Last modified on Sat 8 May 2021 03.38 EDT
On the front page of the first Guardian was an advert for the first vegetarian cookbook: “A NEW system of VEGETABLE COOKERY with an INTRODUCTION recommending abstinence from ANIMAL FOOD AND INTOXICATING LIQUORS.” The book was written anonymously by Martha Brotherton, wife of the campaigning minister of the Bible Christian Church, Joseph Brotherton, Salford’s first MP. They were later to become leading figures in the Vegetarian Society, which had its inaugural annual meeting in Manchester in 1848.
The Guardian attended the Vegetarian Society’s 1850 banquet and soiree, reporting in detail on the spread of mushroom pies, fritters, “omelets” and moulded sago, the floral arrangements, the philosophical beliefs of the guests that meat-eating led to aggression, and their disgust at the diseased meat on sale in London, Manchester, Oldham and Bolton. The 1874 soiree sounded lively, with a guest ranting about “blood lickers” and demanding to know where everyone stood on eggs and fish.