Vegetarianism, Veganism, and the New Zealand Factor — Part 6

History of Vegetarianism

In Elsdon Best’s comprehensive work, Forest Lore of the Maori²⁰ he presented a synopsis of the Maori people as extraordinarily sophisticated cultivators and extractors, whether of berries, fungi, leaves, fern roots, or pulp. But Best’s greatest accomplishment was his earlier book, Maori Agriculture. The Cultivated Food Plants of the Natives of New Zealand, with some Account of Native Methods of Agriculture, its Ritual and Origin Myths.²¹ Best focuses on the cultivation of the sweet potato, yams, taro and gourds. (Cucurbita lagenaria). Here, he fully intimates the reality of an essentially vegetarian-capacity among Maori: by their Polynesian penchants and their acclimatization skills with plant life. Indeed, Best summarizes his introductory remarks by concluding, “We know that the Polynesian race, of which our Maori folk are a branch, is essentially an agricultural people. This stage of culture the Polynesians seem to have occupied for a long period of time . . . When possible he [the Polynesian voyager] led the life of an agriculturist, and cultivated his food products with much care and no small amount of ceremony; when forced to dwell in isles where no cultivation was possible, he accepted the position with equanimity and subsisted on such products as the gods might provide.”²²

This above-referenced caveat, “when possible” is evident in many readings of dietary history throughout the world, what we have termed an “anthropology of non-violence.”

Consider its ripple effects in other traditions, Judaism for example.

Genesis 1:29 and 30: “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of the tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.” In this spirit, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Hacochen-Kook, wrote the treatise, “The Prophecy of Vegetarianism and Peace.” In twenty-five years, three of the Chief Rabbis of Israel were vegetarian, and four percent of the entire Israeli population is also vegetarian.

The sacred book to Jews known as the Talmud devotes a large section to the “Tzar Baal Chaim” (the Suffering of Animals”), and the Fourth Commandment discusses not only the human family but domestic animals who must be liberated.

On Yom Kippur, no leather shoes are to be worn into any Synagogue.²³

Richard Schwartz points out that Pesachim 109a of the Talmud states that “since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, Jews are not required to eat meat in order to rejoice on festivals.”²⁴ Hunting is discouraged in the Talmud and prohibited in Jewish law. He writes, “Jews who take Jewish values and/or Jewish law seriously should be vegetarians” — “rachamim b’nei rachamim — compassionate children of compassionate ancestors,” as Schwartz characterizes them.

Ezekiel 3 and 4: “My body has never been defiled by animal flesh. Isaiah 65: “The wolf shall lie down with the lamb . . . they shall not hurt nor destroy . . . ”

And the most telling Jewish quotation of all, “Thou Shalt Not Kill”²⁵.

Previous Part: Agriculture vs. Weight Loss or Gain
Next Part: Vegetarian Diets Around the World

20. Best’s subtitle is, With methods of snaring, trapping, and preserving birds and rats, uses of berries, roots, fern-root, and forest products, with mythological notes on origins, karakia used etc., Published by the Polynesian Society, Dominion Museum, Wellington New Zealand, 1942.
21. Dominion Museum, Bulletin No. 9, Wellington New Zealand, 1925.
22. Best, ibid., p.5.
23. See “Jewish philosophy of vegetarianism, by Phillip L. Pick, EVU News, Issue 4/1997; See also the Jewish Vegetarian Society, Jewish Vegetarian and Ecological Society, The Vegetarian Society UK — National Vegetarian Week Activities … The Vegetarian Society UK — 21st Century Vegetarian — Through the Ages.
24. See “Are Jews Obligated To Be Vegetarians” by Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D., p.1.
25. Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17