Sylvester Graham promoted the consumption of high-fiber wholemeal bread for better health and morality in the early 19th century. His recipe for graham bread included parts of the wheat plant not commonly used by bakers, and his beliefs extended to vegetarianism, chastity, and avoidance of tobacco, coffee, and tea. Graham crackers are also linked to him, but it’s unclear if he created them.
Graham bread is named after Sylvester Graham, an early 19th-century American minister who strongly believed that eating more nutritiously could lead to better health. The bread he claimed was darker than bread commonly sold at the time, due to a lack of chemical additives that would lighten the color of the loaves. The recipe for graham bread also called for the use of parts of the wheat plant that weren’t normally used by bakers of the day, such as the germ and husk. The bakers of the day felt they were losing business because of his recommendation that people should eat only brown bread made from wholemeal flour, and were so enraged that some meetings over which the minister presided required a police presence.
Some people, who have come to be known as Grahamites, have strictly adhered to its nutritional principles. Graham bread recipes have been kept within families and passed down from generation to generation, and there are different types of brown bread recipes that include ingredients like brown sugar or molasses. Graham crackers are also linked to Sylvester Graham and his graham bread, though it’s unclear whether he or anyone else is responsible for the crackers.
Sylvester Graham promoted his bread and other lifestyle advice not just for health reasons, but for moral reasons as well. His life code was intended to discourage immoral situations, such as sexual affairs and unmarried mothers. He believed that clean food that did not contain any chemicals or additives would lead to better nutrition and clean deeds, while impure or spoiled food would lead to unclean deeds.
The recommendation that people eat high-fiber wholemeal bread went hand-in-hand with Sylvester Graham’s vegetarian philosophy and his belief that excess sexual desire should be avoided. He believed that too much sexual contact could cause numerous physical ailments. The least harmful of these were headaches and indigestion, but the range of physical ailments extended to insanity, epilepsy, the death of one’s children, and consumption. He advocated chastity, exercise, bathing, temperance, and vegetarianism. He also preached the avoidance of tobacco, coffee and tea.
The promoter of the high-fiber whole-wheat bread that became known as graham bread was born in Connecticut and had ties to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Newark, New Jersey. He worked as a teacher and farmer before taking up the ministry. Among the many beliefs that he believed made controversial in his day was the belief that men should not engage in sexual relations until after the age of 30 and should only do so monthly.
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