How to eat like Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin is the most amazing
character from the 18th century. He is world famous, he's eccentric,
he's a philosopher and he tells us about how he eats.
We have Benjamin Franklin's autobiography and we get a lot of detail about his thoughts
about eating not just what he's eating but his thoughts about eating and it really helps us get
a glimpse now he's eccentric he's not eating like everyone else in the 18th century but he kind of
gives us an idea by contrasting how he's eating comparing it to what regular people were eating in
the 18th century. "I was quite indifferent to what kind of food was set before me and so unobservant
of it that to this day if I am asked I can scarce tell a few hours after dinner what I dined upon".
Early on in his um childhood let's say in his teens he gets a book printed in the 18th century
about vegetarianism this book has some ideas about being a vegetarian because it was economical maybe
inexpensive and also some ethical ideas like is eating meat proper so Benjamin Franklin
becomes a vegetarian in his teens and he you know tries to convince other people of that same idea
it isn't very long though that when he's a vegetarian that he decides after seeing a fish
being served up in a particular situation that there are fish inside the belly of a fish
that if animals eat other animals then maybe it's okay for people to eat animals too so he isn't as
strict a vegetarian after that but he certainly still continues some of those ideas because
he is a very frugal person he grew up in a household where he was trained as a child to not
take too much care or attention about how good the food was it was more important to eat eat for
energy purposes and not so much to you know spend all your time wanting to eat the very best food
that that wasn't uh supposed to be an important thing it was better for you to have conversation
in your meal time that was more important than enjoying the food to some great extent
even talks about how that's very beneficial to him as he travels later on in life because you
know if the food wasn't great it didn't bother him any uh he wasn't greatly disappointed as he
travels and has to eat the bare minimum of food or even things he didn't really care for he was
trained to that even as a young person. "They wandered to see from this and several instances
that the water american as they called me was stronger than themselves who drank strong beer!".
So we know Benjamin Franklin as an inventor and a mover and shaker in politics and in public works
but he grew up and and in his early life he was just a regular working man and
we get some clues to what he thought about food in that circumstance by his working when he was
young in the shop so other people would go out to lunch they would you know have an
extravagant meal for an hour he would stay in the shop he would eat simply bread and cheese
and he would spend his time reading studying getting better at his job
he thought that reading books was more important than going out to lunch.
Benjamin Franklin spends time in London working in a printing shop as a regular you know working
stiff and he thought it was very strange that they spent all this time uh eating lunch and
drinking beer all day long so Benjamin Franklin wasn't a big fan of beer I don't think that he
necessarily thought it was bad but he didn't want to spend that time especially that much
money all day long the workers in in the London print shops were spending a great portion of their
their working wage buying beer to drink all day long Benjamin Franklin he was a water drinker they
made fun of him for drinking water yet he could carry great heavy loads he didn't you know they
said strong beer makes a strong person Benjamin Franklin knew that wasn't true that water could
make a strong person too. "Our supper was only a half an anchovy each on a very little strip of
bread and butter and a half a pint of ale between us but the entertainment was in her conversation".
Benjamin Franklin was also a philosopher and his philosophy actually included food so he
had a whole great section on the art of virtue how to be a virtuous person and what is his
first virtue the one that you need to start on first and it's eat not to dullness drink
not to elevation so right there the the very first principle in his philosophy was don't eat
so much that it distracts you from the things you really ought to be doing and don't drink too much
so that you know you lose your way so that that was the core foundation of his very philosophy of
life interestingly enough part of eating is not eating that is fasting and where he was in in
Pennsylvania fasting was not a big part of the the way where people were living but he grew up in New
England and fasting was part of living people did do fasts on purpose usually in a religious context
so when he was down in Pennsylvania and there were there was a particular circumstance where they
thought that fasting would be a good idea Benjamin Franklin said yes I know just exactly how to write
up and encourage people to fast for a particular purpose. Now it's fun as we look at Benjamin
Franklin as he gets later on in life and maybe as we know him in his more you know famous parts of
later life we see him as a jet setter he's moving around he's going to uh England he's going to
France and he's a famous you know international figure and we know that from his portraits that
you know he he was enjoying eating at that point that later on in life maybe that super plain
living isn't as important to him he knows that he has to rub shoulders with other people and eat
fancy meals his life circumstances change and his eating has to change at the same time. "But she
thought her husband deserved a silver spoon and a china bowl as well as any of his neighbors".
We have an English proverb that says he that would thrive must ask his wife and then he's
talking about his wife being frugal and hard working but then something happens he says
for instance my breakfast was a long time bread and milk and that's boiled bread milk
it's a panada we've done an episode on that before and no tea and I ate it out of a two
penny earthen porringer think tupperware with a pewter spoon but mark how luxury will enter
families and make a progress in spite of principle being called one morning to breakfast I found it
in a china bowl with a silver spoon they had been bought for me without my knowledge by my wife
and had cost her the enormous sum of three and twenty shillings for which she had no other
excuse or apology to make but that she thought her husband deserved a silver spoon and a china bowl
as well as any of his neighbors so there was a point where his wife thought no you need to start
looking more like a wealthy person on purpose because this will actually help
you out in the public sphere and it doesn't sound like he complained that much about it.
So how do we eat like Benjamin Franklin I think we can pull some really interesting conclusions out
of this all the way from his earliest childhood the first time he's talking about food where
he grows up in his father's house and and his father was much more concerned about conversation
and learning during a meal time than he was about fancy food almost to the point
of almost ignoring the food as to as we get later in life Benjamin Franklin seems to be doing that
that same thing it's like no I can still be frugal when I'm by myself and isn't important
but as someone who has to work within political circles yes I will eat fancy and and I will
have these conversations will I spend all my time worrying about what this food is like
probably not so much but having that conversation having that community and that fellowship
was much more important than the food is for Benjamin Franklin if you'd like to learn more
about Benjamin Franklin his eating his life his philosophy you can find that here in the
autobiography of Benjamin Franklin you'll find a copy of that on our website you'll find a link
down in the description section also if you want to go in depth with us on the Townsends book club
where we go into the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin you'll find it all here on this playlist.