Sylvester Graham would be horrified to see what his namesake cracker has become.
Wikimedia CommonsFew know the bizarre story behind the invention of the graham cracker.
The graham cracker needs no introduction. Today, these delightfully crunchy snacks are a common fixture of campfire gatherings, serving as the structural integrity of s’mores to help deliver the delicious combination of chocolate and a toasted marshmallow to one’s mouth.
Few people stop to think about why graham crackers were invented, though, and most would likely assume their creation was nothing more than a typical culinary pursuit. But this assumption could not be further from the truth. The original purpose of the graham cracker was, in fact, to repress sexual desire in all who consumed it.
But why? Who would benefit from an anti-aphrodisiac, and why, of all things, did they think a whole wheat cracker was the answer?
The answer lies with one man: Sylvester Graham.
Sylvester Graham, The Man Who Invented The Graham Cracker To Turn People Off
Public DomainSylvester Graham, the inventor of the graham cracker.
Sylvester Graham was born on July 5, 1794, in West Suffield, Connecticut, into a rather large family — he was the youngest of 17 children and, by all accounts, considered to be a delicate child.
His father, a 72-year-old clergyman, passed away when he was just two, and his mother was prone to illness. As a result, young Sylvester was raised by various relatives, one of whom owned a local tavern. Unfortunately, this exposed Sylvester Graham to many of alcohol’s more detrimental effects, and he grew up with a hatred of alcohol, swearing never to drink it.
At the start of the 19th century, this was highly irregular.
But Graham seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. He was a smart and passionate student. His own health issues — including a bout with tuberculosis at 16 — stunted his formal education, but he did briefly attend Amherst College with the intention of becoming a minister. He left the college one year later.
Library of CongressA certificate of membership for temperance societies, one of which Sylvester Graham was in.
Graham’s reasons for leaving Amherst are a bit unclear. Ostensibly, he left due to health concerns and financial constraints. However, there were also rumors that he had improperly approached a woman, resulting in him being booted from the school against his will.
In either case, Graham was convinced that the whole country was seriously lacking in morals and swore that he would be the one to finally lead a good, moral life. Not only did he swear off alcohol, he also avoided sex, warm baths, and comfortable beds in order to keep things chaste at all times.
Graham married a woman named Sarah Manchester Earl, his caretaker during one of his periods of illness, in 1826, providing him with some layer of personal stability and support, and he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister around the same time. His early sermons focused on traditional religious themes, though he would delve into health and wellness topics frequently, due to his own experience with illness.
Within a few years, Graham was a front facing member of the Philadelphia Temperance Society, advocating strongly for people to ditch alcohol. He maintained this message even after he left the society to focus on preaching health — but avoiding alcohol wasn’t Graham’s only focus.
For example, Graham felt that masturbation inevitably led to insanity and insisted that his followers brush their teeth frequently.
He was also very interested in diets.
The “Graham Diet” Was Designed To Curb Lustful Thoughts And Improve Overall Health
Sylvester Graham believed that people should only eat like Adam and Eve did, believing that indulging in rich, flavorful foods — think meats, fats, and spices — could ignite carnal desires and lead individuals down a path of moral decay. In his view, a bland diet was the key to maintaining purity and self-restraint. He advocated for a vegetarian lifestyle centered around whole grains, which he believed would curb those lustful thoughts.
The philosophy came to be known as the “Graham Diet.”
Graham also hated the additives that were being put in bread at the time to make it whiter and keep it from spoiling. He promoted homemade bread — emphasizing the importance of a mother’s touch and whole wheat flour — in his 1837 book A Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making.
He thought that adding any spice or sugars to foods increased sexual urges, and suggested sticking to simple, bland products.
Public DomainA January 1846 lithograph by Nathaniel Currier supporting the temperance movement, entitled The Drunkard’s Progress.
To support this diet, Graham introduced a special type of unsifted, coarsely ground whole wheat flour, aptly named “graham flour,” from which he created a simple, unseasoned biscuit — what we now know as the graham cracker. This biscuit had next to nothing in common with the snacks of today, however.
