Proper question about Vegetarian's. Who was the first or "founder" of the vegetarian and Vegan idea?

Question

Interesting but unsubstantive answers Where in the bible does it say Adam and eve were vegetarian? The only conclusion form your answers is that Vegetarianism has always been linked to a "cult" of some sorts. Does anyone know where can be found independent documentation about the longest living , best performing in an athletic field, or academic or scientific field vegetarian? Any vegetarians ever been in very responsible jobs i.e. leader of a country, major industry, etc ? Before you start taking offence i dont mean teachers or academics at uni I mean really outstandingly important people. Real heroes any veggies ever invented any life changing things that benefited all or most fof mankind

Answer 1

Some very good answers above.

Others to note - the Jain religion (often considered the world's oldest) has held veganism as a guiding principle.
Hinduism calls for the practice of the vegetarian diet (this is often called the second oldest religion in the world).

In American culture we have had Sylvester Graham who founded the Grahamites in the early 19th century, a vegetarian community near Springfield Mass.

Dr. Kellogg built a vegetarian retreat in Battle Creek MI just prior to 1900, his brother started the cereal company.

So the ideas and philosophies behind the vegetarian ideal have been around for centuries. And, yes the Bible does state that Adam and Eve were provided food from the plants in the garden and that as long as they lived without sin, the garden would provide for them.

You have a serious warp to your desire in asking this question. Your rant after the fact brings into question your ability to be value-free. Jainism and Hinduism are not cults. Your calling these cults exposes your extreme bias.

Einstein and Edison both wanted to be vegetarian - Einstein believed it was the only way humankind would be able to continue. He only became a vegetarian in his last year of his life. Edison only did in his last weeks. So I give you reason to question those names. But, Gandhi was respected by the world for what he accomplished, Martin Luther King not only followed his lead, but plagiarized much of his material from Gandhi. He was vegetarian for life, fruitarian for a large part of it.

Two questions for you, please answer here (I don't need e-mails from you anymore). I have seen many "Christians" come out here with statements about the Bible (You may or may not be one of them). You asked me to show you where it said Adam and Eve were vegetarian. So I return the favor and ask you as a Christian, obviously, where does it say Jesus ate meat, where does it say that animals were put here for us to use as meat?

3 Celtics from the 1986 World Championship team were vegetarian when they won the title, Larry Bird has since gone back to eating meat. Bill Walton and Robert Parish were the other two, all 3 are Hall of Famers.

Carl Lewis won more Gold Medals in track then anyone else, he was vegan.

Edwin Moses was undefeated at the World Class level for more than 400 races, he was Vegetarian.

Emile Zatopek, Lasse Viren, and Paavo Nurmi were all great long distance runners who were vegetarian.

Many world champion body builders and boxers have been and are vegan or vegetarian.

But to your question about great leaders being vegetarian, I must add it is a silly question. With a small percentage of the population being vegetarian, and most world leaders being elected by the populous, how could world leaders be vegetarian. They would be ridiculed before the election, because they decided to go against the culture. They rejected that which most of the population accepted. So they would not be elected based on that choice alone. Denis Kucinich is a fine example, he is a vegan with no chance of becoming president, because he rejects a major part of the American culture.

So I do not understand your point.

Here is an interesting read for you:
http://www.ivu.org/history/christian/christ_veg.html

Answer 2

I can't believe no one's mentioned Buddha yet... he wasn't the founder of vegetarianism but he was definitely a very influencial religious teacher and has spread the word of vegetarianism. He wasn't the first vegetarian but teaching and inspiring people even 2500 years after your physical death could be said to be an important job.

I don't think there's a definitive answer to this question. An idea can be thought up many times by different people throughout history so I think it would be impossible to say who first thought of the idea to become vegetarian/vegan.

Just out of interest... why do you want to know? What difference would it make?

