When I say “health nut”, we’re not talking he enjoyed jogging. I mean he was a real nut-job. The Reverend Sylvester Graham was very strict in his diet, and very strong in encouraging others to be the same. Some people listened, to the point of having “Graham boarding houses” where people could live by his teachings. He invented his now famous cracker because he believed strongly in using rough un-sifted (brown) flour to make a rather flavourless biscuit. Oh, and the motivation? Well, in his view and sort of, umm, “physical” desires would cause a laundry list of ill effects on the body, including epilepsy and spinal diseases. Bland foods, devoid of red meat, apparently curbed any lustful feelings.
Sadly, his now famous cracker never really took off as a successful product until Nabisco added honey to sweeten things up… and they’re made with that dreadful white flour that Graham condemned. Sinfully delicious!
P.S. He also believed that ketchup and mustard caused insanity.
