(artist rendition of Franklin with his bread loaves and future wife)
Introduction
In many of the Enlightenment texts we have read, food appears as a motif. Food becomes a springboard for discussing serious enlightenment issues, such as slavery and religion. One theme that emerges is using food to show the true cost of luxury, and thus advocating a more frugal lifestyle. Enlightenment authors urge their readers to pursue frugality as the ethical choice because of the public benefit of helping others, financial implications, and in light of its human labor cost.
Public Benefit
The public, non-tangible benefits of consuming frugally are depicted in Robinson Crusoe[1] and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin[2]. Defoe highlights the benefit for the public of considering deeply everything he or she is to eat, desert island or not. The iconic bread scene from Benjamin Franklin shows how essential it is to give to others if your own immediate needs have been met.
Robinson Crusoe eats meat for the purpose of survival, not for opulent feasts. In Crusoe’s first encounter with a goat, he kills the goat so that he may survive when the rations from the ship run out. He eventually also kills its child, but not before attempting first to feed it. However, he does not disregard the loss of life. “I killed a She-Goat which had a little Kid by her which she gave Suck to, which griev’d me heartily” (Defoe 98). By admitting that killing the animal saddened him, he shows that the animal itself is to be considered when making food choices, and should be eaten out of need rather than want. Furthermore, Crusoe does not gorge himself on the animal, he gingerly saves the meat eating it sparingly. In Alex Tapper’s blog post “On Prolepsis, Robinson Crusoe”[3], Alex emphasizes that by making the plot of Robinson Crusoe transparent, the reader is able to focus on the importance of details, such as Crusoe’s internal struggles within the text. Alex states “Prolepsis is one mechanism working in the novel that allows for a more overt focus on these hidden or subdued topics.” In this context the goat detail can be easily focused upon as evidence of Crusoe’s psychological struggles on the Island. He is very cognizant of the implications his consumption of even one animal has. Furthermore, this small passage can serve an important purpose for the reader within the Enlightenment era, in encouraging him or her to consider his or her own food indulgences.
In The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin a vivid passage depicts Franklin’s arrival in the city that would define the course of his life -- Philadelphia. He was exhausted and ravenous, and thus bought bread immediately after disembarking. He is surprised to receive three rolls of bread for a low price. He eats his fill as he strolls the streets and although he has very little money he “gave the other two (rolls) to a Woman and her Child that came down the River in the Boat with us and were waiting to go farther.” (Franklin 76). Franklin could have easily kept the bread for himself, as he has no idea where his next meal or shilling would come from. However, he does not choose to have the luxury of knowing he has the bread, instead he makes an ethical choice and gives the bread to the people who need it most. Clearly Franklin is showing that one should only take what he or she needs. In this instance, Franklin uses food to demonstrate helping others is far more important than gluttonous behavior. Furthermore, the incident shows food can be a means of obtaining satisfaction from helping others. In the work "Franklin and the Revolutionary Body.”[4] Erkkila argues that the bread anecdote is an example of what Franklin carefully wishes to convey to his audience “…through rigorous regimes of industry, culture, temperance, and frugality, Franklin seeks to present himself as a model body of the rising middle class and the rising glory of America” (Erkkila 724). Erikkila’s piece in some ways functions as a critique, however I do not imagine Franklin would dislike these themes – they seem to be at the heart of his novel. In his blog “Ben Doesn’t rest in peace”[5] Jess discusses Franklin’s belief in helping others through “reciprocal altruism” or in layman’s terms the idea that if you help someone, including in business, someday when you need it they will help you in return, and as Jess states: “allowing everyone to prosper”. Jess points out that our current financial market is anything but honest or altruistic. Jess states, “He would like to think that the good character one demonstrates to his neighbor should encourage his neighbor to emulate that same dedication to reciprocal altruism.” Although bread is a humble offering, I believe Franklin does fulfill this ideal in this instance, and who is to say the woman and child did not help someone else they perceived could use it?
Financial – Personal Savings and Ease of Lifestyle
Enlightenment thinkers also demonstrated that if one does not want to consider the altruistic benefits of eating simply, one should consider the benefits financially. In Gulliver’s Travels[6], the amount of food an average person should consume is an issue that can be raised satirically – by considering it through the perspective of much smaller creatures. Franklin demonstrates in his autobiography the money he was able to save as a result of his vegetarian lifestyle. Furthermore, Franklin shows how money can be lost in the pursuit of consuming alcohol. I would argue, not only does he show the money lost in the present, he also depicts how long term luxurious habits can stall career progress.
