ATDTDA (12): A visitor from quite far away, 337-343 #1

[David Morris]

On 7/5/07, Paul Nightingale <isreading at btinternet.com> wrote:
> She finds the restaurant "a cheery place"; and subsequently discovers it is vegetarian;

You gotta ask why Pynchon would make this diner/cafeteria vegetarian.
Although vegetarianism did exist, it's unlikely that one would
encounter a veggy eating establishment in NYC at this time.  Is this
just another silly Pynchon poke in the ribs?

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.

Across the Atlantic, Sylvester Graham, best known for creating the
graham cracker, was one of the leading figures in Britain's vegetarian
movement.

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)

The 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.