The American Vegetarian Society was founded in New York in 1850 with William A. Alcott, M.D. as its first president. Alcott was the author of The Vegetable Diet, as Sanctioned by Medical Men, and By Experience in All Ages (1849). Vegetarianism grew in popularity in the United States over the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many new vegetarian cookbooks were published including The vegetarian cook book by Edward E. Howe (1887), Science in the kitchen by E.E. Kellogg (1892), Vegetarian Cook Cook: Substitutes for Flesh Food by E.G. Fulton (1904) and Six Hundred Recipes for Meatless Dishes by M. R. L. Sharpe (1908).
Did vegetarian cookbooks differ markedly from other cookbooks? A text analysis comparison shows some interesting results.
When did the word “vegetarian” first appear in American cookbooks? Check out the timeline chart of when the word appears in the Early American Cookbooks collection