Here's a short list anyway:

Plato
Leonardo Da Vinci
Sir Isaac Newton
Albert Einstein
Gandhi
Leo Tolstoy
Van Gogh

I think you'd agree the Republic, the Theory of gravity, War and Peace and the Theory of relativity did benefit humankind in some way.

Answer 3

jimmy dean. lol

look up Albert Einstein.

I'm not going to do the research for you and cannot attest to the fact of any listed below... but you may want to look them up if you are really interested in finding out...
Hank Aaron
Joe Namath
Ben Franklin
Henry Ford
Albert Schweitzer
Billie Jean King
Carl Lewis
Charles Darwin
Desmond Howard
etc...
Look up famous vegetarians....
http://www.famousveggie.com/peoplenew.cfm
there are a lot of them and maybe that will at least inform you just how many there are/ have been... Including athletes. You will have to research them on your own if you want proof... I don't care about it... I can only attest to what it has done for me.

Although I am seriously doubting your reasoning now... How can you say Adam & Eve were veggies but then turn on a dime and say it is a cult... hmmmmm.

Answer 4

It was an evolutionary thing, we could say that humankind has always had vegetarians amongst its population.

but talking specifics, Plato is probably the first recorded specific person to state they abstained from meat for moral reasons.

general communities that abstained from meat are recorded as far back as 3200 BC in Egypt.

The definition of vegetarian first appeared in dictionaries 144 years ago.

The first "vegetarian" cookery book was published in 1807 - the first cook book to have "vegetarian" in the title - others contained veggie recipies before that.

The vegetarian society has been going since 1847 - before the word got into the dictionary. The veggie soc actually defined the word for the Oxford and Cambridge dictionary moderators.

The above is from memory so excuse me if i'm a year or 2 out on some facts, much more can be found below

Some great info on veggie history:
http://www.vegsoc.org/members/history/index.html

Answer 5

It's difficult to say who the first vegetarian was. There are religious connections in many parts of the world (e.g. the Jain tradition in India), but it hasn't "always been linked to a cult". There is a list of famous vegetarians at http://www.happycow.net/famous_vegetarians.html
which includes the likes of Charles Darwin, Aristotle and Albert Schweitzer.

Answer 6

Vegetarianism has been around for thousands of years but the vegan society says:
"The Vegan Society, the world's first, was born in November 1944 - after a lengthy gestation. As early as 1909 the ethics of consuming dairy products were hotly debated within the vegetarian movement. In August 1944, Elsie Shrigley and Donald Watson (a conscientious objector later to be acclaimed as the Vegan Society's Founder) agreed the desirability of coordinating 'non-dairy vegetarians'; despite opposition from prominent vegetarians unwilling to even consider adopting a diet free of all animal products.

In November, Donald organised a London meeting of six like-minded 'non-dairy vegetarians' at which it was decided to form a new society and adopt a new name to describe themselves - vegan derived from VEGetariAN. "
Sounds about right to me.

Answer 7

Pythagorus (sp?) was a vegetarian. Yes, he's the one who discovered the theorem about right triangles. Before 1847, those who ate a meatless diet were called Pythagoreans.

Answer 8

Jainism is the world's oldest religion and is fundamentally against any use of animals, many Jains wear masks over their mouths and noses to prevent inhalation of tiny insects.

Ghandi was vegetarian. Is he not important enough for you?

If you think that not eating dead animals is a type of cult, you are beyond stupid.

Answer 9

a non-christian answer. im not entirely sure, but buddhists have been vegan for thousands of years ad thats where alot of the vegans i know got their inspiration from. im not sure anyone was really the founder. it was more just a way of showing compassion towards the animals that have been exploited for our greed since humans gained their theory of mind through evolution. xx

Answer 10

If you happen to be a Christian or believe the Bible, your answer is: God. You will find that God does not allow people to eat any meat until after the flood. So, God founded vegetarianism. If you don't happen to be Christian or a Bible-believer, I think the idea goes too far back to know that.