We take our food fads very seriously in this country, and some continue for many years.
Along about 1830, a young Presbyterian minister, Sylvester Graham (1794-1851), an ardent temperance advocate, got the notion that if one lived wholly on a vegetable diet he would have no interest in any alcoholic beverage.
Graham boardinghouses sprang up in many of the larger cities.
Then within a year or two he extended his dietetic reform into encouraging the substitution of unbolted flour for all wheaten products.
The latter advocacy still meets with much medical favor and it is due to the efforts of this preacher that we continue to have graham flour, graham bread, and graham crackers.
