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Was Leonardo da Vinci a Vegetarian?
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Dec 21, 2024
Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) is celebrated as one of history’s greatest Renaissance minds. From groundbreaking contributions to art and science to his curiosity about the natural world, his legacy is unmatched. But what about his diet? Was da Vinci truly a vegetarian, as some suggest? Tune in to this episode of 5 Minutes With Art as Anita explores the fascinating claims surrounding Leonardo’s dietary habits. Curious to learn more? Click here to dive deeper: Leonardo da Vinci’s Vegetarianism: Myth Or Truth? (https://anitalouiseart.com/leonardo-da-vincis-vegetarianism-myth-or-truth/) #LeonardoDaVinci #RenaissanceGenius #Vegetarianism #ArtHistory #RenaissanceArt #5MinutesWithArt #LeonardoLegacy #FascinatingHistory Support the show (https://www.buzzsprout.com/1939491/support)
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[Music]
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hi this is Anita from five minutes with
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art perhaps no other artist continues to
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Fascinate us as much as Leonardo D Vinci
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does and a question that many people
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have asked is was Leonardo D Vinci
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vegetarian is that myth or is that a
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fiction that's kind of an interesting
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question first of all let's discuss
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vegetarian in the 15 Century it's
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essential to understand that at his his
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time cultural and social norms during
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the Renaissance the concept of
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vegetarianism as we understand it today
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was not very widespread most Europe
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people ate meat when they could afford
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it though their diet was mainly
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plant-based mainly due to economic
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restraints rather than ethical choices
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so it's important to understand here
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that people would eat meat if they could
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afford meat but they did not eat meat
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when they could not afford it and they
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had a very much of a plant-based diet
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because of that meat was seen as a
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symbol of wealth and prosperity and it
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was for the upper classes it was an
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essential part of feast and banquets
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that's why if you know you went into in
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the 15th century if you went into a
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special feast or banquet of someone that
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was wealthy they'd probably have several
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type of meat dishes to show that they
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were wealthy and able to afford the meat
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some philosophical religious Traditions
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however included certain aspect
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Christianity Plato ISM and other types
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um believed in the abstinence from meat
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these groups often often believ that a
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vegetarian diet was Pur a more aligned
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more closely with spiritual principles
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so even though vegetarianism was not
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that widespread there were some
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religious sex or groups who believed in
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vegetarianism and belied that it more
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you know clearly aligned with the way we
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should
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eat Leonardo D Vinci was known to have a
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love for
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Animals what that's one of the strongest
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claims and favoring that Leonard D Vinci
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was a
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vegetarian this is because of his well
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document love and respect for Animals
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his writings are filled with musings on
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nature and his profound admiration for
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the animal kingdom is evident he often
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sketched animals with tenderness and
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understanding that was very rare for his
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time
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so that's why many people suggest that
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he would purchase birds from the
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marketplace to set them free you know
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this was a testament to his belief in
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all types of living
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creatures he would very sensitive
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towards animals and animal sufferings in
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one of his notebooks he wrote the time
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will come when men shall as I will look
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on the murder of animals as they now
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look on the murder of men this quote is
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often cited as evidence of his
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vegetarianism but it's worth noting that
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that the sediment aligns more closely
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with the philosophical views on the
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sanctity of life than on specific
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dietary
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restrictions so you know some other
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evidence from his writings also said
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that he said I have from an early age
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abjured the use of meat so there right
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there he's basically from an early age
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that he basically did not eat meat much
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so there is a very high chance that he
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was a vegetarian or at least was
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somebody who abstained from eating meat
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or maybe he ate meat occasionally but
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really ate mostly
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vegetables we don't really know at this
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point because he never came out and said
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I am a vegetarian and I will not eat
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meat but of course when you look closely
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at his writings you look closely at the
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things he said there is a great belief
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that he himself was maybe a vegetarian
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or he abstained from meat or almost all
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types of meat eating there's also some
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evidence in his health itself that in
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the last five years of his life it said
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that he had a um um a right you know
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hemo paralysis which is the condition
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affects one side of the body often
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associated with stroke um some Modern
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researchers have suggested that the
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vegetarian diet of true could have
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influenced you know his health condition
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contributing to a stroke itself your
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vegetarian diet could either positively
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or negatively affect the Cal vascular
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system you know but on the other hand
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you know he lived in an area where there
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was lots of fruits there was vegetables
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there was whole grains so he you know
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would have eaten better than a lot of
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other people which could have been had
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really good
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anti-inflammatory and he could have had
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much lower cholesterol levels the truth
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is we really don't know whether or not
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he was a
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vegetarian there's you know numerous
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modern literature and biography suggest
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that he abstained from eating meat and
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that but all that evidence is
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circumstantial because we have no direct
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proof that he was actually a
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vegetarian you know so really you know
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his whole this whole myth or whatever
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this talk stems from his compassion for
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Animals his belief system and basically
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some of his culture I personally myself
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believe that he probably was some form
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of vegetarian whether or not he was a
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full-fledged vegetarian whether he
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sometimes ate meat sometimes didn't ate
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meat maybe he ate fish maybe ate Seafood
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we really don't know but he probably had
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some was some form of vegetarian because
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of what he's written about animals his
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love for Animals how he was known to set
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Birds free and some of his writings that
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he wrote about meat itself and eating of
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and the meat maybe he just didn't like
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the way you know many of the rich people
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would have these feasts and they'd have
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all this you know meat come in and the
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meat would probably be wasted and there
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was probably a lot of glutton a lot of
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waste and he maybe just really didn't
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like that and that could have been
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another reason why we've written about
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it but whether or not we can positively
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say 100% he was vegetarian we cannot
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because he did not write down and say I
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am a vegetarian and will not eat any
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meat this is the n from five minutes
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with Art thank you so much for listening
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where we spend five minutes each week
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and go through different things of art
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so that we've hope that you've enjoyed
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this and that you've enjoyed learning a
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little bit more about one of my favorite
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artists Leonardo D Vin she
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