To some, Bob Billian was a hometown boy who made good and gave us lots of money. To many, Billian is just the name of a park at the east end of town. In 1837, he wrote, “Thousands in civic life will, for years, and perhaps as long as they live, eat the most miserable trash that can be imagined, in the form of bread, and never seem to think that they can possibly have anything better, not even that it is an evil to eat such vile stuff as they do … I have thought, therefore, that I could hardly do society a better service, than to publish the following treatise on a subject, which, whether people are aware of it or not, is, in reality, of very great importance to the health and comfort of every one.”Įven during his life time, most people thought the Reverend Graham was absolutely wacky but Bound Brookites contentedly munch their s’mores and bake their pie crusts, many not even aware that the first Graham Crackers was made right here in our town. Meat, coffee,įor how bland his food was, Graham was a bit of a food snob. The “Graham Diet” was chock full of simply prepared whole-grain breads and starches with little seasoning. But coupled with his religious lectures, his grain-based diet took off in the 1830s, sparking the modern-day equivalent of a fad diet. He first made the cracker in Bound Brook, NJ, in 1829. Graham developed his own special process for baking with finely ground, unbleached wheat flour, wheat bran and coarsely ground germ. The graham cracker, in its first form, wasn’t supposed to be sweet or delicious. Graham-boarding houses sprang up in New York and Boston as part of the health craze he inspired.
Graham had many adherents during his lifetime. Meat and fat led to sinful sexual excess and that the use of mustard and ketchup would cause insanity. He felt that a strict diet devoid of meat and rich in fiber would combat rampant desire. He preached a strict vegetarian diet, recommended hard mattresses, open bedroom windows, chastity, cold showers, loose clothing and vigorous exercise. Reverend Graham was raised by a succession of relatives and worked as a farm hand, clerk and teacher before embracing the ministry due to ill health. the Graham Cracker was developed right here in Bound Brook by an eccentric Presbyterian minister, the Reverend Sylvester Graham to cure the dread fever of lust.
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