Abstinence from Meat

The thorough-going vegetarian, to whom absti-
nence from meat is part of his ethical code and his
religion, — who would as soon think of taking his
neighbour’s purse as helping himself to a slice of
beef, — is by nature a man of frugal habits and
simple tastes. He prefers a plain diet, and knows
that the purest enjoyment is to be found in fruits
of all kinds as nature supplies them. He needs
but little cookery, and that of the simplest. To him
this book will be of little use, except when he wishes
to entertain his friends.

But there are others who, while not feeling that
any moral principle is immediately involved in the
matter of diet, yet would like to be relieved from
the necessity of eating flesh, possibly on aesthetic
grounds, or it may be from hygienic reasons, or in
some cases, I hope, because they would willingly
diminish the sufferings involved in the transport
and slaughter of animals, inevitable as long as they
are used for food. To these it is hoped that this

PREFACE. vii

little book may act as an encouragement and
help.

Nor need our carnivorous friends be afraid of it.
A good deal of nonsense is talked (by meat-eaters
I mean, of course) about the properties of food, and
they would have us believe that they eat a beef-
steak mainly because it contains 2i’S per cent, of
nitrogen. But we know better. They have eaten
steaks for many years, but it was only last week, in
working up for a debate, that they found out about
the nitrogen. It is not the chemical ingredients
which determine the diet, but tht flavour; and it is
quite remarkable, when some tasty vegetarian dishes
are on the table, how soon the percentages of ni-
trogen are forgotten, and how far a small piece of
meat will go. If this little book shall succeed in thus
weaning away a few from a custom which is bad —
bad for the suffering creatures that are butchered
— bad for the class set apart to be the slaughterers
— bad for the consumers physically, in that it pro-
duces disease, and morally, in that it tends to feed
the lower and more ferocious qualities of mind, and
also for ever prevents our treating the animal
creation with that courtesy (as Sir Arthur Helps
put it) which is their due — then I know that it
will not have wholly failed in carrying out the
author’s benevolent intention.

Ernest Bell.