In England Mohandas had to live on boiled vegetables, bread, porridge, cheese and other insipid food. He was always hungry. He was told that there were some vegetarian restaurants in London, but nobody could tell him where. One day while wandering around, he came across the Central Vegetarian Restaurant at 16 Saint Bride Street, off Farringdon Street. He was overjoyed; and after many days, had a hearty meal.
Soon he came to know that there was an active Vegetarian Society in London. This Vegetarian Society in England published its own weekly journal. The young Gandhi not only joined the Society but was drawn into its executive committee and became the Secretary. Sir Edwin Arnold, eminent among the vegetarians, was the Society’s President for a while. Gandhi, barely eighteen years old now, arrived at the truth that “the real seat of taste was not the tongue, but the mind”—a remarkable discovery for a youth of his age. He came into contact with the “pillars of vegetarianism”, and this was the starting point of his life-long interest in dietetics.