1. Food Fads: The History of Diet

2. By the end of today’s class you will know …
Some interesting facts about the history of fad diets
The history of vegetarianism in Britain
The history of Fletcherism (chewing diet)

3. An exaggerated belief in effects of nutrition on health and disease
So what is a fad diet?
An exaggerated belief in effects of nutrition on health and disease

4. Fad Diets Based on the idea that ‘you are what you eat’
Diet can make you:
Healthier
Happier
fitter
more intelligent
more attractive
more successful
The belief that diet can make you a better person!

5. What is a healthy diet?

6. Victorian Veggies
Vegetarian movement in Britain started by Reverend William Cowherd – first veggie church established in 1809
“If God had meant us to eat meat then it would have come to us in an edible form as in the ripened fruit”
Members of Cowherd’s church went on to form early Vegetarian Society
By 1889 there were 52 veggie restaurants in Britain – 34 in London
But vegetarianism was still viewed as a food fad … Many ordinary people in Victorian Britain could not afford to eat meat so the idea that some people would choose not to eat meat seemed completely stupid!

7. Primary Source Activity
Read the Meat versus Vegetarian Long Walk Competition …
Where did they walk?
Who won?
What did the doctor interviewed think of the competition?
Was it a ‘triumph for vegetarianism’? What did the experiment prove?

8. Fletcherism
Invented by Horace Fletcher an American health food enthusiast
Basic principle = food had to be chewed about 100 times to extract all the nutrients.

9. Fletcherise!
Fletcherism promoted chewing a mouthful of food until all ‘goodness’ was extracted, then spitting out the fibrous material that was left.
He was fairly prescriptive in how many times you had to chew different foods. Just one shallot (small onion) needed to be chewed 700 times!
It was hugely popular and had some famous followers, including Henry James and Franz Kafka.
It got to a point where people were timed at dinner parties to make sure they were chewing enough
The diet also meant only defecating once every two weeks and it was nearly odourless, described by Fletcher as smelling like 'warm biscuits’
Fletcher carried a sample of his own faeces around with him to illustrate this wonder!

10. Primary Source Activity
Read the Fletcher at West Point document
What was the experiment?
Why was it being conducted?
What was the daily diet?
In what way did the students have to eat their food?

11. Well done today!