Rupert Henry Wheldon (July 3, 1883 – June 6, 1960) was an American photographer and

veganism Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a vega ...

activist.

Biography

Wheldon was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

to Henry David Wheldon and Marianne Wilson. He moved to England as a small child, where he spent most of his life. Wheldon married Anna M. Wheldon and had five stepchildren. He worked as a photographer in Petaluma from 1926 to 1942; he was the proprietor of Sunset Studios located at 23 Western Avenue. Wheldon's book ''No Animal Food'', published by C. W. Daniel in 1910 and by Health Culture Co. the same year, is often cited as the first vegan cookbook.Inness, Sherrie A. (2005). ''Secret Ingredients: Race, Gender, and Class at the Dinner Table''.

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...

. p. 156. However, Asenath Nicholson had authored the first vegan cookbook, ''Kitchen Philosophy for Vegetarians'', in 1849. Wheldon's book contains a hundred vegan recipes and eschewes animal foods for "ethical, aesthetic, and economic reasons." It was positively reviewed in the

Vegetarian Society The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom (VSUK) is a British Registered charity in England, registered charity. It campaigns for dietary changes, licenses Vegetarian Society Approved trademarks for Vegetarianism, vegetarian and Veganism, v ...

's ''The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review'', but was largely forgotten, causing Fay K. Henderson's ''Vegan Recipes'' in 1946 to be erroneously cited as the first vegan cookbook. In the final months of his life, Wheldon moved to

Salinas, California Salinas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Salt pan (geology), Salt Flats") is a city in the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Monterey County, California, Monterey County. With a population of 163,542 in the 2020 Census, Salinas is ...

, where he ran a health food store. Following a short illness, he died on June 6, 1960, in a Salinas hospital.

Selected publications

''Vegetarianism Versus Carnivorism''
(''Theosophical Quarterly'', 1909)
''No Animal Food''
(Health Culture Co., 1910)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheldon, Rupert H. 1883 births 1960 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American photographers Activists from Philadelphia American cookbook writers American expatriates in England American veganism activists Photographers from Philadelphia Opponents of tea drinking Vegan cookbook writers Writers from Philadelphia