The Vegetarian Principle (1850)

AUTHOR: Clubb, Henry Stephen

SUMMARY (Ridvan Askin, edited Deborah Madsen)

Responding to a “Query for Vegetarians” published in a previous issue of the Manchester Temperance Reporter, Clubb presents his economic argument in favor of veg*ism, which he supplements with observations on the interrelations among diet, race, climate, and the passions. “[U]nless it can be shown,” Clubb writes, “that to keep animals on the hills or fens, where the plow and the spade are unavailable, is more economical than contenting ourselves with the produce of the arable land” (78), any argument in favor of animal farming is moot. “The fact is,” he continues, “the supposed advantage of feeding cattle on uncultivable land is more than counterbalanced by the expensive process of fattening, which they undergo previous to being slaughtered” (78). Clubb then provides a sample calculation to make his point. He goes on to show that “the produce of the seas and rivers” (78), too, is more expensive than plant-based foods.

Next, relying on a series of racist stereotypes, Clubb counters an argument based on the Inuit's reliance on an almost exclusively animal-based diet: “As to the Esquimaux,” Clubb begins, “it is well known that they are the most degraded, sensual people on the face of the earth” (79). “The climate,” he continues, “of course counteracts the exciting and passionate effects of this fleshly indulgence of the Esquimaux, who is too little developed in his mental powers to become either excessively vicious or moderately virtuous. He stands at the lowest point in the scale of civilisation, and is an unfortunate instance of the advantages (?) of a flesh diet” (79). In other words, for Clubb, climate and the Inuit's natural stupidity combine to give the impression of the advantages of a diet based on animal produce while in fact no such advantages exist.

Conversely, the advantages of a veg*an diet can be reduced by climate and bad habits. Continuing in his racist vein, Clubb asserts: “Circumstances of climate, and habits of smoking, drinking, and chewing opium, &c., which are the failings of the eastern nations, tend very much to destroy the benefits in moral development they might receive from their simple and unexciting diet” (79). Clubb allows that the “same remarks will apply to some Europeans” (79). He ends his article with the observation that a veg*an diet keeps the passions in check while flesh-foods invariably incite them, a point that is confirmed in the animal world, where carnivores tend to be more “ferocious and unclean” while those “which live on vegetable food” tend to be “gentle and clean” – “a proof of the different tendency of these two kinds of diet” (79).