As people increasingly turned to science for answers, dietetic disputes were won with scientific rather than ethical arguments, so a lot of doctors who advocated vegetarianism participated in the discourse. These proponents included Józefa Joteyko (1866-1928), an eminent paediatric psychologist, who developed the idea of aided education. In her book Dziecięctwo Jarskie (Vegetarian Childhood), she argued for plant-based diet as optimal for a child’s development. Another doctor who dedicated his career to promoting vegetarianism in the beginning of the 20th century was Józef Drzewiecki (1860-1907), the author of treaties such as Jarstwo Podstawą Nowego Życia w Zdrowiu, Piękności i Szczęściu’ (Vegetarianism as a Basis for New, Healthy, Beautiful, and Happy Life). He also wrote academic forewords to cookbooks by Maria Czarnowska.
A celebrity of those times was doctor Apolinary Tarnawski (1851-1943). He founded a natural healing spa in Kosowo Huculskie, a picturesque village located at the bottom of the Carpathians. Operating between 1891 and 1939 (with a break during WWI), the spa was the second favourite holiday retreat for the Polish intelligentsia after Zakopane. Due to the status of its guests, people jokingly referred to people going there as ‘a procession to Wawel’. Famous guests to the spa included authors Gabriela Zapolska, Maria Dąbrowska, Melchior Wańkowicz, Stanisław Dygat, actor Juliusz Osterwa, sculptor Xavery Dunikowski, painter Józef Pankiewicz, and philosopher Edward Abramowski. The venue was especially liked by members of the National Democracy movement, including its leader, Roman Dmowski. Dmowski’s ideological opponents also enjoyed the spa, whose homey atmosphere was said to settle the fiercest political disputes.
On one hand, the guests could enjoy an idyllic atmosphere of a rural manor, and on the other hand, they had to succumb to an iron drill, the essence of which was made known to them immediately on arrival in the form of an inscription above the entrance to the spa: ‘Control Yourself’. The treatment was conducted without drugs and Tarnawski’s healing methods could be reduced to one rule: ‘exercise more and eat less’. The elements of treatment included regular gymnastics, physical work in the garden, nudist sessions of sunbathing and strolling, running on dew early in the morning, hydrotherapy with icy showers, massage, fasting, and, of course, sticking to vegetarian diet.
Meals at the spa were made of products grown in the nearby orchards, gardens, and vineyards. Tarnawski and his wife, Romualda Tarnawska, published a number of bestselling cookbooks, such as Kosowska Kuchnia Jarska’ (Kosowo Vegetarian Cuisine) from 1929. Tarnawski’s dream was to heal the nation, and he wanted to make it come true by means of a network of ‘universities of common hygiene’.
A similar goal was pursued by members of Eleusis, an association that regularly met at Tarnawski’s spa. Eleusis, established in 1902, was to be a breeding ground for the elites of the revived Polish state, and its members were to serve as paragons of a moral revival of the Polish society. The motto of the organization, Eleutheroi laon soteres, suggested ‘the free are the saviours of peoples’. Members called themselves ‘Els’, a name created by combining the first letters from the words in their motto. The philosopher and mystic Wincenty Lutosławski (1863-1954), who was interested in developing a national philosophical style that combined Plato’s idealism with Romantic messianism, was a guru to the organization.
The Elses promoted quadruple abstinence: from alcohol, tobacco, hazard, and licentiousness. They combined Catholic devotion with a fascination with Indian philosophy; participating in yoga lessons, but also reading Adam Mickiewicz to decipher the alleged esoteric message encrypted in his works. Membership was limited to nationally oriented Catholics.