Cook returned to Ireland in the early 1690s and became a vegan. In 1697, author Roger Coke noted that Cook was "a more rigid Pythagorean than any (I think) of the ancients, for he will not drink any thing but water, nor eat any thing which has sensitive life." Cook lived on a farm in Cappoquin, County Waterford and was influenced by Pythagoras. He was a strict vegetarian (later termed vegan) who did not eat or wear anything of animal origin.Somerville-Large, Peter. (1975). Irish Eccentrics: A Selection. Hamish Hamilton. p. 12 He opposed the consumption of meat, dairy and eggs. Historian Charles Smith commented that Cook "for many years before he died, neither ate fish, flesh, milk, butter, &c. nor drank any kind of fermented liquor, nor wore woollen clothes, or any other produce of an animal, but linen."Smith, Charles. (1774). The Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Waterford. Dublin. p. 371Wilson, Charles Henry. (1813). Anecdotes of Eminent Persons, Volume 2. pp. 196-200
