AtDTDA (2): 31 (34) 1082, 53 Vegetarian

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

Some excerpts from:

 http://chinesefood.about.com/od/vegetarian/a/history.htm

Famous Vegetarians in History: 

The Greek mathematician Pythagoras was a vegetarian 
- vegetarians were called Pythagoreans up until the 1800's. 
So was the poet Percy Shelley. However, the vegetarian 
movement didn’t really begin gaining momentum in the 
western world until the mid-nineteenth century. Leading 
figures of the American group included feminist Susan B. 
Anthony and Bronson Alcott, father of writer Louisa May Alcott

George Bernard Shaw, never one to shy from the spotlight, 
was a vocal proponent of a meat-free diet:
"It is nearly fifty years since I was assured by a conclave of 
doctors that if I did not eat meat I should die of starvation." 
(Vegetariana: A Rich Harvest of Wit, Lore, and Recipes, by Nava Atlas)

he late 1800's saw the attempt to bring these societies 
together in the formation of the Vegetarian Federal Union.
 Its successor, the International Vegetarian Union, was 
formed in 1908, and remains active today.

Check the link for further connectionc twixt Buddism 
and vegetarianism.

Note also the penultimate scene of AtD:

Vege-tariano . . .
No ifs ands or buts---
Eggs and dairy? ah no,
More like roots, and nuts---

Pot roast prohibido,
Tenderloin taboo,
why should my heart bleed o---
ver the likes of you?
                                  Never known-to-be

Fond . . .
Of Chateaubriand . . .
To chipped beef on toast---steaks and 
Chops, a-dios---Vege-

-taria-no . . .
Outcast Argentine,
Never coul've gone "O-
le!" for that cuisine . . .
Gauchos curse your name,
Still you haunt my brain---
Somehow I'll carry on, oh . . .
Vegetaria-no!

http://www.nocompromise.org/issues/05vpolice.html

http://www.vivavegie.org/vvi/vva/vv17/vv17-8.html

Of course, we know the author's true feelings from 
page 53
     ". . . .bringing it down to those last few gates, the 
stunning-devices waiting inside, the butchering and 
blood just beyond the last chute. . . . ."