Remembering Civil War Doctor and Salisbury Diet Founder James Henry Salisbury

"With his anti-vegetable views, James is probably rolling over in his grave to see more people than ever trying their hand at gardening."

January 12, 1823

Today is the birthday of the 19th-century American physician and the inventor of the Salisbury steak, James Henry Salisbury.

James began thinking critically about diet after serving as a doctor in the Civil War. He started believing that consuming only coffee and beefsteak could solve diarrhea and dysentery.

After the war, James refined his thinking around food and diet.

James argued that humans were meant to be carnivores and that human teeth structure proved that.

James recommended limiting vegetables, fruit, starches, and fats. His belief that vegetables and starchy foods became toxic inside the body made him increasingly zealous about a meat-based diet.

In 1888, James introduced his Salisbury Steak - deep-fried or boiled ground beef with onion, flavored with seasoning, and covered with gravy or brown sauce.

Along with drinking hot water as a cleanse, James advised eating his Salisbury Steak three times a day, and his diet became known as the Salisbury diet.

With his anti-vegetable views, James is probably rolling over in his grave to see more people than ever trying their hand at gardening.

As you’re eagerly sowing that row of radish, carrots, or peas this spring, raise a trowel to ol’ James Salisbury and keep on planting.