Gayelord Hauser — the pioneer of ‘living’ food

Press, 10 December 1983, Page 16

Gayelord Hauser — the pioneer of ‘living’ food

Food & Fable

by

David Burton

Among the many things for which Hollwood must be held responsible is the peculiarly American preoccupation with beauty and youth.

It is little wonder then, that besides its plastic surgeons this small area of Los Angeles has provided a fertile breeding ground over the years for a long line of self-appointed “life extension specialists,” natural healers, nutritionists and dieticians, the latest being Judy Mazel, author of the best-selling “Beverly Hills Diet."

The great grand-daddy of them all, however, must be Gayelord Hauser. Today his is a virtually forgotten name, but 32 years ago his book “Look Younger, Live Longer” topped the United States best-seller list for non-fiction.

This book has a special nostalgia value for me, for throughout my childhood it provided endless hours of idle entertainment, situated as it was on the shelf beside our lavatory.

Now there are some who would assert that even the lavatory bookshelf is too good for this book, and others who might go even further and suggest an alternative use for its pages when the toilet roll is running low. For the book, you see, met a storm of controversy when it first appeared. Hauser was variously labelled a food faddist, “the greatest beauty dietician in the world,” a “health mythologist,” and an outright crank. Our man was born Helmut Eugene Bengamin Gellert Hauser in Tuebingen, Germany, in 1895. As a boy he suffered from a tubercular hip which refused to

heal, despite a number of opetations. Eventually the doctors gave up on him and sent him home to the Swiss Alps to die.

Then, he says, a miracle happened. An old friend of the family, a missionary, persuaded him to give up “dead” foods in favour of “living” foods: “fresh young growing things, especially green and yellow garden vegetables, saturated with earthy elements; lemons, oranges, and other tree fruits, full of sunshine and living juices.” Surprise, surprise, the hip healed. Emigrating to the United States, he sold his ideas to the Hollwood set of the late 20s and thirties. Although Hauser is a shameless name-dropper throughout his writings, it is true that he could count among his converts Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson, the Duchess of Windsor, Queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia and Baron Phillipe de Rothschild.

It is also true, however, that he had no formal medical education, and few people today would take seriously his extravagant claims for his five “wonder

foods” — brewers yeast, skim milk powder, yoghurt, wheat germ and backstrap molasses — that they could cure insomnia, menopause troubles, baldness, grey hair, low blood pressure and prevent many changes associated with old age.

On the other hand, his condemnation of refined white flour, white sugar, and high intakes of animal fats would fall on many more sympathetic ears today, and nobody could argue with his exhortations for us to eat wholesome, vitaminrich foods, to get plenty of exercise and to learn to relax.

By health food standards Hauser could never be considered an extremist. He is not even a vegetarian, stressing the protein value of meat and stipulating only that it should be lean.

“Food is made for man. By all means let us enjoy it,” he wrote. “I believe in eating all kinds of good food, either fresh or properly cooked (never overcooked) in infinite variety. I believe in spiking meats and sauces with herbs and fragrant spices, much as the

French people do.” Perhaps this explains why many of Hauser’s recipes have the ring of a gourmet about them. True, he lists plenty of revolting cocktails of milk, molasses,brewers yeast and the like, but others by today’s standards seem decidedly trendy. Take for example this “cold yoghurt soup from Armenia”: 1 egg 1 cucumber (about 400 g) 2 to 3 spring onions 600mls plain unsweetened yoghurt Ya cup milk 1 cup water 1 tsp salt Ya cup raisins 1 tsp od dill seed or 1 tb chopped fresh dill 1 tb chopped parlsey Hard-boil the egg, allowing 10 minutes. Meanwhile, finely dice the cucumber and slice the spring onions finely. Stir the yoghurt with the milk, water and salt until smooth, then add cucumber, spring onions, raisins and dill seed if using). Refrigerate for two hours before serving. If you are in a hurry, use ice cubes instead of water. Before serving, sprinkle over the parsley, and fresh dill if using. Serves four. An Iranian version of this recipe which I enjoy very much involves substituting a clove or two of garlic for the spring onions, and a tablespoon of chopped mint for the dill. Hauser was also among the first to advocate a revival of home bread-making. For this Milwaukee rye bread take 225 g (2 medium) potatoes 2 cups lukewarm potato water 2 cakes of compressed yeast 2 tsp salt

4 cups of rye flour 4 cups white flour or unbleached white flour

1 tb carraway seeds Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water. Reserve the water and mash the potatoes. Measure out one cup of mashed potatoes, firmly pressing it down.

Dissolve the yeast in Ys cup lukewarm potato water.

It should be neither too hot (or the yeast will be killed) nor too cold, or the yeast

will work too slowly. Stir the mashed potato

and salt into the remaining 1% cups potato water, then add the dissolved yeast. Mix together the rye flour, white flour and carraway seeds. Mix liquid into the dry flours and when the dough is no longer sticky, knead on a flat surface until it is shiny and elastic. Lightly oil a large bowl and place in the dough, spreading a little more oil over the surface of the dough. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place (such as hot water cupboard) until the dough has swelled to twice its former size. Punch it down, then break into two equal pieces. Knead again for another minute or two, then mould the two pieces into loaves and place in two oiled loaf tins. Allow to rise again until doubled in bulk. Bake at 190 degrees C (375 F for about an hour.

A great source of embarrassment for Hauser’s critics must be that the man appears to be his own best advertisement, for according to the current “Who’s Who” he is still alive, and at the age of 88 well on his way to fulfilling his ambition of living to a hundred.