Graham’s original crackers were intentionally bland, free from sugar and spices, with the explicit goal of suppressing undesirable passions. Graham was also a skilled orator, and his ideas quickly spread across the country. Opportunistic businessmen took advantage of the trend, creating their own versions of graham bread, graham flour, and yes, graham crackers — though Graham didn’t make any money from the use of his name.
At one point, the Graham Diet was even imposed on the entire student body of Oberlin College, where one professor was fired for refusing to stop bringing his own pepper to flavor the boring cafeteria food. Oberlin eventually changed its tune after enough resistance and relaxed its strict practices, but it showed just how widely Graham’s health advice had spread.
Pushback Against The Graham Diet
As people began cutting meat, sugar, and normal bread out of their diets, Graham’s lectures were increasingly disrupted by angry mobs of butchers and bakers, who felt that telling people to make bread at home and avoid meat hurt their bottom lines. But it wasn’t just them who were upset — the medical community also took issue with what Graham was saying.
Traditional physicians, who at the time commonly prescribed treatments like bloodletting and meat-heavy diets, viewed Graham’s recommendations as radical and unfounded, and medical journals and professionals criticized Graham’s lack of formal medical training, dismissing his diet as quackery.
There is perhaps some irony here in hindsight, given that medical advice today does actually recommend whole grains over refined carbs and cutting back on red meat — though, of course, this advice has nothing to do with taming lustful thoughts. But that’s not to say Graham’s advice was spot on.
A 1915 advertisement for National Biscuit Company brand graham crackers.
He had always had issues with his health, but as he approached his mid-50s, it was clear that the diet and lifestyle he touted was not the answer to all of his medical woes. Although there were many rumors that muddy the facts of what happened, various accounts say that Graham had sought out medical advice from a doctor for several issues, including blood circulation.
Reportedly, the doctor recommended that Graham reintroduce meat into his diet to help with the blood flow issues, and also gave Graham several opium enemas, which may have actually contributed to the decline of Graham’s health.
But according to historian Stephen Nissenbaum in his book Sex, Diet, and Debility in Jacksonian America: Sylvester Graham and Health Reform, eating meat wasn’t the only self-imposed taboo Graham broke in his final years. Sylvester Graham died on Sept. 11, 1851, at the age of 57 “after violating his own structures by taking liquor and meat in a last desperate attempt to recover his health.”
Graham, who had always disavowed the consumption of alcohol, had effectively confirmed his own suspicions about the substance in the end. His early death, however, convinced many of his follower — the Grahamites — that perhaps the diet was not all that he claimed it to be. While his influence on vegetarianism is still present, his name is not often brought up in conversations about it.
He’s also surely turning over in his grave at the thought of what his cracker — undoubtedly the main vestige of his legacy — has become.
How The Graham Cracker Changed Over The Years
Transcendental Graphics/Getty ImagesAn early 20th-century advertisement for graham crackers.
Bakers were no doubt thrilled to learn of Graham’s passing, as he would no longer be around to disparage their refined white breads. To add insult to injury (in this case, a permanent one), bakers began toying with the original graham cracker recipe to make it more palatable.
By the end of the 19th century, the National Biscuit Company (now known as Nabisco) had begun to recognize the commercial potential of these modified graham crackers and began mass-producing and marketing them in 1898. Their version featured refined flour and sweeteners, however, and was less focused on health.
27 years later, in 1925, Nabisco launched the Honey Maid brand of graham crackers, which were sweetened with, as the name suggests, honey. This addition skyrocketed the graham cracker to new heights, and it is still a massively popular treat today. In fact, graham crackers are a staple ingredient in many desserts like s’mores, cheesecakes, and pie crusts — quite a far cry from the bland biscuits they once were.
Looking back, though, it’s hard not to feel at least a little bad for Sylvester Graham. Even if some of his ideas were misguided, he clearly cared about making the world a healthier place — and in some cases, his ideas were more aligned with modern health guidelines than some of the actual medical procedures of his time.
Graham crackers were invented to help people lead purer lives, but unfortunately, when offered the choice between a bland biscuit or a glass of wine — unless they’re taking communion — most people will want the glass of wine.
Next after reading about the invention of the Graham Cracker, read about how India is considering adding a “fat tax” to junk food. Then, learn about the bizarre and disturbing history of kangaroo boxing.
