A new book by Anne O’Connell explores the world of vegetarian recipes from a long gone era.
Vegetarianism is now widely accepted as being good for your health, good for the planet, and for many people a wholly desirable lifestyle choice. This, of course, has not always been the case, and I remember only too well the struggles I had at school trying to avoid the meat that was always pushed my way at lunch time.
It came as a surprise therefore, when reading Colin Spencer’s book ‘The Heretic’s Feast: History of Vegetarianism’ to discover that in 1908, a teacher at my old school had published a vegetarian recipe book! That book ‘Vegetarian Cookery’ by Florence George led me to the dusty shelves of the British Library in London, and the discovery that vegetarian cookery books had been around for some time.
The earliest vegetarian recipe book I found was written by Thomas Tryon and published in 1691. There was then a flourishing of vegetarian writers in the Victorian era, publishing at least twenty cookbooks.
Not surprisingly, the range of ingredients can seem rather limited in these recipes, although that did encourage lively invention. Beetroot Fricassee anyone? But in their choice of ingredients, the writers display a spirit of using whatever is available in the land around them and not letting anything go to waste. An ethos very much back in vogue.
It’s surprising to see foreign influences featuring as much as they do. Curry powder and macaroni for example, make quite a few appearances. The writer of two recipe books, Mary Pope has a recipe for Polenta Cutlets at least a hundred years before similar recipes became fashionable in British restaurants; after making a thick polenta, she adds onion, butter, and cheese, then when cool rolls the slices in egg and crumbs before frying.
These books were published when times were tough for vegetarians as they faced scorn, not to say a public who hated vegetables! The recipes can need a degree of interpretation to make them useful, especially in relation to quantities and cooking times. Nonetheless many of the recipes seem very modern and actually offer a simple, relaxed way of appreciating the flavor of vegetarian food.
Here’s one of my favorite recipes, as it appears in the original book:
Rice Polpetti
Six ounces of rice, three ounces of grated wheatmeal bread, one clove of garlic chopped, one handful of parsley chopped, a tablespoonful of lemon juice, a teaspoonful of finely rubbed basil and thyme, pepper and salt to taste. Wash the rice and put it in a Gourmet boiler with all the other ingredients and about one pint of water. When the rice begins to swell add three ounces of butter and cook until all the water is absorbed and the rice quite soft. Turn out into a shallow pie dish to get cold and stiff. Cut into slices not more than half an inch thick, and cut the slices into triangles. Egg and crumb these and fry in hot fat. Serve with a thick brown sauce and grated cheese in a separate dish.
Mary Pope, Novel Dishes for Vegetarian Households 1893
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anne O’Connell is a writer and filmmaker, whose new book ‘Early Vegetarian Recipes’ has recently been published by Prospect Books. Her website www.offmotorway.co.uk has restaurant recommendations for veggie travellers in the UK. The book is available from Amazon:
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