me that if > Hitler had been a bona fide vegetarian, he would have been as outspoken > against flesh-eating as he was against smoking, but I searched in vain > for any such diatribe. Certainly, there was no standing offer of a gold > watch for giving up meat-eating; nor did he give Eva Braun the ultimatum > " Give up meat-eating or me. " > > Finally, I decided to check the reference to Hitler's favorite dish in > Dione Lucas's The Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook.. It's worth noting > that Dione Lucas was a sort of precursor of the popular television > " French " chef, Julia Childe. One of the first to open a successful > cooking school in the US, Lucas was also one of the first chefs to > popularize French Cuisine on television in the 1950s and 60s. During the > 1930s, prior to her coming to the US, she had worked as a chef at a > hotel in Hamburg, where Adolf Hitler was one of her regular customers. > On one of my book hunting forays, I found a copy of her Gourmet Cooking > School Cookbook in a second hand book shop. Blowing off the dust and > cobwebs that had settled on its covers, I opened it and turned to page > 89. There, as plain as the Chaplinesque mustache on the Fuhrer's face, > was Hitler's favorite recipe. > > " I learned this recipe when I worked as a chef before World War II, in > one of the large hotels in Hamburg, Germany. I do not mean to spoil your > appetite for stuffed squab, but you might be interested to know that it > was a great favorite with Mr. Hitler, who dined at the hotel often. Let > us not hold that against a fine recipe though. " 16 > > Almost as revealing as the opening paragraph was the one that followed > it: " One of the great nuisances about eating squab is the dozens of tiny > bones you must contend with for every morsel of flesh you get. By the > time you have finished, your plate looks like a charnel house, you are > exhausted, and there is a lingering suspicion that the game was not > worth the candle. " 17 Seated in his Berlin bunker, gripping the 7.65 > Walther pistol that would end his life, Hitler must have echoed Lucas's > sentiments as he surveyed the ruins of his Reich--the charnel house that > was Europe, the physical and mental exhaustion; and the sense that the > game was not worth candle. It's all there--the fall of " the thousand > year Reich " in a dish of squab! > > Hitler is presumed to have died from a self-inflicted gun-shot wound; > his mistress, Eva Braun, from a self-administered dose of potassium > cyanide. When Hitler had consulted his doctor as to the most efficient > method of committing suicide, his doctor recommended that he shoot > himself through the temple, and at the same time, bite down on an > ampoule of potassium cyanide. It is noteworthy that Hitler, this alleged > vegetarian and lover of animals, had no compunction about first testing > the cyanide on his dog Blondi.18 > > It is ironic that people should be so willing to gloss over the truth > about Isaac Bashevis Singer's absolute commitment to the welfare of > animals, yet be so willing to believe a myth about Hitler's > vegetarianism. It is also ironic that my letter to the editor about > Isaac Bashevis Singer's vegetarianism would have touched off a chain of > letters that ended by exploding the myth of Hitler's vegetarianism. Of > course, there is no cogent reason why this myth should have embarrassed > a movement that contributes so much to " the health of chickens, " as > Singer once phrased his concern, the health of humans and the ecological > health of the planet. Nonetheless, it doesn't hurt to have it finally > settled on the record that Pythagoras, Leonard da Vinci, Tolstoy, Shaw, > Gandhi, and Singer were vegetarians, but that Mr. Hitler--who liked his > pigeons stuffed and roasted--was not. > > ---------- > > About the Author > > Rynn Berry is the historical advisor to the NAVS (North American > Vegetarian Society) and is on the Advisory Board of Earth Save. In his > lectures, articles, and books, he has specialized in the study of > vegetarianism from an historical perspective. His first book, The New > Vegetarians, was a collection of biographical sketches and interviews of > famous contemporary vegetarians. His second book, Famous Vegetarians and > Their Favorite Recipes is a biographical history of vegetarianism that > ranges from Pythagoras and the Buddha to Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis > Singer, the Beatles and beyond. In his new book Food for the Gods: > Vegetarianism and the World's Religions, Rynn has written essays on > vegetarianism in each of the world's religions: Jainism, Buddhism, > Hinduism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He has also included > conversations with prominent vegetarian thinkers from each of these > religions. In the back of the book FFG has collected delicious vegan > recipes from each religious tradition. Rynn is also the author of the > monograph Why Hitler Was Not a Vegetarian, which according to > Publisher's Weekly " lays to rest the myth that Adolf Hitler was a > vegetarian. " Rynn contributes frequently to both scholarly and spiritual > publications. > > At the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia, where Rynn did his > graduate and undergraduate work, he specialized in ancient history and > comparative religion A popular lecturer, in New York, where he lives, > Rynn teaches a college course on the history of vegetarianism (the first > of its kind in the nation). His hobbies include book collecting, > listening to classical music, translating ancient Greek authors, and > theater-going; his favorite pastimes include running, swimming, tennis > and cycling. With co-authors Chris Suzuki and Barry Litsky, Rynn is also > the author of the best-selling restaurant and shopping guide, The Vegan > Guide to New York City. > > 1 Robert Payne, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler(New York: Praeger, > 1973), pp. 346-7. > 2 Roberta Kalechofsky, " Hitler's Vegetarianism: A Queston of How You > Define Vegetarianism, " (Unpublished Essay, 1997). > 3 ibid., p.1. > 4 " Vegetarianism, " The Encyclopedia Britannica,1911 ed., 27-28, p. 967. > 5 Italics mine. > 6 Fritz Redlich, Hitler: Diagnosis of a Destructive Prophet(Oxford: OUP, > 1998), pp.77-8 > 7 John Toland Adolf Hitler(Garden City: Doubleday, 1976), p. 256. > 8 Kalechofsky, op. cit., p.2. br> 9 Toland, op cit., p.826. > 10 ibid.,p.745. > 11 ibid., p. 821. > 12 ibid., pp. 824-5. br> 13 ibid.,p. 761. > 14 ibid., p. 741. > 15 ibid.,p. 741. > 16 Dione Lucas with Darlene Geis, The Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook > (New York: Bernard Geis Associates, 1964), p. 89. > 17 ibid.,p.89. > 18 Redlich, op. cit., p.216. 