Who Invented Graham Crackers And Why? | HowStuffWorks

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Graham was horrified by overprocessing and enriching wheat flour, and believed the loss of fiber and other nutrients in white flour ruined consumer's health. In 1837, Graham published a pamphlet entitled, "A Treatise on Bread and Breadmaking," and was hailed by the philosopher-poet Ralph Waldo Emerson as "the prophet of bran bread."

Graham believed in and was an early proponent and follower of a vegetarian diet, founding the American Vegetarian Society in 1850. Graham also believed in eating a bland diet and banned sugar and all processed foods. A Presbyterian minister, Graham was a member of the temperance movement, abstaining not only from alcohol but even from using yeast in baking.

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"I think that's why graham crackers became a 'thing,' because they were unleavened, they didn't have brewer's yeast in them," Johnson says. "The temperance movement was a big part of a certain kind of Protestantism, but the really hardcore temperance people, like Graham, believed you couldn't use yeast because yeast produces alcohol."

In addition to writing about food, Graham also gave lectures on diet reform that are difficult to separate from his religious philosophy. He had thousands of followers, referred to as Grahamites. He greatly influenced other health reformers who were also religious teachers of the day including Ellen White, an adherent of Seventh Day Adventism and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, another Seventh Day Adventist who, along with his brother, Will, invented corn flakes and founded Kellogg's.

graham crackers
Graham flour is made by grinding the endosperm of winter wheat into a fine powder and mixing it with the bran and grain. It has a coarse texture, nutty flavor and is not gluten-free. The original graham cracker is made with this flour. S. M. Beagle/Shutterstock

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