People are vegetarian for different reasons, out of faith, in response to the advocacy of protecting animals, or in order to lose weight. Many famous people in history are vegetarians, and their vegetarianism has a reason. Interestingly, writers will praise the lightness and pleasure brought by vegetarianism in their essays and poems; Musicians will inject quiet melodies into their music-even rock musicians will never forget their soft voices.
If you are interested in learning about vegetarians in history, I would like to strongly recommend Amway's super interesting book-Classic Vegetarian Celebrity Kitchen: Natural Diet from Buddha to Rock Beatles.
Ryan Berry, the author of Classic Vegetarian Celebrity Kitchen, is a historical consultant of the North American Vegetarian Association. He likes to study vegetarianism from a historical point of view and a comparative method between China and the West. The book introduces the wonderful vegetarian life of 30 famous people at home and abroad, such as philosophers such as Pythagoras, Plato and Laozi, religious founders such as Sakyamuni and Jainism, writers such as Shelley, Bernard Shaw and lev tolstoy, politicians such as Mahatma Gandhi, and musicians such as paul mccartney. Why are these celebrities in different fields, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, willing to give up delicious meat? What kind of mental journey have they experienced? How did you persist in your life? More than 2,000 years ago, Plato, Da Vinci, the wise men of ancient Greece, and paul mccartney, a member of the Beatles who dominated the western pop music scene, could they * * * enter a dinner that crossed the time, space and cultural boundaries? In this book, Ryan Berry answers these questions one by one.
Shelley is a brilliant English romantic poet. We often say that "winter has come, can spring be far behind" comes from his poem ode to the west wind. In Classic Vegetarian Celebrity Kitchen, you can find that Shelley's romantic atmosphere, his concern for the universe, his true feelings for nature and his expression of self-emotion are all inseparable from a unique perspective, that is vegetarianism.
Shelley
According to textual research, the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras was "the first person who opposed eating meat" in western history. His thoughts and the statement in the Bible that "the diet God gave to mankind was originally completely vegetarian" have always influenced the West. In Britain in the19th century, it became a trend to promote and publicize vegetarianism. Shelley was also influenced by the idea of "advocating simple life and calling for vegetarianism" at that time and began to eat vegetarian food. He directly wrote two articles promoting vegetarianism, namely 18 12 defending natural diet and 18 13 on vegetarianism. He advocates vegetarianism, believing that it does not violate natural living habits. Shelley linked vegetarianism with human morbid body and moral and political problems caused by morbid body, and thought that before Prometheus, human beings enjoyed vigorous vitality and had no idea what the pain of disaster was. It is because Prometheus stole skyfire and learned to cook that disgusting raw meat became food that human beings can swallow, and it is this impure meat that brought chronic cancer and various diseases to human beings. At the same time, he believes that killing animals and eating their meat will destroy the relationship between man and the natural ecological circle, make man commit crimes physically, defile his soul, go to depravity and trigger various wars. From today's perspective, Shelley's vegetarianism is a bit extreme, but his thoughts are related to his romantic feelings and natural care. He pursues the harmony between man and nature, so he first practices his ideal from the aspect of diet. In fact, Shelley is sickly. On the one hand, he wants to improve his health through vegetarianism, on the other hand, he wants to promote social change and reshape human morality through vegetarianism.
It is worth mentioning that the Indian Mahatma Gandhi mentioned in Classic Vegetarian Celebrity Kitchen was deeply influenced by Shelley's article on defending vegetarianism. He said, "From reading this book, I can declare that I choose to be a vegetarian." Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright mentioned in the book, whose idea of practicing vegetarianism also comes directly from Shelley.
Gandhi, the leader of India's national liberation movement, is regarded as the father of India and a well-known celebrity in Rusu. Gandhi has always been a vegetarian, on the one hand, because of his mother and his belief in Jainism in India, and on the other hand, because of his "non-violence" political proposition. He believes that meat is not a necessity of human daily life, nor is it suitable for human beings. In his autobiography My Experience, he wrote: "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured by how they treat animals. To me, the life of a lamb is as precious as human life. I don't want to take the lamb's life for the human body. The more helpless an animal is, the more human beings should protect it from human abuse. My whole soul hates vivisection, and I think all scientific discoveries stained with innocent blood are worthless. " Gandhi's spiritual thought led India to independence and get rid of British colonial rule, and also deeply influenced nationalism and peaceful change movements all over the world.
Bernard Shaw's
Bernard Shaw is an outstanding Irish playwright, known as a master of humor and satire. He is not only famous for his high drama output, but also attracted much attention for his health and longevity. At the age of 94, someone asked him if he had the secret of longevity. His answer was: "I love vegetarianism and sunshine." Bernard Shaw was born in poverty and developed simple living habits from an early age. Around the age of 25, influenced by Shelley's vegetarianism, he began to really practice vegetarian life. Bernard Shaw's three meals a day are mostly cocoa tea, brown bread, macaroni, lentils, eggs and a certain amount of lettuce. He called eating meat "chewing animal carcasses" and hunting "the thrill of killing". Once, he sprained his ankle and lay in bed. The doctor told him to eat meat to get more protein and promote his recovery. His answer is: I would rather die than let my stomach become an animal's grave.
In addition to the attractive theme, another major feature of Classic Vegetarian Celebrity Kitchen is that each character chapter is accompanied by celebrity's favorite vegetarian recipes, so that every reader can refer to the recipes and cook the same vegetarian dishes of outstanding celebrities. Mr. Ryan Berry attached Napoleon bean salad, bread porridge and Queen Mabel's garden salad to Shelley's chapters (Shelley wrote Queen Mabel and expressed some calls for vegetarianism in the form of poetry). Although most of the recipes in the book are Western-style, Ryan Berry, who likes to compare Chinese and Western cuisines, will definitely refresh you. For example, when introducing Lao Zi, a famous vegetarian in China, he attached recipes with China characteristics, such as "Taoist radish pot", and even a creative vegetarian diet combining Chinese and Western: homemade tofu burger!
Shelley's favorite: Napoleon bean salad
Mahatma Gandhi's recipe: yogurt drupe stew