I am a vegetarian, but don't know much about the history of vegetarianism. I'd love to find out about it.
Believe it or not, vegetarianism has roots all the way back to ancient India and Greece!
Good grief. Didn't realize it was that old! So the people in India and Greece were vegetarians - no wonder their cuisines are loaded with veggie dishes!
That's a very good point! In civilizations in Italy and Greece, they believed in the idea of nonviolence towards animals and vegetarianism was promoted by religious groups and philosphers.
I know Indian food is partly guided by Hindu beliefs, but hadn't realized that about Italy and Greece. What kind of religious groups?
Well, several orders of monks in medieval Europe were thought to have banned meat for ascetic reasons, but none of them abstained from eating fish. I wonder if that's why some vegetarians today still eat fish.
The Catholic church used to have meat free Fridays and advised people to eat fish. Maybe that's something to do with it. I believe people who eat fish but no other meat are called Pescatarians. Is that correct?
History of vegetarianism
The earliest records of vegetarianism as a concept and practice amongst a significant number of people are from ancient India and the ancient Greek civilizations in southern Italy and Greece. In both instances, the diet was closely connected with the idea of nonviolence toward animals (called "ahimsa" in India), and was promoted by religious groups and philosophers.
Following the Christianization of the Roman Empire in late antiquity (4th–6th centuries), vegetarianism nearly disappeared from Europe. Several orders of monks in medieval Europe restricted or
West but protected in much of India.
History.
Analyzing the history of vegetarianism and opposition to it from ancient Greece to the present day, literary scholar Renan Larue found certain commonalities in what he described as carnist arguments. According to him, carnists typically held that vegetarianism is a ludicrous idea unworthy of attention, that mankind is invested with dominion over animals by divine authority, and that abstaining from violence against animals would pose a threat to humans. He found that the views that farmed animals do not suffer, and