{"id":31491,"date":"2022-10-09T02:44:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-09T02:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=31491"},"modified":"2022-10-11T19:55:57","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T19:55:57","slug":"dude-food-is-not-patriotic-vegetables-and-moderation-are-more-deeply-rooted-in-the-nations-early-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/dude-food-is-not-patriotic-vegetables-and-moderation-are-more-deeply-rooted-in-the-nations-early-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Dude food is not patriotic \u2013 vegetables and moderation are more deeply rooted in the nation\u2019s early\u00a0history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Maurizio Valsania<\/a>, Universit\u00e0 di Torino<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dude food is on a roll in America. Gargantuan pizzas, footlong subs, high-stacked burgers and extra-loaded nachos remain a basic choice for any real or pretend He-Man<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eating dude food conjures not just manliness, however. There\u2019s patriotism, too. TV networks keep churning out shows<\/a> that celebrate the quasi-magical equation between generous portions, masculinity and devotion to country<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guy Fieri, the multimillionaire guru of dudeism<\/a>, has a clear-cut philosophy. His barbecues and other cooking performances are a means to celebrate American patriotism, counteracting what he describes as a lot of \u201cinfighting and democratic craziness that goes on<\/a>\u201d in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dude food, Fieri says, would remind Americans about \u201cwhat a great country we are and how lucky we are to be the greatest country in the world<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as an author of a new book on George Washington, notoriously the first among men<\/a>, I can assure you that there was a time when dude food was not celebrated as either masculine or patriotic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that moment in American history, devouring heaping helpings wasn\u2019t considered manly by the country\u2019s leaders. It was seen as grotesque, perhaps even a vestige of aristocratic British habits: \u201cI fancy it must be the quantity of animal food eaten by the English,\u201d Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1785, \u201cwhich renders their character insusceptible of civilisation<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
Chef Guy Fieri demonstrates how real men cook real meat in real fire. Ethan Miller\/Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Revolution meets the kitchen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After gaining independence, one of the founders\u2019 main concerns was to make the new \u201cexperiment<\/a>,\u201d as they called the nation, as little \u201ccorrupt<\/a>\u201d and as little British as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was in the kitchen, Jefferson joked, that a \u201creformation must be worked<\/a>.\u201d He wasn\u2019t entirely joking. Educating Americans to eschew gluttony, to cut down on red meat and to model their manliness upon ideals of moderation, self-control and other republican virtues<\/a> was serious stuff to Jefferson and his fellow founders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self-styled manly men, today as well as a couple of centuries ago, eat a lot. And, as author Carol J. Adams writes in \u201cThe Sexual Politics of Meat<\/a>,\u201d they do not eat vegetables, berries or ingredients that can be easily cultivated or foraged<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But eating roast beef as King Henry VIII<\/a> did wasn\u2019t a habit American leaders sought to imitate, or in any way encourage. We are what we eat, an old adage says, and in the eyes of the founders, those who indulged in humongous servings or blood-soaked chunks of flesh couldn\u2019t become a good model for the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Adams, the second president, found it \u201chumiliating,\u201d \u201cdegrading\u201d and \u201cmortifying\u201d that Americans should excel in intemperance, regarding food or when it comes to their drinking habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs it not humiliating that Mahometans and Hindoes,\u201d Adams asked, \u201cshould put to shame the whole Christian world by their superior examples of Temperance? is it not degrading to Englishmen and Americans that they are so infinitely exceeded by the French in this cardinal virtue and is it not mortifying beyond all expression that we Americans should exceed all other and millions of people in the world in this degrading beastly vice of Intemperance<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington, for one, stood up as an example of temperance. He largely adhered to \u201ca vegitable and milk diet,\u201d eating only small amounts of red meat. Washington\u2019s alimentary philosophy was to avoid \u201cas much as possible animal food<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medical doctors, similarly, frowned upon the consumption of meat. In November 1757, for example, Washington was bedridden with dysentery. As the doctor arrived, he pronounced his therapy. \u201cHe forbids the use of meats<\/a>,\u201d Washington wrote in one letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
Thomas Jefferson believed in a diet dominated by vegetables, more than 300 varieties of which were grown in his garden at Monticello, shown here in 1987. Robert Alexander\/Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a whole, Washington never turned his meals into occasions during which he would promote his masculinity. He always aimed for moderation \u2013 even if, by today\u2019s standards, he does not appear ascetic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington was fond of fish. On Saturdays, especially during his time as president, he usually had what was called a \u201csalt fish dinner<\/a>,\u201d a potpourri of boiled beets, potatoes and onion mixed with boiled fish, fried pork scraps and egg sauce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His soldiers as well had to learn the habit of temperance \u2013 and to learn it the hard way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe health of the army,\u201d one of Washington\u2019s orders goes, \u201ccannot be preserved without a due portion of vegetable diet. This must be procured whatever may be the expense<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington\u2019s officers were expected not only to supervise the \u201ccleanliness of the camp\u201d but above all \u201cto inspect the food of the men, both as to the quality and the manner of dressing it.\u201d It was crucial to push soldiers \u201cto accustom themselves more to boiled meats and soups and less to broiled and roasted, which, as a constant diet, is destructive to their health<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t only \u201cdestructive to their health\u201d; it was a bad example for the nation. Many people could see the famous general and later the president eating moderately<\/a>. Washington thus established a clear-cut difference between himself, a civilized and modern man, humble and calm, and those hapless creatures who were trapped at an inferior stage of civilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An<\/a>
George Washington, seen here in a family portrait, believed in eating \u2018a vegitable and milk diet\u2019 and avoiding \u2018as much as possible animal food.\u2019 Edward Savage painter, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, National Gallery of Art<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Moderation and self-control<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The founders\u2019 culinary preferences were a political act. They were inviting men to repudiate one of their allegedly essential masculine privileges, the craving to sate their vast appetites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have lived temperately,\u201d old Jefferson explained to Dr. Vine Utley, \u201ceating little animal food, and that not as an aliment, so much as a condiment for the vegetables, which constitute my principal diet<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adams, Washington and Jefferson didn\u2019t fear that by abstaining from dude food they would have been seen as weak. They didn\u2019t dread exclusion from male company. For them, moderation and self-control were more important manly assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moderation and self-control, the founders believed, would give Americans a clearer mind to think about the future of their nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maurizio Valsania<\/a>, Professor of American History, Universit\u00e0 di Torino<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maurizio Valsania, Universit\u00e0 di Torino Dude food is on a roll in America. Gargantuan pizzas, footlong subs, high-stacked burgers and extra-loaded nachos remain a basic choice for any real or pretend He-Man. Eating dude food conjures not just manliness, however. There\u2019s patriotism, too. TV networks keep churning out shows that celebrate the quasi-magical equation between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":31492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8025,42],"tags":[7603,12720,4029,12721,8141,316,3617,4783,4924],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31491"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31510,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31491\/revisions\/31510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}