The Herbivore Family
If history can teach us anything about food, it is that eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and nuts is not a new concept. Vegan and vegetarian diets have been around for ages, literally. In fact, a number of historical figures ate mostly plants.
1. Socrates
Socrates did not write. What we know of Socrates comes from the works of his students, Plato and Xenophon, as well as the playwright Aristophanes, who was a contemporary of Socrates.
In one of Plato’s most widely read dialogues, “The Republic,” Greek philosopher and vegetarian Socrates questioned the morality of eating meat. Rather than questioning the world to understand how it worked, he believed that we would be better off questioning ourselves in order to understand how we work.
In the book, Socrates maintains the ideal city was a vegetarian city. It touched upon the topic of eating meat. Socrates discussed how a just society may only be accomplished if people do not eat animals. Socrates said:
“Would this habit of eating animals not require that we slaughter animals that we knew as individuals, and in whose eyes we could gaze and see ourselves reflected, only a few hours before our meal?”
2. Leonardo da Vinci
Da Vinci was an Italian polymath who lived during the Renaissance period. The famed painter best known for painting the “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper,” Da Vinci was a prolific inventor and engineer.
Leonardo was the very definition of a polymath Renaissance man. In addition to being a visionary painter, he was an engineer, anatomist, and chronicler of science. In fact, so vast were his innovations that today some argue that he should be thought of as a scientist first. He conceptually designed the parachute and helicopter.
Da Vinci was really so unique. Leonardo would write about different topics, how rivers flowed, or the symmetry of wings and flight really fascinated him. The jack of all trades also eschewed meat. He was one of the first known people to bring forward the idea of speciesism. In his writings, Da Vinci regularly questioned the superiority of humans to the rest of the animal kingdom.
The idea that he was vegetarian and loved animals has been gleaned from his notebooks. In an account from “The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci,” a novel by Dmitry Merezhkovsky, the painter is quoted as saying:
“I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.”
3. The Buddha
Born Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha was a philosopher, spiritual teacher, and a religious leader. He is also revered for being the founder of Buddhism, one of the world’s largest religions. Buddhism has more than 300 million followers worldwide. The religion is most prominent in Southeast Asia, but followers can be found around the world.
The Buddha also encouraged a meat-free diet among his followers. In fact, Buddha described taking the life of another being as in a way the most serious of all moral defects, of all non-virtuous action. He is quoted as saying:
“To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to Nirvana.”
4. Rosa Parks
The civil rights icon Rosa Parks is remembered for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger while aboard a segregated public bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955.
“I was arrested on December 1st, 1955 for refusing to stand up on the orders of the bus driver after the white seats had been occupied in the front, and, of course, I was not in the front of the bus as many people…” she later recalled. She noted that she had refused to stand not because she was physically tired, but because she was tired of giving in.
But in addition to advocating on behalf of racial equality, Parks also supported animal rights by not eating meat. In the book “Positive Energy” by Judith Orloff, Parks talks about eating a healthy plant-based diet. Parks said:
“For over 40 years I’ve been vegetarian. Growing up, my family had little money. I had health problems early in life because of poor nutrition. Eating healthy is a priority for me.”
5. Benjamin Franklin
Known as one of America’s Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin was a well-known scientist, politician, and inventor. He is credited with discovering electricity with his invention of the lightning rod. Franklin also invented bifocals and the Franklin stove.
The witty inventor also abstained from eating meat. He is quoted as saying:
“My refusing to eat meat occasioned inconveniency, and I’ve been frequently chided for my singularity. But my light repast allows for greater progress, for greater clearness of head and quicker comprehension.”
In his autobiography, Franklin wrote that he became vegetarian at the age of 16. He wrote, “When about 16 years of age, I happened to meet with a book, written by one Tyron, recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go through with it.” He also detailed the many health benefits he attributed to his vegetarian diet, such as increased learning abilities and mental clarity.
6. Nikola Tesla
Serbian-American inventor, physicist, and engineer Nikola Tesla is well known for making countless contributions to the production, transmission, and application of electricity.
It’s interesting, the car company is called Tesla. And the reason is called Tesla is because we use an AC induction motor which is an architecture that Tesla developed, and the guy probably deserves a little more play than he gets in current society.
His inventions include the Tesla coil and alternating current electricity. His contributions to electromagnetism are real and recognized in the world of physics. Like I said, there’s a unit of electromagnetism named after him.
Tesla also discovered the rotating magnetic field, but the famed inventor also spoke out against animal cruelty. He once said:
“Every effort should be made to stop the wanton, cruel slaughter of animals, which must be destructive to our morals.”
In a 1935 interview, Tesla confirmed he rarely ate meat.
7. Albert Einstein
In 1930, the world’s most famous physicist, Albert Einstein, was met by adoring crowds in New York. German-born theoretical physicist and the world’s most famous scientist, Einstein made numerous discoveries throughout his lifetime, but he is most famous for developing the theory of relativity and the equation $E = mc^2$.
His theory of relativity changed the world’s understanding of space and time and it is now considered one of the two main pillars of modern physics. One of the most influential physicists of the 20th century, Einstein won the 1921 Nobel Peace Prize in Physics for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.
Einstein is said to have gone vegetarian in the last year of his life. In a letter written to physician Hans Muehsam, Einstein is quoted as saying:
“So I’m living without fats, without meat, without fish, but I’m feeling quite well this way. It always seems to me that man was not born to be a carnivore.”
8. Sir Isaac Newton
Best known for developing the principles of modern physics, which include the laws of motion and gravity, the great polymath and scientist Sir Isaac Newton also embraced vegetarianism as an adult.
Dr. Patricia Fara, a Newton scholar at Cambridge University, confirmed Sir Isaac Newton abstained from eating meat during the last five years of his life.
9. Thomas Edison
Edison was an American businessman and inventor. He is credited as having invented the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the movie camera. Despite the industrial boom, once the sun went down, the world was lit by candles and lanterns. Thomas Edison had just invented the first commercially available electric light bulb.
But Edison also believed that humans needed to be more compassionate to animals. It is thought that the inventor stopped eating meat after suffering from a serious illness. He is quoted as saying:
“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.”
10. Susan B. Anthony
American social reformer and women’s rights activist, Susan B. Anthony played a pivotal role in the women’s suffrage movement. Her arrest for voting in the 1872 presidential election and eventual trial paved the way for women’s political rights. One of the things she brought to the women’s movement was a tremendous faith.
In the 1800s, Anthony also fought to end slavery, but many may not know the pioneering feminist and passionate activist also supported the 19th-century Animal Rights Movement. Anthony reportedly gave a toast to vegetarianism and women’s rights at a banquet held by the first American Vegetarian Society.
11. Mahatma Gandhi
Indian lawyer and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi is widely admired for his passive resistance and non-violent philosophy. Often called Mahatma, an endearing term that means “the great-souled one,” Gandhi led India’s anti-colonial nationalist movement against Britain.
Gandhi was ultimately successful in inspiring people to act by emphasizing the importance of non-violent direct action protest. But the civil rights leader also viewed animals as equals. Gandhi is quoted saying:
“To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being.”
Author of the book “The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism,” Gandhi was raised in a vegetarian household and was a self-proclaimed strict vegetarian. He explained in the book:
“One should eat not in order to please the palate, but just to keep the body going. I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants.”
