Read more: Vegetarian roots: The extraordinary tale of William Cowherd (BBC)The Beefsteak chapel hardly sounds like a place where vegetarians would be welcome, but more than 200 years ago, this tiny chapel in Salford was the British birthplace of the meat-free diet.
In an even greater twist, the cleric who preached the moral virtues of vegetarianism was the Reverend William Cowherd. His Beefsteak Chapel was the country's first vegetarian church.
Cowherd, born almost 250 years ago on Sunday 16 December, demanded his congregation eat a meat free diet.
The article gives two reasons for Cowherd's support for vegetarianism: 1) God inhabits every animal, and so it would be a sin to eat them. 2) Eating meat would make you behave aggressively, so again eating meat is sinful. How do you feel these reasons resonate with vegetarians of today?