To anyone attempting to research the trend towards vegetarianism in Russia – Beware. It is an interesting, but highly frustrating look into the mindset of Russian popular culture. Vegetarianism with purely moral, religious or ethical motivation is not a broad movement in Russia; but, the small and relatively isolated movement that did peak around the time of Tolstoy’s adoption of a meatless diet (around the 1880’s) provides some interesting insights into Russian culture (LeBlanc in Food in Russian History and Culture, p.82). The moralistic side of vegetarianism will be defined in this paper as any motivation that was derived from a religious, ethical or health perspective. This is different from de facto vegetarianism, which is described as something that occurred because the persons could not afford to include meat in their diet. Such was the case with most of the peasant class in Russia as well as the lowest classes in most societies. Moralistic vegetarians chose not to include meat in their diet all, or some, of the time; even though they could economically afford to do so. As this paper attempts to illustrate, moralistic vegetarians were most popular in number around the turn of the 20th century and corresponded with the rise of a moral revolution in the Russian gentry.
What were the motivations for Russians to suddenly embrace vegetarianism? At the turn of the century, life for most upper class Russians seemed better than ever and many started looking for ways to use their newfound free-time to the best advantage. Along these lines they started looking at various injustices and moral wrongs which persisted in their society. A few groups found the unethical treatment of animals used for meat production as a worthy cause to begin fighting against. Groups rallied their efforts to bring animal rights to Russia as early as the 19th century; and despite their limited success, their essays on the lives and deaths of various types of livestock did sway many readers to rethink meat in their diet. Tolstoy was among these writers and included, in vivid detail, the horrors he witnessed while visiting the local butcher at work, “The First Step (Tolstoy in Ethical Vegetarianism, pp 97-105).” Aside from these ethical motivations, a deeply religious appeal towards vegetarianism began expressing itself during the late 19th century. This was not altogether unusual for Russia due to its heavily devout Russian Orthodox population, which already reserved many days as fast days. As described by Goldstein,
“Some 180 days of the year were considered fast days by the church, each requiring varying degree of abstention. During the four manor fast periods, lasting up to forty days at a time, all meat and dairy products were proscribed. Thus the meatless meal was hardly a radical innovation to a Russian, particularly a religious one (Goldstein, ).”
Although less widespread, the emergence of vegetarianism in several religious sects across Russia are worth noting. Among these groups were the Dukhobors, an old religious sect that began practicing vegetarianism at around the same time as Tolstoy (Spencer, 289). Although their origins are unknown, the Byzantine and Medieval periods of Russia also had several cults, which gained notoriety for their denunciation of flesh. Usually treated as heretics, these cults represented ideals that ran counter to the excesses of the Orthodox Church of the time (Spencer, 160). The last motivation common for the vegetarian movement at the turn of the century was a newfound desire to incorporate a healthy diet into one’s life. The actual scientific facts backing up most of the reasons why vegetarian meals were healthier have since been disproved; but, their popularity with the upper classes in Russian society led to a moderately profitable market. Vegetarian cookbooks and pamphlets that espoused the benefits of a meatless diet became widespread in some circles and many people at least experimented with the idea (Goldstein in FRHC, pp 104-105.). With this diversity of interests, it is no wonder that the vegetarian movement took off in Russia at this time, especially when one of the most renowned writers of his time was also actively promoting it.
During the latter part of the 19th century the Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy captivated and confused the Russian people with his brilliant novels and odd habits. His life was marked by a midlife epiphany in which he strove to change his excessive and lavish habits into a drive for perfection. His desire to achieve perfection extended throughout his professional and personal life and soon included experiments on moral perfection. He came to the conclusion that this could not be achieved as long as he ate meat, which he considered to be the cause of excess energy that was harnessed by the devil to lead men astray (LeBlanc in FRHC, p. 85). Tolstoy attempted to spread this realization through his writing and he eventually wrote a now famous prologue to “The Ethics of Diet,”(1895) in which he encouraged Russians to cut meat from their diet (Spencer, p.189). After cutting meat from his diet, Tolstoy claimed to find himself better able to remain calm, and in touch with his own moral conscience (LeBlanc in FRHC, p. 86). His advocating of this practice made him the poster child of the Russian vegetarian movement, but his reasons for becoming vegetarian were already becoming popular with the Russian gentry, who became obsessed with achieving a near-perfect character. So, although Tolstoy popularized the movement, he only added to an already emerging social trend in turn of the century Russia.
So, one has to ask themselves what was going on in Russia’s cultured society that would make them suddenly turn their backs on one of the most blatant symbols of prosperity and status. The role that meat has played in most societies is that of a status symbol, whether the consumer is aware of it or not (Atkins and Bowler, p.241). Meat says, “I can afford to eat higher on the food chain!” So, what made large portions of the Russian gentry begin rethinking this long-standing cultural norm? In the 18th and 19th centuries, Russian society experienced a backlash to the Petrine reforms designed to Europeanize the Russian gentry. The intelligentsia became increasingly award of what the reforms had cost Russian culture, and began looking to various forms of religion and philosophy in order to regain their Russian-ness. In this trend the new Russian was described as, “preoccupied, at times morbidly, with his spiritual health, determined to forge a moral personality, but prone to distraction and revery, to abrupt and extreme swings in mood from wild optimism to deep discouragement (Rzhevsky, p.107).” Like Tolstoy, these people were looking inward to find the true meaning of life, and finding ways to improve themselves in the eyes of a higher power. One group in Russia, called Freemasons, was an import from the West, but had taken on distinctly Russian characteristics over time. In the early 1800’s, this movement was associated with “Pietism” the search for a deeper meaning in life by inducing hardships so that one can more easily know the “grace of God” (Rzhevsky, p.106). Giving up meat in their diet was one such method of inducing harship and suffering on the landed class. Because of its already close association with the Russian Orthodox Church, vegetarianism, or “fasting” became extremely popular with this new type of Russian. In the end, those who felt the deepest sense of religious obligation, whether for the Church or for some other moral purpose, usually found themselves giving up meat in their diet some of the time.
After a brief study in this field of Russian culture, it appears that the similarities of the moral revolution and the vegetarian evolution gave each other the support they needed to gain a following in 19th century Russia. It seems obvious that the moral revolution added a number of vegetarians or vegetarian sympathizers to the movement. While many other causes lay behind the current trend towards vegetarianism, it appears from this research that much of the momentum for the Russian vegetarian movement at this time came from the gentry’s need to find some moral high ground. While this topic appears myopic, lessons about culture and society can be gained by looking into this curious need to “purify” themselves from meat. Among other questions one must ask is, “What relationship do Russians see between eating meat and appearing civilized?” After all, the gentry did learn many cultural lessons from the Western world after Peter the Great, was the trend towards vegetarianism a result of that? Or, were the causes truly part of the older beliefs of the Orthodox faith, perhaps latent in the years of the Church’s lavishness, but brought back again by the old believers? Whatever the causes, the desire to live a pure life, free from meat, was never as popular in Russia as it was in the years between 1820 and 1920. Tolstoy and many like him helped this movement on its way, but its unprecedented popularity among the wealthy Russian class proves that its doctrine tapped into some aspect of Russian culture that had not been explored before.