Avery Yale Kamila shared the following with The Vegetarian Resource Group:

Dear Friends,

My latest history column, published in the Maine Sunday Telegram/Portland Press Herald, explores the events surrounding the little-known riot that occurred in Portland, Maine in the summer of 1834, when celebrity vegetarian lecturer Sylvester Graham attempted to speak to a group of mothers. A mob of “almost crazy” men attacked the church where he was speaking. “Brickbars were hurled through the windows, shouts went up outside and the woman shrieked inside the church,” according to a 19th century newspaper report. 

This revealing event appears in no Maine history books, yet scholars in other fields have explored its causes and implications. In researching the 1834 riot, I discovered reams of historical news reports about Graham’s visits to Portland and Brunswick that summer that expose the beginnings of Maine’s health food market, reveal women’s rights concerns, and showcase the widespread local enthusiasm for vegetarian food. 

The column is posted online at: 

https://www.pressherald.com/2021/06/27/nearly-200-years-ago-the-lectures-of-a-celebrity-vegetarian-visiting-portland-caused-a-riot/

-Avery Yale Kamila

For other interesting historical events related to vegetarianism, see
https://www.vrg.org/history/