Page:Henry Stephens Salt - A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays.pdf/77

Rh impossible in cold climates." We are reminded that our climate is not a tropical one ; that Vegetarianism may be all very well in warm and sunny regions, but that in this land of cold and mist “the roast beef of old England” alone can cheer and support us. We reply that actual experience shows this to be erroneous. Those who have conscientiously made a trial of vegetarian diet have not found climatic inﬂuences the smallest obstacle in their path. An English winter is undoubtedly depressing, but it is not more so because one’s food is pure.

3. The baffled advocate of flesh-eating now changes his ground, and adopts a high moral tone, pointing out at the same time some incidental difficulties and drawbacks of Food Reform. “Vegetarianism involves too much thinking about one’s food.” Hard-working men often seem to think there is a sort of merit in “not caring what one eats.” This is a fallacy ; for though it is meritorious to be able to content oneself with plain fare, yet mere indifference about one’s food can only arise from stupidity or thoughtlessness, since the welfare of mind and body is intimately connected with what we eat. But is it true that a vegetarian diet