In Lilliput, Gulliver’s food habits are depicted as awe inspiring to the Lilliputians. His appetite is depicted as absurd, requiring daily feasts, at one moment legitimate concerns are raised that feeding Gulliver may cause a famine in Lilliput. Simply for his needs the Emperor enlists all the villages to create a daily commission for him -- “…the said Man-Mountain shall have a daily Allowance of Meat and Drink sufficient for the Support of 1,728 of our Subjects” (Swift 38). Gulliver never concerns himself with the hundreds of Lilliputians who work around the clock to feed him, or considers that perhaps he should search for his own food. If no other food was to be found, he could have been more sensitive to the financial implications for Lilliput by not requesting meat and alcohol, difficult and expensive dishes to produce, on a daily basis. He does not consider the financial repercussions of his actions. Thus Swift asks his reader to consider the concept of food on a microscopic level.
Earlier in his autobiography, Franklin shows how his father, who advocated eating simply rather than delicately, influenced his progressive food choices. He encouraged young Franklin to disregard frivolous attachments to food as a social construct. This made Benjamin more flexible in regards to travel and daily living. This passage shows that being prudent in regards to food, rather than indulging every whim, results in a much easier lifestyle to maintain.
“By this means he turned out Attention to what was good, just, and prudent in the Conduct of Life; and little or no Notice was even taken to what related to the Victuals on the table, whether it was well or ill drest, in or out of season, of good or bad flavour, preferable or inferior to this thing or the other thing of the kind.” (Franklin 55).
In this passage Franklin expressly argues that moral conduct and one’s attitude toward food are inextricably linked. This is not simply Franklin’s opinion – it’s how he was raised. By describing at length what facets of food he pays no regard to, Franklin wittily constructs what others do, and shows how frivolous such considerations are.
On multiple occasions in The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Franklin shows how eating frugally can benefit the body as well as the pocketbook. Franklin describes his first foray into vegetarianism, as a young man. He explains that by preparing simple dishes, he was able to save half the money he would normally spend on board and spend it instead on books. Franklin explains that the light non-alcoholic vegetarian diet benefited him intellectually as well. “I made the greater Progress from the Clearness of Head and quicker Apprehension which usually attend Temperance in Eating and Drinking.” (Franklin 63). Franklin shows that making prudent food choices helped him to become successful, because of his clear mind and the extra funds to buy books. Later in the text, Franklin illustrates how consuming beer is detrimental in the workplace. The workers attempt to argue strong beer makes them more physically capable, Franklin humourously rationalizes there is not enough Barley dissolved in the beer to serve a purpose in terms of energy. Franklin also points out the amount of money the workers spend on beer, he states “… thus these poor Devils keep themselves always under”. (Franklin 100). Franklin illustrates how irrational and wasteful consuming alcohol can be, as well as showing that a vegetarian lifestyle is not only easy to maintain for periods of time, but also economically sound. El Leon‘s blog “Carpe Diem”[7] discusses how life should be considered from the perspective that it will be long and that no action should be considered simply for its short term effect. He states - “However, it is equally as important not to put so much stake in any particular moment or focus on merely short-term benefits.” Consuming beer may be enjoyable for a few hours, but at the detriment both of finances and work performance, the stakes may outweigh the benefits.
Physical Cost - Labor Involved in Food Production
Many enlightenment texts strive to show the true labor cost of food production. In Robinson Crusoe, the full labor is the product of one man, thus the challenges inherent are emphasized, which urges his readers to consider the production of their own food. Furthermore in “The Sommersett Case and the Slave Trade”[8] Franklin directly attacks the human cost of the luxury good sugar.
