Food Trends: Cutting down on meat is not new. During World War 1 and World War 11 families were urged to reduce consumption of staples. Meatless Monday and Wheatless Wednesdays were encouraged. We’ve done it before why now?
According to Meatless Monday website:meatlessmonday.org:
“Meatless Monday was revived in 2003 by former ad man turned health advocate Sid Lerner, in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for a Livable Future. Reintroduced as a public health awareness campaign, Meatless Monday addresses the prevalence of preventable illnesses associated with excessive meat consumption. With the average American eating as much as 75 more pounds of meat each year than in generations past, our message of “one day a week, cut out meat” is a way for individuals to do something good for themselves and for the planet.”
One health fact I learned from Peggy Neu at the TEDxManhattan talks is that our interest in health goals surges on Monday and plunges by Saturday. Needless to say we all chuckled at our folly. However as a food trend campaign, to begin a new health goal on Monday seems reasonable. It is a day of the week we seriously choose to begin something new.
Meatless Monday, highlighted in Prevention Magazine, The 7 Rules of the New Food Revolution reminds me:
“It also saves fossil fuels: If all Americans avoided meat and cheese 1 day a week for a year, we’d save the same amount as taking 7.6 million cars off the road. That’s a lot of bang for your veggie burger buck. “
Economy: we save food dollars; Health: we cut down on saturated fat; Livestock welfare: we reduce our overall consumption which hopefully would bring relief to large over crowded livestock pens, decrease manure and nitrogen waste; Environment: decreases fossil fuel consumption.
Tired of winter? Eager for gardens to bloom? Here’s a great article on winter recipes ideas cock full of available produce: http://www.meatlessmonday.com/articles/walk-thewinter-greenmarketwith-allie-chez/
Economical, healthy, environmental relief and animal relief makes sense. How about it?
Enjoy. Judith
Judith Dreyer, MS, BSN, Writer, Speaker, and Workshop Presenter, Master Gardener.
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Response from : Hmm, tough call! The last time I dressed up for Halloween, I went zombie– I had just started working at a law firm, and I seriously weirded this one lady out. Hahahah.. I am terrible at costumes.