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Guest guest Posted March 23, 2006 Report Share Posted March 23, 2006 Nisargadatta , " Adamson " <adamson wrote: > > > Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) > Vegetarianism: The Road to Satyagraha > > > > > > -- ------ > > Arun M. Sannuti > > The world remembers Mohandas K. Gandhi as a great man, who taught > the power of peace. Without this message, Gandhi would have just been > another revolutionary, just another nationalist, in a country that was > struggling to throw off the rule of a foreign nation. Where did Gandhi > discover this message? How was he able to learn his method when all the > other nationalists were learning to fight? He learned it one step at a > time, and as one of his first steps, he became a true vegetarian, > someone who chose vegetarianism because of beliefs and morals, not due > simply to a cultural heritage. > > Vegetarianism is rooted in Indian culture and religion as a part > of the doctrine of ahimsa, which the Vedas espouse and which Gandhi > later appropriated for his own Satyagrahi movement. Ahimsa, in the Vedic > tradition, means " having no ill feeling for any living being, in all > manners possible and for all times... it should be the desired goal of > all seekers. " (1) The Laws of Manu, one of the sacred texts of the > Hinduism, states that " Without the killing of living beings, meat cannot > be made available, and since killing is contrary to the principles of > ahimsa, one must give up eating meat. " (2) Jainism, which is prominent > in Gandhi's home state of Gujarat, espouses strict vegetarianism and > restraint from the use of any products made from the slaughter of > animals. Vegetarianism pervades the life of all Indians, for even those > who do not entirely believe in the religious reasons for avoiding meat, > live in a culture where, due to the economics of meat-eating, > vegetarianism is a part of life. In India, meat is expensive, a luxury > which is not part of the normal lifestyle, and thus difficult to find. > Gandhi, when explaining the vegetarian practices of India to his > vegetarian friends in England, put it this way: > > " In practice, almost all the Indians are vegetarians. Some are so > voluntarily, and others compulsorily. The latter, though always willing > to take, are yet too poor to buy meat. This statement will be borne out > by the fact that there are thousands in India who have to live on one > pice a day. These live on bread and salt. " (3) > > This was the culture into which Gandhi was born. Some Indians > wanted to discard the old traditions and thus espoused meat-eating, > since they believed that the ancient customs made Indians weak and > allowed the British to conquer and rule them. Since Britons ate meat, > some Indian nationalists pounced on vegetarianism as a deleterious > habit. Gandhi's childhood friend, the " tragedy " in his life, Sheik > Mehtab believed in the powers of meat-eating. He told the young Gandhi: > > " We are a weak people because we do not eat meat. The English are > able to rule over us, because they are meat-eaters. You know how hardy I > am, and how great a runner too. It is because I am a meat-eater. > Meat-eaters do not have boils or tumours, and even if they sometimes > happen to have any, these heal quickly. Our teachers and other > distinguished people who eat meat are no fools. They know its virtues. > You should do likewise. There is nothing like trying. Try, and see what > strength it gives. " (4) > > Mehtab also argued that meat-eating would cure Gandhi's other > problems, including his irrational fear of the dark. Gandhi observed > that both Mehtab and Gandhi's brother, also a meat-eater, possessed > greater physical strength and athletic ability than himself. Gandhi saw > indications that meat-eating produced stronger and more courageous men, > not only in the British culture, but in India as well. The Kshatriyas, > the warrior caste of India, had always eaten meat, and it was generally > thought that their diet was one of the sources of their strength. (5) > With these arguments, Mehtab eventually convinced Gandhi, well hidden > from his parents, to eat meat. At first, Gandhi abhorred it. " The goat's > meat was as tough as leather. I simply could not eat it. I was sick and > had to leave off eating. " (6) However, now that Mehtab knew that Gandhi > was convinced of the benefits of eating meat, he would surrender. At > extraordinary expense, he managed to get a room in a restaurant and have > meat expertly prepared by a trained chef. After eating meat in this > manner, hidden from his parents, Gandhi " became a relisher of > meat-dishes, if not the meat itself. " (7) Yet this came at a price for > the painfully honest young Gandhi. He knew that every time he ate meat, > he broke an implicit promise to his parents, especially his mother, who > would have regarded her youngest son's meat-eating with horror. Gandhi > vowed to give up meat, though he thought at the time, as he said in his > autobiography, that " it is essential to eat meat, and also essential to > take up food 'reform' in the country. " He tempered his decision by > promising himself that " when they are no more and I have found my > freedom, I will eat meat openly, but until that moment arrives, I will > abstain from it. " (8) Thus, Gandhi based his decision not on the morals > or ideals of vegetarianism, but on his desire to honor his parents. > Gandhi, by his own admission, was not a true vegetarian. Only his > respect for his parents forced him to remain a vegetarian. Gandhi > believed in eating meat, because he believed that only by fighting, > through physical strength, would his country be free. > > So, where did Gandhi learn his vegetarianism? From his > descriptions of his mother, one can conclude that religion and its > culinary aspects occupied a very important portion of her life. Gandhi > remembered in his autobiography, " The outstanding impression of my > mother has let on my memory is that of saintliness...She would take the > hardest vows and keep them without flinching. " (9) He goes on to mention > her devotion to God through fasting. Fasting was at the