A
Anonymous
Guest
I was listening to a programme on radio 4 on Friday which mentioned that The Cathars did not eat meat as they saw it as tainted with sin, having been created by an act of copulation. This set me thinking, where do the roots of vegetarianism in Europe lie?
I myself am vegetarian and made my decision based on concerns about farming methods and being uncomfortable with the notion of a life being taken to feed me.
I know the vegetarian society in the UK has existed for around a century but I'm sure that the origins of this dietary choice go back much further, and possibly lie in mystical/religious ideas.
Does anyone know to what extent Vegetarianism was influenced by the 'New Age' thinking in Germany and Austria in the last quarter of the ninetenth century? Many 'alternative' life style choices were thrashed out there.
Or maybe it goes back further to antiquarian Greece and Rome. I remember something to do with the transmigration of souls and the risk of eating the soul of a person if you ate an animal, but I could have dreamed this up.
I assume that atitudes to vegetarianism vary greatly through time and place in Europe. Is it always link to a kind of purity? Has it always been seen as a self- inforced deprivation?
Any ideas anyone?
I myself am vegetarian and made my decision based on concerns about farming methods and being uncomfortable with the notion of a life being taken to feed me.
I know the vegetarian society in the UK has existed for around a century but I'm sure that the origins of this dietary choice go back much further, and possibly lie in mystical/religious ideas.
Does anyone know to what extent Vegetarianism was influenced by the 'New Age' thinking in Germany and Austria in the last quarter of the ninetenth century? Many 'alternative' life style choices were thrashed out there.
Or maybe it goes back further to antiquarian Greece and Rome. I remember something to do with the transmigration of souls and the risk of eating the soul of a person if you ate an animal, but I could have dreamed this up.
I assume that atitudes to vegetarianism vary greatly through time and place in Europe. Is it always link to a kind of purity? Has it always been seen as a self- inforced deprivation?
Any ideas anyone?