The Nineteenth Century , No 182, Apr 1892 [‎44r] (92/244)

1892
577
VEGETABLE
I DO not write this paper with the intention of converting or even
convincing anybody, for nobody is more impressed with, the great
truth that what is good for one person is not good for all. The infi
nite individuality of the human race is what distinguishes it from
animals. A certain kind of food will be liked and digested by all
animals belonging to the same species, whilst, as an eminent
doctor remarked the other day, there is not one article of food in the
whole world which is eaten with pleasure by every human being
alike. All I wish to do is to put my experiences before those to whom
they may be useful, and who may profit by them without making the
disagreeable mistakes my ignorance led me into.
I have all my life thought that meat-eating was objectionable from
the aesthetic point of view. Even as a child the fashion of handing
around a huge grosse piece on an enormous dish revolted my sense
of beauty ; and I was delighted when, on my first visit to England, a
small and thin slice of beef was unobtrusively shown to me behind
my left shoulder, to be accepted or rejected I quite
agree with Lord Byron, who said he would not marry a pretty girl
because she had asked for two helps of lobster salad, though if beef
steak had been substituted I should understand it better still. The
hiftek a Vanglaise, which seems to be the only idea a foreign waiter
ever has when he is asked to suggest something to eat to English-
speaking travellers, is simply a piece of hot raw meat, far more
fit for the Zoological Gardens than for human food; for, despite of
constant and sometimes indignant disclaimers, it is generally believed
on the Continent that it forms the staple food of the British nation—
that the strong limbs of the young men, the lovely complexions of
the girls, and the bright eyes of the children are entirely due to this
nourishment, and anxious mothers of families abroad are constantly
impressing upon their offspring and everybody else about them the
utility and necessity of this panacea, if they wish to be in good health
and feel fit and strong. It is a curious fact that in places where this
regimen of viandesaignante is followed anaemia is very frequent.
I have been told, though I have not read it myself, that somebody
has written a description of a town where the whole population was