core of her > religious life. Yearly, she would fast during Chaturmas, and she often > subjected herself to fasting more rigorous than was required by religion > or tradition. No doubt, this tradition of renunciation of culinary > pleasure included her vegetarianism, though her upbringing was probably > such that she never consciously thought of vegetarianism as a sacrifice. > Just as his father's proclivity for carnal pleasure and Gandhi's > fundamental disrespect for that aspect of his father's psyche, led to > brahmacharya, the renunciation of sexual activity, Gandhi's love for his > mother and his respect for her fasting capabilities led to his > realization that moral strength can be achieved through vegetarianism > and fasting. > > In other ways, Gandhi's true vegetarianism was implicitly tied > with his feelings for his mother. As he prepared to study for his law > degree in England, others warned him repeatedly that he would end up > eating meat, since it was required of those living in England. His > mother did not want her son to become a meat-eater, and forced a vow > from him; under the administration of a Jain monk, Gandhi vowed to his > mother that he would not touch wine, women or meat, and thus secured her > permission to go to England. Without this oath, Gandhi might not have > ever become a true vegetarian. En route and within England, he had to > refuse to eat meat repeatedly. He was told, " It is all very well so far > but you will have to revise your decision in the Bay of Biscay. And it > is so cold in England that one cannot possibly live there without meat. " > (10) When he finally reached England, he discovered the difficulty of > continuing the practice of vegetarianism. His landladies, who agreed to > provide board as well as housing, did not know what to cook except for > boiled vegetables and bread; he described himself as starving at times. > Although he had eaten meat previously and considered it a good > substance, he stuck to his vow. As he once tearfully told a friend who > was badgering him to eat meat, " I also know that you are telling me again > and again about [eating meat] because your feel for me. But I am > helpless. A vow is a vow. It cannot be broken. " (11) > > As Erikson explains, the vow represented not simply a promise to > Gandhi's mother, but a connection to her, and to his motherland and > mother-religion. As long as Gandhi held to his vow, he could escape his > home sickness, since he was linked to home through his vow to his > mother. Thus, he continually challenged his female associates to help > him keep his vow, forcing them to become vicariously his mother, while > subtly demanding his male associates to play the part of Mehtab and > attempt to convince him to eat meat. (12) In all of his descriptions of > England, men were the ones who attacked his vegetarian practices, and > women, even meat-eating ones, who tried to support him, at least in some > small way. When he returned from England to discover that his mother had > died during his absence, his vegetarianism became a permanent connection > to her and her memory. No longer could he think of eating meat, even > though his parents were " no more " and he had found his " freedom. " > > But Gandhi could not think of eating meat for a more basic reason > than an ethereal connection with his mother. In England he received a > revelation, which helped form his vision of the Satyagrahi movement. As > Gandhi indicated in the chapter of his autobiography entitled " My > choice, " his lifelong vegetarianism did not result from his mother's > feelings on the matter; rather, he made a moral decision to keep the > practice of vegetarianism. This decision was a necessary change in his > life, for if he were simply to be a vegetarian due to his mother's > influence, he would not have been a person capable of his own choices. > As Erikson posits, " the future Satyagrahi had to learn to choose > actively and affirmatively what not to do - an ethical capacity not to > be confused with the moralistic inability to break a prohibition. " (13) > > And choose he did. Even though Gandhi resisted the temptation to > break his vow, he still faced the practical problem of finding food for > himself. After hearing of vegetarian restaurants in the city from his > landlady, he searched for one, and when his quest was over, he said, > " The sight of it filled me with the same joy that a child feels on > getting a thing after its own heart. " (14) This feeling prophesied the > change of heart he was about to experience. In the restaurant, he bought > a copy of Salt's " Plea for Vegetarianism " (*), which he read cover to > cover. The book discussed the moral reasons for being a vegetarian - the > inherent violence present in the eating of meat, and the non- violence > that could be achieved from abstaining from it. No longer was Gandhi a > vegetarian wishing he were a meat-eater. " The choice was now made in > favour of vegetarianism, the spread of which hence forward became my > mission. " (15) Gandhi had decided that ahimsa was his goal. It became > the core of his Satyagrahi movement, and the core of his life. > > Gandhi had desired meat because he thought that it would provide > the strength that Indians would need to overcome the rule of the > British. Yet with his choice for vegetarianism, he realized there are > other sources of strength - satyagraha, which had the power to end the > British raj, while physical strength alone would have been defeated. > After his first step towards this moral strength, he started to study > Christianity, Hinduism and the other religions of the world. As he soon > found through his studies, " renunciation [is] the highest form of > religion. " (16) Renunciation of pleasure became his highest goal, and he > delighted in the pursuit of this goal as an origin of satyagraha. > Vegetarianism was his first source of this new force, since it was a > type of self-control, and fasting, as an extension of vegetarianism, > later became the ultimate symbol of his self-control. > > Once Gandhi abandoned of his idea that abstinence from meat made > India weak, he realized some of the truths about his country, which he > had been blinded from before. In an article for The Vegetarian, the > newsletter of the Vegetarian Society in England, he wrote of other > reasons why the British could conquer India and hold it so easily, > arguing against his own previous theories: > > " One