Full Of Beans…….

Beans, Logic & Consistency

The Roots of Veganism

When reading these old texts, please remember that there were very few vegetarian / vegan eating places in those days. London’s first vegetarian restaurants opened in the 1870s.

Gradual change was often advised in books / journals – firstly giving up eating the meat of land animals – then giving up eating fish – then leaving dairy & eggs. Intensive factory farming was not yet the norm.

Color Guide!

Purple = quotes. Brown = old vocabulary usage. Blue = links. Red = major points.

 ‘Full of beans, as usual?’

….after enjoying a delicious ‘Bean Steak’ ….costing 1/6. Tongue in cheek & double entendre.

full of beans = lively; in high spirits. The Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms says the idiom comes from horses, which were “in good condition” when fed a diet of beans.

&

full of beans = with a tummy full of beans after eating a ‘Bean Steak’.

The postcard is undated.

It was used in 1934, the same year that our Ernest Bell Library was conceived.

The Beaneater (1580-90) by Annibale Carracci – source

Mock meats, made from beans & grains, were being served in British restaurants 80+ years ago – ……they were also being eaten in China 1000+ years ago.

Tofu, a popular meat analogue, was invented in China by the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD). Drawings of tofu production have been discovered in a Han dynasty tomb. Its use as a meat analogue is recorded in a document written by Tao Gu (903–970). Tao describes how tofu was popularly known as “small mutton” (xiao zaiyang), which shows that the Chinese valued tofu as an imitation meat. Tofu was widely consumed during the Tang dynasty (618–907), and likely spread to Japan during the later Tang or early Song dynasty. source

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Food Reform by Henry S. Salt – Westminster Review, October 1886

– on beans, logic, consistency & more – click here for the full essay

Excerpts –

~ It has been shown over and over again by chemical analysis that animal food contains no nutriment that cannot also be obtained from the vegetable kingdom. Wheat-meal, oatmeal, peas, beans, lentils, and haricots, are more nutritious, pound for pound, than beef or mutton; and they possess the additional advantage of being nutritious without being stimulating. ~

In the same essay Salt predicts the arrival of veganism. Remember the date – 1886. Salt calls veganism – a perfectly consistent diet.

~ The moderate use of eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and, some think, even of fish, is not necessarily censurable, and often furnishes a modus vivendi to would-be vegetarians, who cannot see their way all at once to the adoption of a perfectly consistent diet. ~

modus vivendi =  a Latin phrase signifying a temporary state of living with conflicting values – intended to be eventually replaced by a more substantial and thorough solution.

consistent – an adjective = (of an argument or set of ideas) not containing any logical contradictions.

a perfectly consistent diet = Henry S. Salt’s somewhat cumbersome title for, what we today call, vegan eating = a diet containing no logical contradictions.

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There have been full vegans in the UK since the 1830s – about some pioneers.

London’s first vegan residential community – ‘The Concordium’ – ran from around 1838 to 1848. The Concordium’s  goal was to produce – “integral men & women” – ……”whole men & women”. 

In the late 1840s & the 1850s, vegan pioneers Elizabeth and William Horsell, actively leafleted in London & farther afield, broadcasting the clear message that: –

~ ….it was not enough that one should give up the use of flesh, one should become a whole, and not a half  person, and give up the use of tea, coffee, cheese, eggs, and milk. ~

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The Logic of Vegetarianism; Essays and Dialogues by Henry S. Salt

– more logic, consistency & the coming of veganism. Written in the late 1890s. The 1st edition was published in 1899.

From ivu.org – ~ Salt earned his living from writing, and he was dependent on ovo-lacto-vegetarians as both publishers and readers, so had to work within their current view while diplomatically pointing to a different future. ~

The edition published by Ernest Bell in 1906 – read it here

page 11

Superior Person : But in this case I understand that it is quite possible to be consistent. There are individuals, are there not, who live upon a purely vegetable diet, without using milk or eggs? Now, those are the people whose action one can at least appreciate and respect.

Vegetarian : Quite so. We fully admit that they are in advance of their fellows. We regard them as pioneers, who are now anticipating a future phase of our movement.

Superior Person: You admit, then, that this extreme vegetarianism is the more ideal diet?

Vegetarian : Yes. To do more than you have undertaken to do is a mark of signal merit; but no discredit attaches on that account to those who have done what they undertook. We hold that “the first step,” as Tolstoy has expressed it, is to clear oneself of all complicity in the horrible business of the slaughterhouse.

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Large quantities of Salt are very good for us (when it is Henry S. Salt).

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Back to the postcard – The artist was Frederick ‘Fred’ Spurgin – (1882-1968) – born Izydor Spungin in Latvia.

For this card he uses his pseudonym ‘C. U. Grin’. He came to Britain with his parents and two brothers in 1900.

THE LONDON GAZETTE, 6 FEBRUARY, 1925.

NATURALIZATION – LIST of ALIENS to whom Certificates of Naturalization have been granted by the Secretary of State,…… – Spungin, Izydor (known as Frederick Spurgin); Russia; Artist and Designer; 3, The Croft, Stanley Gardens, Hampstead, London. 16 January, 1925.

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I have little doubt that the proposal for the establishment of an Ernest Bell Library,

which would specialize in humanitarian and progressive literature,

and so form a sort of centre for students, will meet with a wide response. 

Henry S. Salt – writing in September 1934

The Henry Salt Archive is one of our, almost completed, projects.

The Humanitarian League is our Hong Kong registered charity.

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If anyone would like more information, please send an email to: –

humanitarianleague (at) outlook (dot) com

– or message me through HappyCow

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