The Humanities of Diet

The Humanities of Diet
First edition cover
AuthorHenry S. Salt
LanguageEnglish
Subject
PublisherVegetarian Society
Publication date
1914
Publication placeUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Pages70
OCLC21491494

The Humanities of Diet: Some Reasonings and Rhymings is a 1914 book by British writer and social reformer Henry S. Salt. Published in Manchester by the Vegetarian Society, it combines short essays, dialogues, and poems in support of ethical vegetarianism and animal rights. The book drew on Salt’s earlier writings on the subject, including an article of the same name in The Fortnightly Review (1896) and a 22-page pamphlet published by William Reeves in 1897. and added further material.

The phrase "logic of the larder", later used in animal ethics debates to describe a version of the replaceability argument, is credited to Salt's discussion of the idea in The Humanities of Diet.

Background and publication

Henry S. Salt (1851–1939)

Henry S. Salt (1851–1939) was born at Naini Tal in India and educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. He taught classics at Eton between 1875 and 1884, then settled at Tilford in Surrey, where he adopted a vegetarian lifestyle and devoted himself to writing on humanitarianism and social reform.[1]

During the late 1880s and 1890s, Salt published a series of pamphlets and books on vegetarianism and animal rights, including Flesh or Fruit? An Essay on Food Reform (1888) and Animals' Rights Considered in Relation to Social Progress (1892). His later writing also addressed corporal punishment, alongside a wider range of literary and political topics.[1]

Salt first published "The Humanities of Diet" as an article in The Fortnightly Review in September 1896.[2] In 1897, it was expanded and reissued as a 22-page pamphlet, published in London by William Reeves as no. 23 in The Humanitarian League's Publications series.[3][4] The 1914 book The Humanities of Diet: Some Reasonings and Rhymings, published in Manchester by the Vegetarian Society included the previous writings and added further material, bringing the volume to 70 pages.[5]

Content

The book combines short essays, dialogues, and poems. Its recurring themes include opposition to slaughter and meat-eating, criticism of social indifference to animal suffering, and satire of common justifications for killing animals for food.[6]

Several pieces present humane diet arguments directly (for example "The Humanities of Diet", "Grace Before Meat", "Logic of the Larder", and "The Moralist at the Shambles"), while others use parody, dialogue, or character sketches to make similar points (including "A Chat with Professor Grillman", "Paterfamilias at the Breakfast Table", and "Mr. Facing-Both-Ways"). The volume also includes poems and dramatic vignettes centred on particular animals and scenes of slaughter ("A Cow Mourning for Her Calf", "The Dying Ox", and "Voices of the Voiceless"), alongside seasonal or topical pieces such as "The Joys of Christmas" and the Christmas-themed sketches.[6]

Reception

Reviewing the book in February 1914, The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review commended it as a contribution to vegetarian literature, quoting Salt's description of opposition to flesh-eating as a protest against a practice he called a "relic of savagery". The review also commented on the book's physical production, describing it as well printed and bound in green cloth to match earlier Vegetarian Society editions of Salt's work.[7]

Legacy

In animal ethics, the replaceability argument holds that farmed animals can be said to benefit from being bred for food, because demand for meat is the reason they are brought into existence. On this view, provided such animals are well treated, it is better for them to exist than not, and replacing animal products with alternatives can be presented as depriving them of lives worth living. Salt is credited with introducing the term "logic of the larder" for this position in The Humanities of Diet.[8][9][10]

References

  1. ^ a b Oxbury, H. F. (23 September 2004). "Salt, Henry Shakespear Stephens (1851–1939), classical scholar and publicist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37932. Retrieved 2 February 2026. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ "The Humanities of Diet". The Fortnightly Review. 60 (357): 426–435. September 1896. Retrieved 2 February 2026 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Salt, Henry S. (1897). The Humanities of Diet. London: W. Reeves – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "Humanitarian League Publications". Henry S. Salt Society. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  5. ^ Aoyagi, Akiko; Shurtleff, William (26 March 2022). History of Vegetarianism and Veganism Worldwide (1430 BCE to 1969): Extensively Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook (PDF). Soyinfo Center. p. 805. ISBN 978-1-948436-73-1.
  6. ^ a b "The Humanities of Diet". Henry S. Salt Society. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  7. ^ "Humanities of Diet". The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review. February 1914.
  8. ^ Lamey, Andy (28 March 2019). "The Logic of the Larder". Duty and the Beast: Should We Eat Meat in the Name of Animal Rights? (1 ed.). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316672693.008. ISBN 978-1-316-67269-3.
  9. ^ Robison-Greene, Rachel (6 October 2022). "Meat Replacements and the Logic of the Larder". Prindle Post. The Prindle Institute for Ethics. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  10. ^ Matheny, Gaverick; Chan, Kai M. A. (1 December 2005). "Human Diets and Animal Welfare: the Illogic of the Larder". Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. 18 (6): 579–594. doi:10.1007/s10806-005-1805-x. ISSN 1573-322X.
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