You would perhaps eat a Graham cracker as a snack between meals, or when an upset tummy means you can consume little else. Whatever the reason, it's probably not the same as the one for which the cracker was invented.
Legend has it that Graham crackers were created by a Presbyterian reverend by the name of Sylvester Graham. He was born in 1794 in Connecticut, US, the 17th child of John Graham Jnr, who was also a clergyman.
This is a minister who not only preached the good word, but is also credited for bringing vegetarianism to America, helping to establish the American Vegetarian Society in 1850. He created a diet called the Graham System, which condemned the consumption of meat, alcohol and tobacco, the wearing of corsets and so on. He encouraged such things as a high-fibre diet, a constant source of fresh air (no closed windows regardless of the weather), cold baths and firm mattresses. The motive for the ascetic lifestyle was health, which, according to Graham, could be achieved only by abstinence. Graham believed that an unhealthy diet led to lust, and sexual desire was the root cause of every human ailment.
Graham gave and published many lectures on the subject, with titles such as 'Lectures to Young Men on Chastity'. His theories became so popular that there were even boarding houses dedicated to this lifestyle. There are also claims that he was harassed by butchers and bakers.
As part of this high-fibre diet, Graham introduced the Graham cracker, a wholewheat flour biscuit that was free of synthetics. This was the time of the Industrial Revolution, and it was becoming commonplace for baked goods to be made out of artificially whitened and refined flour, especially those sold in large cities. Brown flour was seen as fodder for country bumpkins. The reverend would be alarmed to learn that today many Graham crackers on our supermarket shelves are made using refined flour.