of the most important reasons, if not the most important one, > is the wretched custom of infant marriages and its attendant evils. > Generally, children when they reach the great age of nine are burdened > with the fetters of married life...Will not these marriages tell upon > the strongest constitutions? Now fancy how weak the progeny of such > marriages must be. " (17) > > This freedom allowed him to see the other social ills that were > stripping the nation of India of its strengths, problems that he had not > noticed before, including the caste system. It also allowed him to > reverse around the traditional western definition of strength, turning > it into the definition that made his movement so powerful. Meat- eating > was a type of aggression, which Gandhi once thought was the only key to > mastery. After becoming a true vegetarian, and thus discovering the > ideas of ahimsa, he realized that aggression is a path to mastery for > those without self-control. Ahimsa, non-violence, is the path to mastery > for those with self-control. The idea of renunciation, also part of the > revelation that brought him to vegetarianism, eventually brought him to > another major philosophy in his life, that of brahmacharya. Gandhi's > choice to become vegetarian started him on the road towards ahimsa, > renunciation, and finally, satyagraha itself. Without it, he would have > never realized the power of morality and never would have become the > Mahatma. > > Notes: > > 1.. Patanjali Yoga Sutras, 2. 30, as quoted in Steven Rosen, > Food for the Spirit; Vegetarianism and the World Religions, (New York, > Bala Books, 1987) p. 72. > 2.. Quoted in Rosen, p. 72. > 3.. Quoted in Erik H. Erikson, Gandhi's Truth, (New York, W. W. > Norton & Company, Inc., 1969) p. 151. > 4.. Quoted in Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography, Trans. Mahadev > Desai, (New York, Dover Publications, Inc., 1983) p. 17. > 5.. Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Lloyd I. Rudolph, Gandhi, > TheTraditional Roots of Charisma, (Chicago, The University of Chicago > Press, 1983) p. 23. > 6.. Gandhi, p. 19. > 7.. Ibid. > 8.. Ibid. p. 20. > 9.. Ibid. p. 2. > 10.. Ibid. p. 38. > 11.. Ibid. p. 42. > 12.. Erikson, p. 142-145. > 13.. Ibid. p. 144. > 14.. Gandhi, p. 43. > 15.. Ibid. > 16.. Ibid. p. 60. > 17.. Quoted in Erikson, p. 150. > (*) Henry Salt was an English philosopher who published the now > classic book Animals' Rights: In Relation to Social Progress in 1892. > > > 50th anniversary of Gandhi's death > The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism > By Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi > > from EVU News, Issue 1 /1998 - Español > > Speech delivered by Gandhi at a Social Meeting organised by the London > Vegetarian Society, 20 November 1931 > > Mr, Chairman, Fellow Vegetarians, and Friends, > > when I received the invitation to be present at this meeting, I need not > tell you how pleased I was because it revived old memories and > recollections of pleasant friendships formed with vegetarians. I feel > especially honoured to find on my right, Mr. Henry Salt. It was Mr. Salt's > book ` A Plea for Vegetarianism', which showed me why apart from a > hereditary habit, and apart from my adherence to a vow administered to > me by my mother, it was right to be a vegetarian. He showed me why it > was a moral duty incumbent on vegetarians not to live upon > fellow-animals. It is, therefore, a matter of additional pleasure to me > that I find Mr. Salt in our midst. > > I do not propose to take up your time by giving you my various > experiences of vegetarianism nor do I want to tell you something of the > great difficulty that faced me in London itself in remaining staunch to > vegetarianism, but I would like to share with you some of the thoughts > that have developed in me in connection with vegetarianism. Forty years > ago I used to mix freely with vegetarians. There was at that time hardly > a vegetarian restaurant in London that I had not visited. I made it a > point, out of curiosity, and to study the possibilities of vegetarianism > and vegetarian restaurants in London, to visit every one of them. > Naturally, therefore, I came into close contact with many vegetarians. I > found, at the tables, that largely the conversation turned upon food and > disease. I found also that the vegetarians who were struggling to stick > to their vegetarianism were finding it difficult from the health point > of view. > > I do not know whether, nowadays, you have those debates, but I used at > that time to attend debates that were held between vegetarians and > vegetarians and between vegetarians and non-vegetarians. I remember one > such debate, between Dr. Densmore and the late Dr. T. R. Allinson. Then > vegetarians had a habit of talking of nothing but food and nothing but > disease. I feel that that is the worst way of going about the business. > I notice also that it is those persons who become vegetarians because > they are suffering from some disease or other – that is, from purely the > health point of view – it is those persons who largely fall back. I > discovered that for remaining staunch to vegetarianism a man requires a > moral basis. > > For me that was a great discovery in my search after truth. At an early > age, in the course of my experiments, I found that a selfish basis would > not serve the purpose of taking a man higher and higher along the paths > of evolution. What was required. was an altruistic purpose. I found also > that health was by no means the monopoly of vegetarians. I found many > people having no bias one way or the other and that non-vegetarians were > able to show, generally speaking, good health. I found also that several > vegetarians found it impossible to remain vegetarians because they had > made food a fetish and because they thought that by becoming vegetarians > they could eat as much lentil, haricot, beans and cheese as they liked. > Of course those people could not possibly keep their health. > > Observing along these lines, I saw that a man should eat sparingly and > now and then fast. No man or woman really ate sparingly or consumed just > that quantity which the body requires and no more. We easily fall to > prey to the temptations of the palate, and therefore when a thing tastes > delicious we do not mind taking a morsel or two more. But you cannot > keep health under those circumstances. Therefore I discovered that in > order