Saturday was Bastille Day, the French holiday commemorating a pivotal moment of the French Revolution: The storming of the Bastille prison. But in addition to remembering the revolutionaries with a spirited verse of "Do You Hear The People Sing?"* should we also celebrate with a plate of veggies?
The French Revolution storyline that lives in history books and popular culture involves the lower classes, driven by hunger and rising bread prices, fighting back against oppression from their 18th century rulers.
However, nearly lost to history were the middle and upper class opponents of the political system, some of whom were reported to have used vegetarianism — not the guillotine — to protest the monarchy.
That's from the NPR blog, the salt. I also thought this line at the end was interesting:
Of course, political vegetarianism did not begin or end with the French revolutionaries.
As an aside, I was sitting on a beach in Nice France on Bastille Day in 2011 watching fireworks with my wife and kids, and I couldn't help but think it was a bit odd that the Beach Boys were blaring over the loud speakers as the French were celebrating their revolution.