Vegetarianism
“I Pitagorici celebrano l’alba”, Fyodor Bronnikov
Lately one hears increasingly of vegetarianism. Vegetarianism is not just a dietary choice, a diet that provides for the exclusion of any animal flesh, but from the outset, is a life philosophy . For example, as early as the sixth century b.c., Pythagoras preached, in his school, vegetarianism. It is considered the initiator and the emblem of vegetarianism in ancient Greece; He believed that after death the soul could reincarnate in animals, so eating meat is one thing by cannibals. His formula: bread and honey in the morning and in the evening fresh vegetables represents, above all, a way of eating ethically correct, since the it intoxicates meat not only the body but also the soul.
More meat equals more disease. Not only, but also in more wars of expansion, in fact the same Pythagoras argued that “as long as men massacre animals, they kill each other” because the carnivorous diet would require more land for pasture and to be able to have the man would trigger bloody wars. While fruits, vegetables and legumes are sustainable energy, because it is a beneficial power for the entire planet.
The symbol of Western vegetarianism is right, in fact, Pythagoras up until the 19th century, any meat-free regime is called Pythagorean. The vegetarian, so eat to live.
In ancient Greece, the Republic of Plato, Socrates exposes a Glaucone who wants to eat meat, the ideal diet for the men of the city of the future: wheat and barley cakes, olives, goat cheese, onions, vegetables, cakes of figs, Myrtle berries, roasted acorns and some wine.
In our century, however, recall Mahatma Gandhi, who claimed that “the flesh is not food suitable to our species”.
Therefore, the reasons for choosing a vegetarian diet will not only affect health and wellbeing, but also ethical, moral, religious, environmental values.
