Mary Pope (vegetarian)

Mary Ann Pope (1843 – after 1911) was an English cookery teacher, writer, and activist associated with the Vegetarian Society. She served as its cookery teacher and wrote the vegetarian cookbooks Novel Dishes for Vegetarian Households (1893) and Vegetarian Savouries (1904), alongside articles and lectures on vegetarian cookery. A member of the Theosophical Society until 1909, she co-founded the West London Lodge and published two lodge addresses as Mysticism (1908).

Mary Ann Pope was born in Weymouth, Dorset, in the second quarter of 1843.^[1] By 1861, she was working as a governess in Canford Magna, Dorset, and by 1871 she held a similar position in Midgley, Yorkshire.^[2][3]

In 1891, Pope was living in Bradford with her friend and fellow Theosophist Edith Ward.^[4] Pope was a member of the Athene Lodge of the Theosophical Society, and, with Annie Besant, sponsored Ward's membership in the society.^[4][5] Pope and Ward worked as outfitters at Ward's father's company, which specialised in dress reform clothing.^[4]

In Bradford, Pope also sold seasonings, food colourings, and grinders, which she stocked at a local warehouse.^{[5][6]: 133}

In 1896, Pope and Ward moved to London.^[5] They co-founded the West London Lodge of the Theosophical Society and hosted its meetings at their home for the next decade.^[4]

In 1908, Pope published Mysticism: Two Addresses Given to the West London Lodge of the Theosophical Society.^[7] In 1909, Pope and Ward resigned from the Society in connection with the Leadbeater crisis.^[4]

After Pope and her family became vegetarian, she served as cookery teacher to the Vegetarian Society.^[5] She sought to counter perceptions that vegetarian food lacked flavour. She sought to counter perceptions that vegetarian food lacked flavour, writing that unappetising meals could discourage people from adopting vegetarianism.^[8]

Pope also wrote a series of articles on vegetarianism for Isabella Reaney's Mothers & Daughters.^[9] Around 1895, she lectured on vegetarianism cookery in Lancashire.^[5] In the same year, she supervised the menu for a vegetarian restaurant in Halifax, West Yorkshire.^[5]

Pope's 1893 cookbook, Novel Dishes for Vegetarian Households: A Complete and Trustworthy Guide to Vegetarian Cookery, presents a range of savoury dishes, including artichokes au gratin, aubergine fritters, maize curry, lentil fritters, endive with poached eggs, and asparagus loaves.^[10] It also includes an extensive collection of recipes for soups, as well as both savoury and sweet sandwiches.^[11] The book was dedicated to Lady Paget, whose opinions Pope credited as inspiring her to write it.^[8]

Pope offers guidance on the use of pulse foods, cautioning against their overconsumption due to their high nitrogen content and suggesting that they are most suitable for very active individuals. She also recommends moderation in the consumption of soft foods that require little mastication. The book encourages the inclusion of uncooked fruits at all meals, especially breakfast, but provides alternatives for readers unable or unwilling to follow this advice.^[11] Pope also defends salads as both healthy and refreshing, acknowledging England's tradition of salads and high-quality vegetables while noting that the English were not particularly skilled in preparing them.^[6]: 129

Pope states that her work does not cover the full range of possibilities in vegetarian cookery. She writes that vegetarian cookery is still in its infancy, observing that "out of 110,000 species of flowering plants—to take no account of cryptogamic vegetation—we do not utilise more than one percent for food."^[12]

A review in Lucifer described the book as a valuable resource for vegetarians, praising its basis in firsthand experience of cookery and noting in particular the soup and sandwich sections, as well as its practical approach to vegetarian dishes.^[11] The Animal's Defender and Zoophilist commented that the book provides clear instructions, offers a wide range of recipes, and includes appealing descriptions.^[12]

In 1904, Pope published the cookbook Vegetarian Savouries, with a foreword authored by Lady Paget.^[13][14] The book, 79 pages in length, contains a number of vegetarian savoury recipes, ranging from "Gravy for Stock" made with lentils to "Plasmon Butterflies".^[15] In her introduction, Pope stated:^[16]

I have chiefly endeavored to meet the requirements of those who, being wishful to give up flesh eating, are at a loss how to replace the savory meat entrees to which they have been accustomed. Some people have no trouble in making so radical a change of diet; others encounter many difficulties.

The book also references the findings of European chemists, including Fresenius, Church, and Wolff, who analysed the nutritional content of various vegetables and meats. According to their research, beans, with 30.8% nitrogenous matter, surpass prime lean beef, which contains 19.3%. Other vegetables like string beans, lentils, and dried peas are also noted for having higher nitrogen content than fatty meats like beef and mutton. These comparisons are used to support the argument that vegetarian foods, such as beans, offer comparable, if not superior, nutritional value to meat.^[16]

The New York Times described the book as stressing the practical side of vegetarianism and its suitability for refined dining, reporting that the preface presents vegetarian dishes as varied and flavourful, and as relatively simple and inexpensive to prepare.^[17] The Theosophical Review noted Pope's skill in devising savoury dishes and advised aspiring vegetarians to use the recipes with care, particularly those with limited cooking experience.^[15]

According to the 1911 United Kingdom census, Pope was retired and living in Broadstairs, Kent.^[18]

Pope's recipes were included in Anne O'Connel's Early Vegetarian Recipes, exploring the history of vegetarian recipes.^[19] In 2019, a copy of Novel Dishes for Vegetarian Households was donated by William Russel Buck to the LuEsther T. Mertz Library.^[20] Another copy has been digitised by the Southern Adventist University, as part of their Domestic Science and Cookery Collection.^[21]

• Novel Dishes for Vegetarian Households: A Complete and Trustworthy Guide to Vegetarian Cookery (Bradford; London: Percy Lund, 1893)
• "The Physical Basis of Mind" (PDF). The Theosophical Review. 31 (181): 87–92, 162–173. 15 September 1902.
• Vegetarian Savouries (London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1904)
• Mysticism: Two Addresses Given to the West London Lodge of the Theosophical Society (London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1908)