to keep health, no matter what you ate, it was necessary to cut > down the quantity of your food, and reduce the number of meals. Become > moderate; err on the side of less, rather than on the side of more. When > I invite friends to share their meals with me I never press them to take > anything except only what they require. On the contrary, I tell them not > to take a thing if they do not want it. > > What I want to bring to your notice is that vegetarians need to be > tolerant if they want to convert others to vegetarianism. Adopt a little > humility. We should appeal to the moral sense of the people who do not > see eye to eye with us. If a vegetarian became ill, and a doctor > prescribed beef tea, then I would not call him a vegetarian. A > vegetarian is made of sterner stuff. Why? Because it is for the building > of the spirit and not of the body. Man is more than meat. It is the > spirit in man for which we are concerned. Therefore vegetarians should > have that moral basis – that a man was not born a carnivorous animal, > but born to live on the fruits and herbs that the earth grows. I know we > must all err I would give up milk if I could, but I cannot. I have made > that experiment times without number. I could not, after a serious > illness, regain my strength, unless I went back to milk. That has been > the tragedy of my life. But the basis of my vegetarianism is not > physical, but moral. If anybody said that I should die if I did not take > beef tea or mutton, even on medical advice, I would prefer death. That > is the basis of my vegetarianism. > > I would love to think that all of us who called ourselves vegetarians > should have that basis. There were thousands of meat-eaters who did not > stay meat-eaters. There must be a definite reason for our making that > change in our lives, from our adopting habits and cus-toms different > from society, even though sometimes that change may offend those nearest > and dearest to us. Not for the world should you sacrifice a moral > principle. Therefore the only basis for having a vegetarian society and > proclaiming a vegetarian principle is, and must be, a moral one. I am > not to tell you, as I see and wander about the world, that vegetarians, > on the whole, enjoy much better health than meat-eaters. I belong to a > country which is predominantly vegetarian by habit or necessity. > Therefore I cannot testify that that shows much greater endurance, much > greater courage, or much greater exemption from disease. Because it is a > peculiar, personal thing. It requires obedience, and scrupulous > obedience, to all the laws of hygiene. > > Therefore, I think that what vegetarians should do is not to emphasise > the physical consequences of vegetarianism, but to explore the moral > consequences. While we have not yet forgotten that we share many things > in common with the beast, we do not sufficiently realise there are > certain things which differentiate us from the beast. Of course, we have > vegetarians in the cow and the bull -- which are better vegetarians than > we are - but there is something much higher which calls us to > vegetarianism. Therefore, I thought that, during the few minutes which I > give myself the privilege of addressing you, I would just emphasise the > moral basis of vegetarianism. And I would say that I have found from my > own experience, and the experience of thousands of friends and > companions, that they find satisfaction, so far as vegetarianism is > concerned, from the moral basis they have chosen for sustaining > vegetarianism. In conclusion, I thank you all for coming here and > allowing me to see vegetarians face to face. I cannot say I used to meet > you forty or forty-two years ago. I suppose the faces of the London > Vegetarian Society have changed. There are very few members who, like > Mr. Salt, can claim association with the Society extending over forty > years. > > Mr. Henry S. Salt was Assistant Master at Eaton 1875-1884, Honorary > Secretary of the Humanitarian League, 1891-1919. He has been a > vegetarian for over fifty years, and has never had reason to doubt the > superiority of the diet. He was an octogenarian at the moment of Gandhi's > speech. and a writer whose opinion of the present `civilisation' may be > gathered from the title of his book 'Seventy years among Savages'. > > > -- ------------ > > > > © European Vegetarian Union - http://www.ivu.org/evu > > Why Hitler Was Not a Vegetarian > by Rynn Berry > > One of the comments often aimed at those such as myself, who write about > famous vegetarians of the past--and how many of them were paragons of > virtue who practiced non-violence and compassion--is the following: " > But wasn't Hitler a vegetarian?' one such example began when in 1991 I > wrote to the New York Times commenting on the vegetarianism of Isaac > Bashevis Singer and how this important feature of Singer's life had been > glossed over in his recent obituary. I had interviewed Singer for my > book Famous Vegetarians and Their Favorite Recipes and he had been > vehement on the issue of respect for animals. > > Two weeks later, under the headline: 'The Vegetarian Road to World > Peace,' the Times published a reply to my letter from the well known > author and New Yorker essayist, Janet Malcolm. It is worth quoting in > full: " Rynn Berry's fine letter about Isaac Bashevis Singer's > vegetarianism reminded me of the comment Mr. Singer made at a luncheon > to a women who noticed approvingly that he had refused to eat the meat > course, and who said that her health had improved when she, too, gave up > meat. 