A Taste for Purity: An Entangled History of Vegetarianism

In nineteenth-century Europe and North America, the vegetarian movement warned of the health risks and ethical problems of meat eating and idealized South Asia as a model. In colonial India, Hindu nationalists claimed that vegetarianism would cleanse the body for anticolonial resistance, and a militant cow protection movement mobilized against meat eaters. Julia Hauser explores the global history of vegetarianism from the mid-nineteenth century to the early Cold War, tracing personal networks and exchanges of knowledge spanning Europe, the United States, and South Asia. She argues that vegetarianism was motivated by expansive visions of moral, physical, and racial purification and that adherents shared notions of purity, which drew some toward internationalism, anticolonialism, racism, nationalism, and violence.

Format: Hardback
Length: 368 pages
Publication date: 05 December 2023
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Vegetarianism, a movement that emerged in nineteenth-century Europe and North America, aimed to raise awareness about the health risks and ethical concerns associated with meat consumption. It presented a vegetarian diet as a solution to the social problems caused by industrialization and urbanization, idealizing South Asia as a model. In colonial India, where diets were more diverse than Western observers realized, new motives for avoiding meat took hold. Hindu nationalists believed that vegetarianism would cleanse the body for anticolonial resistance, and an increasingly militant cow protection movement mobilized against meat eaters, particularly Muslims.

Julia Hauser, in her book "A Taste for Purity: Vegetarianism in Global History from the Mid-Nineteenth Century to the Early Cold War," delves into the global history of vegetarianism, spanning from the mid-nineteenth century to the early Cold War. She explores personal networks and exchanges of knowledge across Europe, the United States, and South Asia, highlighting mutual influence as well as the complexities of cross-cultural encounters. Hauser argues that vegetarianism in this period was driven by expansive visions of moral, physical, and even racial purification. Adherents believed that society could be transformed by changing the individual's body.

Hauser demonstrates that vegetarians in India and the West shared notions of purity, which drew some toward internationalism, anticolonialism, racism, nationalism, and violence. She uncovers preoccupations with race and masculinity, as well as links to colonialism and eugenics, revealing the implications of vegetarian movements in exclusionary, hierarchical projects.

This book is a meticulously researched and compellingly argued rewriting of the history of vegetarianism on a global scale. Hauser sheds light on the complex and multifaceted motivations behind vegetarianism and its impact on society, challenging traditional narratives and providing a fresh perspective on this important historical phenomenon.

Weight: 640g
Dimension: 159 x 237 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231207522