Wine, Meat and War

 

Homer, Author of The Odyssey  

8th or 7th-century BCE 

Wine, Meat, and War: An Ancient Warning for Our Times

“As is the food, so is the mind.” — Ancient proverb from Ayurveda

Food, War, and Peace in the Odyssey: An Ancient Lesson for the Modern World

Homer’s Odyssey is not just a story of a long journey home but a meditation on human nature, morality, and society. Within its episodes, food and drink often appear not merely as sustenance but as symbols of cultural values and psychological tendencies. Odysseus’s encounters with different peoples - many of whom gorge on roasted meat and wine, in contrast to the rare groups who resist such indulgence - offer more than geographic variety; they present moral lessons that remain strikingly relevant today.

---

The Symbolic Role of Food and Drink

In Homer’s narrative universe, food serves as a mirror of a people’s deeper character. Excessive consumption of meat and wine is repeatedly tied to qualities of aggression, deceit, and lack of self-control. The feasting warriors who overindulge are reckless with life and quick to violence. In contrast, when Odysseus comes across peoples who live without wine and meat, their lifestyles are described as peaceful, trusting, and harmonious - a striking juxtaposition that highlights the moral dimension of diet.

While Homer’s epic is not a health manual, the symbolic use of diet underscores a profound principle familiar to ancient Greek thought: moderation breeds balance, while excess gives rise to disorder. The Greek virtue of sophrosyne - temperance or self-restraint - was seen as foundational for a just life. Food, then, becomes not merely material fuel but an ethical practice with spiritual and societal implications.

---

Ancient Philosophers on Diet and Virtue

Beyond Homer, many early thinkers reflected on the moral significance of diet. 

Pythagoras was an ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician. He and his followers practiced vegetarianism, associating the killing of animals and the consumption of their flesh with spiritual impurity and moral coarsening. He is quoted as saying “For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy.” 

Plato, in The Republic, imagined an ideal city where citizens lived on simple grains, fruits, and vegetables. When Socrates points out to Glaucon that introducing meat, luxury, and wine would necessitate expansion, conquest, and ultimately war, the connection between dietary indulgence and social violence becomes explicit.

In this sense, the Odyssey’s contrasting depictions of indulgent vs. abstinent peoples echo a broader tradition: spiritual clarity and social harmony are linked with simplicity of diet, while excess correlates with aggression and conflict.

---

Modern Science on Diet and Behavior

Fast forward to the present, and modern psychology, neuroscience, and nutritional science provide fresh frames to interpret these ancient intuitions.

• Meat and Mental State
  High meat diets, especially heavy in red and processed meats, have been linked to systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, and metabolic imbalance. Such physiological stressors can contribute to anxiety, irritability, and mood instability. While meat itself is not a direct cause of aggression, its overconsumption in high-stress lifestyles appears correlated with psychological imbalances.

• Alcohol and Violence
  Science has long confirmed what Homer dramatized: alcohol consumption increases impulsivity, lowers inhibition, and elevates the likelihood of violent behavior. The violent feasts of Homer’s warlike tribes are mirrored in the very real statistics of alcohol-fueled crime and domestic violence today.

• Plant-Based and Balanced Diets
  Emerging fields like nutritional psychiatry highlight the stabilizing effects of plant-forward diets. Diets rich in vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and healthy fats support stable moods, higher resilience, and lower reactivity. This aligns with Homer’s depiction of the non–meat-eating peoples as gentle and trusting, independent of whether his symbolism was consciously nutritional or metaphorical.

George Bernard Shaw, a Nobel Prize-winning Irish playwright, was a staunch advocate for vegetarianism throughout his life. His quote, "While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth," encapsulates his belief that violence against animals is inextricably linked to human violence. He argued that a society built on the systematic killing of animals for food could not credibly aspire to a peaceful and just world for its people. For Shaw, vegetarianism was not just a dietary choice but a moral and philosophical imperative - a necessary step toward true social and spiritual progress.

---

The Allegory for Modern Society

If the Odyssey is read allegorically, its lessons pierce directly into our world, where nearly 90–98% of humans consume meat as a dietary norm, often paired with cultural patterns of alcohol consumption. Homer’s implicit contrast asks us: does an indulgent diet predispose societies to cycles of conflict? At the very least, it suggests that cultural values of restraint or excess are written not only in laws but in daily habits—down to what we place on our plates and pour into our cups.

The idea that “we are what we eat” gains new weight here. If we consume aggression - through the flesh of animals raised in fear, or through the distortion of natural balance by overindulgence - do we internalize that aggression, reproducing it in our societies? Conversely, might the pursuit of balanced, non-excessive diets be a pathway to cultivating inner peace and outward harmony?

---

Humans vs. the Universe: Beyond Balance

Homer’s narrative also draws a profound distinction between cosmic cycles and human potential. The universe returns eternally to cycles of equilibrium and chaos—stars burn and explode, matter coalesces, and the cycle begins anew. But humans, unlike stars, carry the possibility of transcending these cycles. By consciously aligning our diets, habits, and inner lives with harmony rather than indulgence, we may move beyond the oscillation of balance and imbalance and realize what Buddhist thought would call Buddha-nature: freedom from the endless play of phenomena.

In this way, Homer’s ancient story becomes startlingly modern: food is not merely nourishment, but a spiritual and civilizational choice. To consume with restraint and balance is to edge closer to peace—within ourselves and, perhaps, within the societies we build.

“The old wisdom speaks through every grain and every fruit: what we eat shapes what we become. To walk toward Sacred Holistic Health is therefore to eat with awareness, to live with balance, and to discover in stillness the freedom that is our true nature.”

Conclusion

While there is no scientific data to directly prove that a vegan world would be free from war, the argument is compelling from a philosophical and spiritual perspective. It suggests that our food choices are not just about physical health but about our moral and energetic alignment.

From this viewpoint, a global shift to a plant-based diet could be a powerful catalyst for a more peaceful world by promoting personal and collective traits like empathy and non-violence. It aligns with the idea that outer peace begins with inner peace, and that what we consume fundamentally shapes our internal state.

You can read more in the book Sacred Holistic Health.