Raw Food Table (1910)

AUTHOR: Sinclair, Upton

KEYWORDS: diet, health, raw food

Alcott, William
Allen, James Madison
Clubb, Stephen Henry
Graham, Sylvester
Jackson, James Caleb
Kellogg, John Harvey
Nichols, Mary Sargeant Gove
Nichols, Thomas Low
Rumford, Isaac B.
Trall, Russell Thacher
White, Ellen Gould Harmon

SUMMARY (Ridvan Askin, edited Deborah Madsen)

In this article, Upton Sinclair deplores standard American eating habits and promotes instead the raw vegan diet. He begins with an account of Lady Warwick's practice of the diet which, according to Sinclair's tastes, is much too sophisticated and “concocted.” He favors a much more simple, vegan diet predominantly consisting of nuts, fruits, and vegetables. He is convinced that in order “to know what is a proper diet for you to live on, all you have to ask is whether your tree-climbing ancestors would have had it” (137). He claims that “it is not a difficult thing to carry out, when you have once taken the plunge. You have all the arguments on your side, and people are quick to see the sense of it” (139). He criticizes the widespread “use of purgative and laxative drugs,” which he takes to be the most obvious symptom of the “disease and degeneracy that prevail among us” (139). In particular, “over-eating or unwholesome eating” are of concern (140). Among other health benefits, the raw food diet helps to counteract such unhealthy eating habits.