Robinson Crusoe highlights the many unnecessary accouterments of an opulent 18th century diet, by showing how little is essential for survival, and the labor involved in producing each food product. Crusoe emphasizes just how difficult the simplest of foods can be to grow and make. He describes the immense amount of labor it took to produce bread “…what I believe few people have thought much upon, the strange multitude of little Things necessary in the Providing, Producing, Curing, Dressing, Making, and Finishing this one Article of Bread” (Defoe 146). By describing the lengthy bread making process Defoe encourages his reader to consider just how difficult food production is, and thus emphasizes how one should be grateful for the simplest foods, which can be just as wonderful. In Chase’s blog post Franklin as a Self-Help Writer[9], Chase explores how Franklin’s maxims from Poor Richard’s Alamanack can inform Robinson Crusoe. Chase draws the connection that Franklin’s encouragement of prudence in time management and self-reliance is a parallel concept to Crusoe’s determination to properly plant the barley and thus prosper. In this context, food becomes a means of survival, and its labor is depicted because of how difficult to obtain and essential it is, rather than simply as a means of obtaining physical pleasure or as a status symbol. Furthermore Smit-Marais explain how through self-sufficiency Crusoe become a different person: “he gradually begins to transform himself along with his environment. By the time he leaves the island 28 years later, he has become a resourceful and capable ruler…”[10].
“The Sommersett Case and the Slave Trade” demonstrates Franklin had strong feelings about the cruelty of slavery, and the cost producing inessential sugar had on a race of people. He emphasizes that food choices should be made with a moral conscience, and consideration of the people who participate in harvesting the crop. Sugar cane in particular is an incredibly physical endeavor; in this era it involved a huge amount of physical strength -- a person physically hacking away at a stalk. The idea that multitudes of people are working brutal labor-intensive hours for no pay, in order to produce a product that only provides a brief, mild satisfaction within the upper class is not one Franklin can tolerate. Franklin does not mask his argument in metaphor -- he flat out asks his audience: “Can the petty pleasure thence arising to the taste, compensate for so much misery produced among our fellow creatures, and such a constant butchery of the human species by this pestilential detestable traffic in the bodies and souls of men?” (Franklin 678). Vann Bentley’s blog post Do I Use Slave Labor?[11] asks an intriguing parallel question. He probes his modern day readers to consider whether his or her goods come from ethical sources, including fairly compensated labor. It begs the question – do we, as Americans, stand up against slave labor in the present or as Vann states “Are we therefore implicit in the same kind of willful ignorance?”
Conclusion
The writings of Defoe, Swift, and Franklin illustrate the complicated nature associated with ethical and prudent food choices. Each author has his own philosophy on food and the nature with which its consumption should be considered. By engaging my peer’s blogs, I was able to consider the implications of the necessity of food prudence both in terms of the enlightenment and in a modern context. I urge you to spend a few minutes considering modern equivalents to the issues raised. Should you really find comfort in a latte that contains coffee beans that were not obtained through fair trade laws? Should you really be eating that spicy tuna roll, when the tuna industry fishes unethically, utilizing illegal traps that result in the unnecessary death of dolphins and other marine life? Is there someone you know would really benefit from a free loaf of bread?
WWFD? (What Would Franklin Do?)
[1] Defoe, Daniel, and Evan R. Davis. Robinson Crusoe. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview,
2010. Print.
[2] Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Ed. Leonard Woods Labaree, Ralph L. Ketcham, Helen C. Boatfield, and Helene Fineman. New Haven: Yale UP, 2003. Print.
[3] Tapper, Alex. "On Prolepsis, Robinson Crusoe." Weblog post. English 274: Benjamin Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment.
[4] Erkkila, Betsy. "Franklin and the Revolutionary Body." Elh 67.3 (2000): 717-41. Print.
[5] Wisiackas, Jess. "Ben Doesn't Rest in Peace." Weblog post. English 274: Benjamin Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment. Web. .
[6] Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels. Ed. Claude Rawson and Ian Higgins. Oxford UP, 2005. Print.
[7] El Leon. "Carpe Diem." Weblog post. English 274: Benjamin Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment. .
[8] Franklin, Benjamin. "The Sommersett Case and the Slave Trade." The London Chronicle 20 June 1772. Print.
[9] Kojaian, Chase. "Franklin as a Self-Help Writer." Weblog post. English 274: Benjamin Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment. .
[10] Smit-Marais, Susan. "Converted Spaces, Contained Places: Robinson Crusoe's Monologic World." Journal of Literary Studies 27.1 (2011): 102-14.
[11] Bentley, Vann. "Do I Use Slave Labor?" Weblog post. English 274: Benjamin Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment. Web. .
