Famous Eaters - George Bernard Shaw

Each month we look at famous people - past and present - who love their grub

NAME: George Bernard Shaw

BORN: 26 July 1856

DIED: 2 November 1950

FAVOURITE FOOD: Anything without meat.

The Dublin-born journalist, novelist and playwright was a confirmed and passionate vegetarian from the age of 25. It's thought likely that poverty was the stimulus for Shaw's vegetarianism.

While living in London as a young man, he refused to take work, instead committing himself to a life as a writer. As a result, he could only afford to eat in the capital's cheaper, off-the-track restaurants that served veggie food.

Gradually, ethical rather than economic reasons became the driving force for his vegetarianism. Shaw himself said he became a vegetarian after reading the lines: "Never again may blood of bird or beast stain with its venomous stream a human feast!" from Shelley's The Revolt of Islam. The words "opened my eyes to the savagery of my diet", said Shaw.

"Animals are our fellow creatures," Shaw later said. "I feel a strong sense of kinship with them." On another occasion he professed the view that: "It is beneficial to one's health not to be carnivorous. The strongest animals, such as the bull, are vegetarians. I have 10 times as much health and energy as a meat-eater."

Shaw even expressed a wish to be mourned by oxen, sheep, pigs, poultry and an aquarium of fish at his funeral.

WHAT HE ATE:

During his 42 years of marriage to Charlotte Payne-Townshend he lived on his wife's menu of nut cutlet, cauliflower au gratin, flans, veggie curries and pies, and fruit, even though she was not a vegetarian herself. After his wife's death in 1943, the job of cooking fell to his housekeeper, Alice Laden. Her skills in the kitchen seem to have paid off as Shaw lived in near-perfect health until his death at the age of 94.

While other historical figures' diets are to some extent open to speculation, Shaw's is preserved in a cookbook compiled by Laden.

It includes mushroom soufflé, stuffed aubergines, carrot croquettes and cabbage pie, with variations on the same themes with other produce. Plenty of the sweet-toothed

Shaw's favourite puddings and ice creams are also featured.

The George Bernard Shaw Vegetarian Cookbook is still in print and available from Amazon.