Béla Bicsérdy is probably one of the most exciting Hungarian vegetarians, an extremely learned, multilingual raw food pioneer, author of many books, an outstanding athlete, who had 150 000 followers, and apparently cured thousands of people from fatal illnesses.
I first heard his name over 20 years ago, when I told an old lady that I was vegetarian and she asked if I was a “bicsérdist”? I was baffled and it took me many years to find out what she meant.
Bicsérdy Béla - 1898 - Fogaras, Balázsfalva
He was born in 1872 and his life was forever changed when he got syphilis as a young man. He tried many doctors and treatments but nothing helped till he went vegetarian and later frutarian. By the outbreak of the first world war he cured himself from all illnesses, his hair and 3 of his lost teeth had grown back (testified by witnesses)!
He believed that if you follow a very moderate raw diet with regular fasts, exercise every day and spend several hours studying that you can live up to several hundred years old. He thought humanity went downhill when “Thou shalt not kill” was abused- not just eating animals but killing living food with cooking. This lead to illnesses and confusion, fear, hatred and wars. People need a “master” to lead them out of this chaos; and he recognized three masters: Jesus, Zoroaster, and himself.
The path he recommended was to respect the laws of nature and become a frutarian. With this life style we can release the self healing capacity of the human body. If you follow this raw food diet you’ll be resistant to diseases and step on the path of physical and mental development. He considered cooked or baked vegetarian food as manure, and eating meat as consuming death. He didn’t allow coffee, cigarettes and alcohol consumption either. He also emphasised the ills of overeating and told his followers to aim for a diet of few apples a day. Apart from moderation pace is also crucial: you have to chew your food till it loses the taste- this may mean many minutes!
He taught that blood is the soul and cleaning the bloodstream with fasts and healthy lifestyle was vital for wellbeing. He also said that clean thoughts could only come from clean blood.
Bicsérdy also categorized food according to their value, fruit came highest and legumes at the bottom. He was extremely well read and in his book and lectures came up with many examples from all over the world and across history to prove his point.
Fasts were a crucial part in his method. He recommended starting with an 8 day fast and gradually introducing a raw diet. He used wild beasts as examples- they refuse food when they are ill. He recommended fasting for 2-3 days each week.
Daily exercising was also part of his system, also breathing exercises, clean thinking and refraining from sex except for conception, and at least 3 hours of studying a day, languages and science. He also promised that following his system people only need a few hours of sleep a day- which was definitely true for him as confirmed by his peers. Once he held a non stop lecture for 83 hours and only ate a few apples in between.
His system is built on philosophical foundations: the final aim of humanity is to get rid of bad qualities, and the first step is to stop eating degrading food. The aim is not bodily health but the first necessary step on the path to spiritual development.
in 1925
According to the records (and there were thousands of articles written about him in the papers) he was a really charismatic man, and his public lectures were so popular that the authorities cancelled a few to stop the crowds going mad. He was one of the 4 strongest men in the world in 1902, and broke several weight lifting records. He broke a world record in 1922 bench pressing 188 kg when he was 50! He gained more than 10 000 followers promoting a raw vegan diet and regular fasting, many of them reaching 100 years and some of them still alive today!
There is some fascinating data too from the 1925 statistics: the turnover of the slaughter houses decreased in some cities by 11-19% and the death rate went down too, so he had an amazing influence on the society.
He uses the 1910 census to back his theories: in Bulgaria out of 2500 000 citizens 3800 were 100 or older, but in Germany out of 67 million only 126 were 100 or older! According to him it was due to the diet of Bulgarians which was mainly vegetables and dairy and because they observed 150 days of fasting a year.
Béla Bicsérdy and his followers - 1936 - Szentendre
His followers created two vegetarian colonies, one near Szolnok 1923, where 32 families lived, mainly former clerks and schoolteachers. They followed a raw vegan diet and lived off their own produce. The other colony was formed in 1930 west of Szentendre and by 1935 it had 90 members.
Interestingly Béla Bicsérdy’s brother was the president of the Hungarian Vegetarian Society but the two brothers fundamentally disagreed on what “the right path” was. Béla Bicsérdy had a very strong “my way or the highway” attitude. After the second world war he had to leave Hungary, he fled to Germany and later to USA and there are several versions of his death- from a car accident to being shot by a devotee. The communist regime of course disapproved of him and his work and all his books were destroyed and soon this man of enormous influence was forgotten save for a few dedicated followers- some of them reached to be 100.
I am totally fascinated by his life and the ability to regrow teeth! Our dental bills are enormous! Also if you only eat a few apples a day then shopping, cooking, meal planning is all a non issue.. but I think I will start slowly just eating more raw every day…
sources- all in Hungarian
wikipedia Bicsérdi tanítása és a bicsérdizmus
BICSÉRDY BÉLA ÉS A BICSÉRDYZMUS thesis by Áprily Zoltán
http://www.egeszsegestaplalkozas.eoldal.hu/cikkek/bicserdy-1.html
