OK, kids. As you crunch into your favorite afternoon snack, the Graham cracker, take a moment to remember Sylvester Graham, who invented these tasty treats in 1829. Then consider some of the ideas advocated by that (luckily?) didn't catch on.
Graham, the youngest of 17 children, became ordained as a minister, but rather than spreading the word of God, he devoted much of his time to touting the ill effects of sex, alcohol, meat, spicy foods, sweets, and caffeine.
Graham didn't argue about the immorality of such pleasures. He just thought any stimulants made the body get too worked up, causing internal systes to go haywire. In fact, in one magazine article, Graham reportedly blamed the cholera epidemic on chicken pie and lewdness.
The New Englander became active in the temperance movement and later traveled around filling lecture halls as he implored folks to adhere to the Graham System, which stressed a vegetarian diet. Espousing an early version of "family values," Graham said folks should eat bread baked only by the lady of the house and using only coarsely ground flour (which came to be known as Graham flour). Voila, the Graham cracker!
Boardinghouses sprang up that followed his regimen, and die-hard followers heeded his every word.
Diet wasn't Graham's only obsession. He recommended cold showers (warm baths could be too stimulating). And sex? Even married couples should limit such amorous activites, Graham believed.
According to Nabisco, the Graham cracker the company makes today uses essentially the same recipe as the original -- though many current uses would probably mortify its inventor. S'mores, oozing with melted chocolate and marshmallows, likely would set him spinning in his grave.
Then again, not even old sourpuss Sylvester could live up to his own austere standards. He admitted to swilling alcohol, and enjoying a bit of meat in his dying days. He died at age 57 in 1851.
Little did he know that his lasting legacy would not be a country full of health fanatics and celibates, but rather, his humble cracker.
