pic.twitter.com/CpJUrGZzRAApparently, the snack’s name is a nod to Sylvester Graham, an American 19th-century puritanical focused on temperance and denying sexual urges through dietary restriction.(His beliefs also inspired graham flour and graham bread.
Go figure.)In the 1830s, his preaching led to the rise of the “Graham Diet,” comprised of “tasteless, whole-grain bread and starches, with everything flavorful — meat, coffee, alcohol, and tobacco — strictly forbidden,” according to The New York Post.“He was on a strong anti-masturbation crusade,” writer Adam D.
Shprintzen told the outlet.“He said, ‘If you’re eating meat, you’re acting like an animal, and you should avoid those types of primal instincts — like the urge to have sex.”Naturally, the churchgoers needed a snack that wouldn’t start making them think about sex, so the graham cracker was born.(Of course, this version was whole-wheat, bland, and dry.
Its signature sweet and cinnamon-flecked taste didn’t come until its 1890s acquisition by Nabisco.)the best part of the graham cracker is the perforationAs Shprintzen told The New York Post, he believed “the cracker could help suppress sexual desire, particularly in adolescent boys” and amassed a “hardcore” following.Oh, brother.These followers believed this diet was key to addressing everything from lust to mental health problems.