'I do it for the health of the chickens,' Mr. Singer said. > > Mr. Singer's belief, quoted by Mr. Berry, " that everything connected > with vegetarianism is of the highest importance, because there will > never be any peace in the world so long as we eat animals,' may have > puzzled readers. What does eating or not eating meat have to do with > world peace? > > " Milan Kundera gives us the answer on page 289 of The Unbearable > Lightness of Being : > > 'True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the > fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind's true moral test > (which lies deeply buried from view) consists of its attitude toward > those who are at its mercy: the animals. And in this respect, mankind > has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all > others stem from it.' > > Janet Malcolm's response to my letter drew a reply from another Times > reader. Under the headline " what about Hitler? " the writer castigated > Ms. Malcolm for implying that the universal acceptance of vegetarianism > will bring about world peace because, 'Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian all > his life and wrote extensively on the subject. " > > To me this response was all-too-predictable; for I have yet to give a > talk on vegetarianism in which the tasteless question of Hitler's > vegetarianism has not been raised. Invariably, at every bookstore > signing, at every lecture, on every phone-in talk show, at least one > person has asked me half mockingly: " Is Hitler in your book? " or " Why > didn't you put Hitler in your book? " > > Following the latest letter on September, 1991, the New York Times > published two rejoinders to this question. Under the headline, " Don't > Put Hitler Among the Vegetarians, " the correspondent(Richard Schwartz, > author of Judaism and Vegetarianism ) pointed out that Hitler would > occasionally go on vegetarian binges to cure himself of excessive > sweatiness and flatulence, but that his main diet was meat- centered. He > also cited Robert Payne, Albert Speer, and other well-known Hitler > biographers, who mentioned Hitler's predilection for such non- vegetarian > foods as Bavarian sausages, ham, liver, and game. Furthermore, it was > argued, if Hitler had been a vegetarian, he would not have banned > vegetarian organizations in Germany and the occupied countries; nor > would he have failed to urge a meatless diet on the German people as a > way of coping with Germany's World War II food shortage. > > Under the headline, " He Loved His Squab, " another correspondent cited a > passage from a cookbook that had been written by a European chef, Dione > Lucas, who was an eyewitness to Hitler's meat-eating. In her Gourmet > Cooking School Cookbook (1964), Lucas, drawing on her experiences as a > hotel chef in Hamburg during the 1930s, remembered being called upon > quite often to prepare Hitler's favorite dish, which was not a > vegetarian one. " I do not mean to spoil your appetite for stuffed > squab, " she writes, " but you might be interested to know that it was a > great favorite with Mr. Hitler, who dined at the hotel often. Let us not > hold that against a fine recipe though. " > > Not even the august New York Times has a staff large enough to verify > all the facts in the letters published in the Letters to the Editor > section; so I decided to look up the specific passages in Payne's > biography of Hitler and Dione Lucas's The Gourmet Cooking School > Cookbook that cast doubt on Hitler's vegetarianism. Sure enough, Robert > Payne, whose biography of Hitler, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, > has been called definitive, scotches the rumor that Hitler might have > been a vegetarian. According to Payne, Hitler's vegetarianism was a > fiction made up by his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels to give him > the aura of a revolutionary ascetic, a Fascistic Gandhi, if you will. It > is worth quoting from Payne's biography directly: > > " Hitler's asceticism played an important part in the image he projected > over Germany. According to the widely believed legend, he neither smoked > nor drank, nor did he eat meat or have anything to do with women. Only > the first was true. He drank beer and diluted wine frequently, had a > special fondness for Bavarian sausages and kept a mistress, Eva Braun, > who lived with him quietly in the Berghof. There had been other discreet > affairs with women. His asceticism was fiction invented by Goebbels to > emphasize his total dedication, his self-control, the distance that > separated him from other men. By this outward show of asceticism, he > could claim that he was dedicated to the service of his people. " > > " In fact, he was remarkably self-indulgent and possessed none of the > instincts of the ascetic. His cook, an enormously fat man named Willy > Kanneneberg, produced exquisite meals and acted as court jester. > Although Hitler had no fondness for meat except in the form of sausages, > and never ate fish, he enjoyed caviar. He was a connoisseur of sweets, > crystallized fruit and cream cakes, which he consumed in astonishing > quantities. He drank tea and coffee drowned in cream and sugar. No > dictator ever had a sweeter tooth. " > > So there we have it: Hitler doted on Bavarian sausages and caviar. Not > even the loosest definition of vegetarianism could be stretched to fit > these gastronomic abominations. Yet, because non-vegetarians often have > an elastic definition of what constitutes a vegetarian, they think that > people like Hitler who eat fish, pigeon and sausages are vegetarians. By > this criterion, even jackals and hyenas, who eat fruits and vegetables > between kills, could be classified as vegetarians. Dr. Roberta > Kalechofsky makes a similar point in her essay entitled " Hitler's > Vegetarianism: A Question of How You Define Vegetarianism " 2 : > > " Biographical material about Hitler's alleged or qualified vegetarianism > are contradictory. He was sometimes described as a ' vegetarian,' but > his fondness for sausages, caviar, and occasionally ham was well known. > On the other hand, on the basis of foods he was known to like or eat, > 'red meat' is never listed. His alleged vegetarianism was often coupled > with a description of him as an ascetic individual. For example, the > April 14th, 1996 Sunday magazine edition of the New York Times, > celebrating its 100th anniversary, included this early description of > Hitler's diet in an article previously published on May 30, 1937, " At > Home With The Fuhrer.' > > " It is well known that Hitler is a vegetarian and does not drink or > smoke. His lunch and dinner consist, therefore, for the most part of > soup, eggs, vegetables and mineral water, although he occasionally > relishes a slice of ham and relieves the tediousness of his diet with > such delicacies as caviar... " > > " The New York Times definition of 'vegetarian,' which included foods > such as ham is quite a stretch of definition of 'vegetarian.'3 > > Quite a strech indeed! Even as early as 1911, the 11th edition of the > Encyclopedia Britannica (one of the most widely consulted reference > works) defined vegetarianism as follows " vegetarianism, a comparatively > modern word, which came into use about the year 1847, as applied to the > use of foods from which