Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Seventh-Day Adventists and Breakfast

Wow, this is quite interesting. In the Middle Eastern city I was previously living in there was a Seventh-Day Adventist church, and a school as well. Anyways, part of the American splintering of Christianity into a bazillion different denominations. From Wikipedia, here:

Since the 1860s when the church began, wholeness and health have been an emphasis of the Adventist church. Adventists are known for presenting a "health message" that recommends vegetarianism and expects abstinence from pork, shellfish, and other foods proscribed as "unclean" in Leviticus 11. However according to some studies, the majority of Adventists do eat meat. The church discourages its members from the use of alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs (compare Christianity and alcohol). In addition, some Adventists avoid coffee and other beverages containing caffeine.

The pioneers of the Adventist church had much to do with the common acceptance of breakfast cereals into the Western diet. John Harvey Kellogg was one of the early founders of the Adventist health work. His development of breakfast cereals as a health food led to the founding of Kellogg's by his brother William K. Kellogg. In Australia, the church-owned Sanitarium Health Food Company is one of Australia's leading manufacturers of health and vegetarian-related products.

1 comment:

The Pigeon said...

Having many SDAs in my family, they drive me nuts sometimes, especially the more anti-Catholic ones. But hey, I never knew about the cereal. I suppose I should give credit where credit is due.