Vegetarian Chervil Soup From 1897

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his Vegetarian Chervil Soup from 1897 is from a recipe book from the Dutch Vegetarians Society (De Nederlandschen Vegetariërs-Bond).

On 30 september 1894 this Dutch Vegetarians Society was founded, and it still excists today. Vegetarianism looked very different back then, then it does now.

It was inspired by the Vegetarian Society founded in the United Kingdom.

Vegetarian Societies in the 19th century were heavily influenced by religion. Most often Christian branches that believed in temperance. A lot of ideas how to live “pure” were inspired by Buddhist monks visited by doctors and Christian pilgrims and/or missionairies. These ideas fit well with the Christian branches of religion that believe in a plain and simple life and humility to please God. For example many Protestant branches like the seventh-day adventists that Dr. John Harvey Kellog was a member off. He created his famous Kellog’s anti-wank cereals as part of late 19th century vegetarianism ideals.

The first members were doctors that believed eating meat-free was the healthiest diet, Christian religious leaders that believed it was spiritually the most healthy diet and people that just did not like hurting animals.

Members were often also member of; total absence societies (teetotalers a.k.a. people that do not drink alcohol) and anti-tobacco societies. Also groups regarding diverse christian divisions, socialism, anarchism, women’s emancipation, antimilitarism, naturism, mysticism, neo-buddhism and esperantism.

The vegetarian diet was also often used to try to prevent or cure indigestion, cancer, tuberculoses, ADHD, eczema, asthma, anemia, diabetes and many other illnesses and bodily inconveniences. It promised living to an old age and easy births.

This lead to a bunch of rules and visions that we might frown upon today.

The rules of the vegetarian diet in 1897.

he following ingredients and actions are named by the Dutch Vegetarian Society to “maim your organs”:

Meat (also fish), alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, icecream and sorbet or anything frozen, soup, leaving less than 5 hours between meals, eggs, milk, salt, morphine, butter, nutmeg, mace, letting the neighbours smell what you are cooking. White pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, lombok pepper, Spanish pepper, ginger, mustard, vinegar, cinnamon, cumin, cloves, baking powder, bitter almonds, rowan berry’s, vanilla, all oils, sugar, syrup, figs, raisins, currants, drinking during a meal and finally fresh bread.

The reason so many spices and salt and sweet products were forbidden is because the christian protestant influence saw anything tasty as a gateway drug for worse sins. You start with a pinch of himalayan pink salt and before you know it you are doing bath salts. A little bit of black pepper and BOOM! the kids are doing black tar heroine.

Everything that is enjoyable: tasty food, art, fashion, dancing, music, alcohol, drugs, make-up, games, fantasy books and movies, etc. can eventually lead to the worst sin of all: lust, the sin of the flesh.

The visions of the vegetarian diet in 1897.

These following visions are found in their books and leaflets. They explain a lot of the thought process about the ingredients that you are not allowed to consume as a vegetarian:

“Spices contain poisons that cause temporary and chronic illnesses.“

“Humans, our instincts and our sense of smell are rotten due to flawed science (all science is flawed) false cookery and the slow-wittedness of most humans.“

“Parents force children to swallow food and drinks they are naturally disgusted by. If these children grow up they yearn for stimulants like cigars and alcohol.”

“Meat, even from an healthy animal, contains poison. Butchered animals are noticably decomposing; but we can’t smell the decomposing cadaver because of our rotten sense of smell.“

“More and more mothers can’t wean their baby’s because they eat meat, milks, eggs and broth.“

“It is proven that salt is poison because when you drink one glas of water with 1 tablespoon of salt you get sick and need to puke.”

“If there did not excist salt, cancer would not excist.”

“Vinegar makes women less able to wean their baby’s, and if young girls consume vinegar it ruins their most precious virgin blossoming.”

“It is normal to have pain and a fever when you start a vegetarian diet.”

“People who convert to a vegetarian diet and fail or cheat, harm the vegetarian community in the most worst way possible.“

“Spanish and German vegetarians are not allowed in the community because they want to use the vegetarian diet to create vegetarian colonies to breed a vegetarian master race.”

So yeah.. they sound fun at parties. Some of their visions definitely give vegetarians/vegans a bad name today, and also in their own time.

The recipe of Vegetarian Chervil Soup.

f you read this recipe and have remembered the previous part where it stated what you are not allowed to eat; you will notice that you are supposed to almost eat nothing that is in this dish.

The Dutch Vegetarian Society had as opinion that fruitarianism (only fruits and nuts) was thé best way to live. Since this was not possible for a lot of people; vegetarian was okay too. Pescetarianism (eats fish) and lacto-ovo-vegetarianism (consumes milk and eggs) are seen as lesser “half-vegetarians”.

But to get more people excited and be able to ease more gradually in the vegetarian lifestyle they also made recipe books with lacto-ovo-vegetarian recipes like the one where this recipe hails from.

Modern interpretation of the recipe for Vegetarian Chervil Soup.

ell, I would not call this a soup nowadays, but more a breakfast. With less buttermilk it would be a crusty mom version of breakfast cereals I guess.

This was only one of the two kinds of sorta exciting recipes in their recipe books. The most recipes were like this: Cook potatoes or rice without salt and cook a vegetable without salt; Enjoy! Oh boy yummy!

I am very happy how far we came today. Thanks to 175 years of effort of all kinds of vegetarian societies and other enthousiastic groups and individuals, we have loads of delicious vegetarian and vegan foods and recipes today in the “western world”.

I will never make this again and I would have absolutely not survived being a vegetarian in the 19th century. I would be bored to tears and become one of those “most hurtful” cheaters that yearns for alcohol and cigars and lusts after the sins of the flesh. So basically end up who I am today lol.