fish, flesh and fowl are excluded. " 4 So there > really is no excuse for an editor of the New York Time writing in the > 1930's to be so misinformed as to have called Hitler a vegetarian. > > Nevertheless, modern biographers who should also know better, have > enshrined the myth that Hitler was a vegetarian simply because they have > failed to do their homework in this regard; so their books, while > scholarly in other respects, are flawed. Even medical doctors who have > penned biographies of Hitler are laughably misinformed about the > vegetarian diet that they write about with such an air of pompous > authority. To take only the most recent example: Fritz Redlich, MD., in > his book Hitler, Diagnosis of A Destructive Prophet, says " Several > Hitler associates, amongst them Otto Wagener, reported that Hitler > became a vegetarian after the death of his niece Angela (Geli) Raubal in > 1931. As a teenager, and young man, Hitler certainly ate meat. He also > ate meat during his service in World War I and probably before his > imprisonment at Landsberg. Hitler's vegetarianism was quite strict. 5 He > praised raw food but did not adhere to a diet of uncooked foods, which > was a fad at the time. He avoided any kind of meat, with the exception > of an Austrian dish he loved, Leberknodl (liver dumpling). " 6 It's > typical that Dr. Redlich doesn't feel called upon to explain how Hitler > could be a strict vegetarian and still indulge his passion for liver > dumplings! > > Hitler did not describe himself as a " vegetarian " until 1937. It may > have been prompted by an emotional response to the death of his niece > who had been in love with him and who may have taken her own life. That > at least was the thinking of Hitler's close friend Frau Hess: " He had > made such remarks before, and had toyed with the idea of vegetarianism > but this time according to Frau Hess, he meant it. From that moment on, > Hitler never ate another piece of meat except for liver dumplings. " 7 > About this passage, which is cited in John Toland's biography of Hitler, > Dr. Kalechofsky comments: " This is consistent with other descriptions of > Hitler's diet, which always included some form of meat, whether ham, > sausages or liver dumplings. " 8 > > Furthermore, one could infer that Hitler was not a true vegetarian from > the poor state of his health. In his letter to the Times , Richard > Schwartz mentioned that Hitler had suffered from excessive sweatiness > and flatulence. Besides those maladies, he also suffered from rotting > teeth, acute gastric disorders, hardening of the arteries (a typical > meat-eater's disease), a liver ailment9 , and he had incurable heart > disease (progressive coronary sclerosis)10. His doctors gave him heavy > doses of drugs that included a ten per-cent cocaine solution11 , > strychnine-based pills12 , and injections of pulverized bull's > testicles.13 Certainly, he didn't enjoy the robust health that has come > to be associated with vegetarianism; on the contrary, his symptoms were > those associated with a heavy intake of animal foods. > > Moreover, during the Reich, vegetarians were forbidden to organize new > groups or to start publications. A leading vegetarian magazine, > Vegetarian Warte, suspended publication in Frankfurt in 1933. A > competing journal, The Vegetarian Press, was allowed to limp along > during the Nazi years, but it was severely hamstrung: It was prohibited > from using the term " vegetarian movement, " and it was barred from > publishing the time and place of vegetarian gatherings. > > Consequntly,vegetarians, willing to run the risk of imprisonment or > worse, were compelled to meet in secret. Hitler outlawed the Mazdean > society--which was based on the vegetarian teachings of > Zoroaster--ostensibly because its president, Dr. Rauth, was Jewish. But > all other vegetarian societies were declared illegal and were forced to > become members of the German Society for Living Reform. Members of these > former vegetarian societies were subject to searches in their homes; > during these raids, the Gestapo even confiscated books that contained > vegetarian recipes. While he was chancellor, Hitler did nothing to > advance the cause of vegetarianism in Germany. With a stroke of his pen > he could have made vegetarianism the dietary law of the land. Instead, > he did everything he could to thwart it. > > In the course of doing the fact checking in the Hitler biographical > literature, I couldn't help noticing how passionate Hitler was in his > denunciation of the evils of tobacco. He said, " 'I wouldn't offer a > cigar or cigarette to anyone I admired since I would be doing them a bad > service. It is universally agreed that non-smokers live longer than > smokers. and during sickness have more resistance.' " 14 In fact, he had > a standing offer of a gold watch for anyone within his circle who would > forswear tobacco. To his mistress, Eva Braun, however, he gave an > ultimatum: " 'Either give up smoking or me.' " 15 It struck me that if > Hitler had been a bona fide vegetarian, he would have been as outspoken > against flesh-eating as he was against smoking, but I searched in vain > for any such diatribe. Certainly, there was no standing offer of a gold > watch for giving up meat-eating; nor did he give Eva Braun the ultimatum > " Give up meat-eating or me. " > > Finally, I decided to check the reference to Hitler's favorite dish in > Dione Lucas's The Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook.. It's worth noting > that Dione Lucas was a sort of precursor of the popular television > " French " chef, Julia Childe. One of the first to open a successful > cooking school in the US, Lucas was also one of the first chefs to > popularize French Cuisine on television in the 1950s and 60s. During the > 1930s, prior to her coming to the US, she had worked as a chef at a > hotel in Hamburg, where Adolf Hitler was one of her regular customers. > On one of my book hunting forays, I found a copy of her Gourmet Cooking > School Cookbook in a second hand book shop. Blowing off the dust and > cobwebs that had settled on its covers, I opened it and turned to page > 89. There, as plain as the Chaplinesque mustache on the Fuhrer's face, > was Hitler's favorite recipe. > > " I learned this recipe when I worked as a chef before World War II, in > one of the large hotels in Hamburg, Germany. I do not mean to spoil your > appetite for stuffed squab, but you might be interested to know that it > was a great favorite with Mr. Hitler, who dined at the hotel often. Let > us not hold that against a fine recipe though. " 16 > > Almost as revealing as the opening paragraph was the one that followed > it: " One of the great nuisances about eating squab is the dozens of tiny > bones you must contend with for every morsel of flesh you get. By the > time you have finished, your plate looks like a charnel house, you are > exhausted, and there is a lingering suspicion that the game was not > worth the candle. " 17 Seated in his Berlin bunker, gripping the 7.65 > Walther pistol that would end his life, Hitler must have echoed Lucas's > sentiments as he surveyed the ruins of his Reich--the charnel house that > was Europe, the physical and mental exhaustion; and the sense that the > game was not worth candle. It's all there--the fall of " the thousand > year Reich " in a dish of squab! > > Hitler is presumed to have died from a self-inflicted gun-shot wound; > his mistress, Eva Braun, from a self-administered dose of potassium > cyanide. When Hitler had consulted his doctor as to the most efficient > method of committing suicide, his doctor recommended that he shoot > himself through the temple, and at the same time, bite down on an > ampoule of potassium cyanide. It is noteworthy that Hitler, this alleged > vegetarian and lover of animals, had no compunction about first testing > the cyanide on his dog Blondi.18 > > It is ironic that people should be so willing to gloss over the truth > about Isaac Bashevis Singer's absolute commitment to the welfare of > animals, yet be so willing to believe a myth about Hitler's > vegetarianism. It is also ironic that my letter to the editor about > Isaac Bashevis Singer's vegetarianism would have touched off a chain of > letters that ended by exploding the myth of Hitler's vegetarianism. Of > course, there is no cogent reason why this myth should have embarrassed > a movement that contributes so much to " the health of chickens, " as > Singer once phrased his concern, the health of humans and the ecological > health of the planet. Nonetheless, it doesn't hurt to have it finally > settled on the record that Pythagoras, Leonard da Vinci, Tolstoy, Shaw, > Gandhi, and Singer were vegetarians, but that Mr. Hitler--who liked his > pigeons stuffed and roasted--was not. > > ---------- > > About the Author > > Rynn Berry is the historical advisor to the NAVS (North American > Vegetarian Society) and is on the Advisory Board of Earth Save. In his > lectures, articles, and books, he has specialized in the study of > vegetarianism from an historical perspective. His first book, The New > Vegetarians, was a collection of biographical sketches and interviews of > famous contemporary vegetarians. His second book, Famous Vegetarians and > Their Favorite Recipes is a biographical history of vegetarianism that > ranges from Pythagoras and the Buddha to Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis > Singer, the Beatles and beyond. In his new book Food for the Gods: > Vegetarianism and the World's Religions, Rynn has written essays on > vegetarianism in each of the world's religions: Jainism, Buddhism, > Hinduism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He has also included > conversations with prominent vegetarian thinkers from each of these > religions. In the back of the book FFG has collected delicious vegan > recipes from each religious tradition. Rynn is also the author of the > monograph Why Hitler Was Not a Vegetarian, which according to > Publisher's Weekly " lays to rest the myth that Adolf Hitler was a > vegetarian. " Rynn contributes frequently to both scholarly and spiritual > publications. > > At the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia, where Rynn did his > graduate and undergraduate work, he specialized in ancient history and > comparative religion A popular lecturer, in New York, where he lives, > Rynn teaches a college course on the history of vegetarianism (the first > of its kind in the nation). His hobbies include book collecting, > listening to classical music, translating ancient Greek authors, and > theater-going; his favorite pastimes include running, swimming, tennis > and cycling. With co-authors Chris Suzuki and Barry Litsky, Rynn is also > the author of the best-selling restaurant and shopping guide, The Vegan > Guide to New York City. > > 1 Robert Payne, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler(New York: Praeger, > 1973), pp. 346-7. > 2 Roberta Kalechofsky, " Hitler's Vegetarianism: A Queston of How You > Define Vegetarianism, " (Unpublished Essay, 1997). > 3 ibid., p.1. > 4 " Vegetarianism, " The Encyclopedia Britannica,1911 ed., 27-28, p. 967. > 5 Italics mine. > 6 Fritz Redlich, Hitler: Diagnosis of a Destructive Prophet(Oxford: OUP, > 1998), pp.77-8 > 7 John Toland Adolf Hitler(Garden City: Doubleday, 1976), p. 256. > 8 Kalechofsky, op. cit., p.2. br> 9 Toland, op cit., p.826. > 10 ibid.,p.745. > 11 ibid., p. 821. > 12 ibid., pp. 824-5. br> 13 ibid.,p. 761. > 14 ibid., p. 741. > 15 ibid.,p. 741. > 16 Dione Lucas with Darlene Geis, The Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook > (New York: Bernard Geis Associates, 1964), p. 89. > 17 ibid.,p.89. > 18 Redlich, op. cit., p.216. > > > Thank you so much. I've been reading your post and re-reading it for some time. What excellent histories you have compiled! I was completely unaware of so much of this information both on the Mahatma and on Hitler. And many of the aspects of the Hindu life and religious culture that you have pointed out are totally fresh, as beforehand I had mainly sought out solely the cerebral philosophies and mythologies and had left unstudied the more practical matters. Thanks also for the picture. I give my highest respect for Gandhi and what he represented in terms of life values. It is also good to know, on another note, that the beast was not as depicted by so many by their innuendo as, " a nice guy personally " . He seems to have been as boorish and inhuman in private as he was in the geopolitical theater. You should post more often. You certainly posses the erudition and research materials if this is any indication to be a terrific contributor. Thanks again and again. Bob Nixon P. S. I'm posting this in the group forum as well in appreciation for your efforts..bn > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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