science

Meat-free days

Meat-free days is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Meat-free days rather than just read about it. In short: Meat-free days or veggiedays are declared to discourage or prohibit the consumption of meat on certain days of the week. Mondays and Fridays are the most popular days.

Key takeaways

Meat-free days belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Meat-free days to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Meat-free days from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Meat-free days or veggiedays are declared to discourage or prohibit the consumption of meat on certain days of the week. Mondays and Fridays are the most popular days. There are also movements encouraging people giving up meat on a weekly, monthly, or permanent basis.

History

Abstention from meat, other than fish, was historically done for religious reasons (e.g. the Friday fast). In the Methodist Church, on Fridays, especially those of Lent, "abstinence from meat one day a week is a universal act of penitence". Anglicans (Episcopalians) and Roman Catholics also traditionally observe Friday as a meat-free day. Historically, Anglican and Catholic countries enforced prohibitions on eating meat, other than fish, on certain days of Lent. In England, for example, "butchers and victuallers were bound by heavy recognizances not to slaughter or sell meat on the weekly 'fish days', Friday and Saturday." In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Wednesdays and Fridays are meat-free days. In the Lutheran Church, Fridays and Saturdays are historically considered meat-free days. In addition to the Fridays of the year, in Western Christianity, Ash Wednesday—the first day of the repentance themed season of Lent—is a traditional day of fasting and abstinence from meat. Among East Asian Buddhists, vegetarian Buddhist cuisine was eaten on days tied to the phases of the moon known as Uposatha. Meat-free days have also been observed due to wartime rationing (e.g. Meatless Tuesdays in Canada and the United States—which also observed Wheatless Wednesdays—during World War I) or in states with failing economies. In the People's Republic of Poland, meat-free days were encouraged by the government due to market forces. They were aimed at limiting meat consumption, primarily in favour of flour-based foods. The meat-free day was traditionally Friday, Monday or Wednesday.

Ecology and society Attempts to reintroduce meat-free days are part of a campaign to reduce anthropogenic climate change and improve human health and animal welfare by reducing factory farming and promoting vegetarianism or veganism.

Africa

South Africa Cape Town

Asia

Hong Kong Daily "Meat Free Hong Kong Meetup"

India International Meatless Day, also called the 'International Vegetarian Day', 25 November, birthday of Sadhu T.L. Vaswani, who was an Indian educationist who started the Mira development for improving Indian instructional framework, beginning with settling St. Mira's School in Hyderabad, Sindh. The campaign for International Meatless Day was begun in 1986 by the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, an association for social administration for the abused and underprivileged.

Pakistan Reportedly, Meatless Tuesdays and Wednesdays were observed in Pakistan, from Benazir Bhutto's era in the 1990s through part of the 21st century.

Singapore Thursday, coordinated by the Vegetarian Society (Singapore)

Taiwan Meat-free Mondays in Taipei

Europe

Belgium Ghent Hasselt Mechelen

Germany Bremen During the federal elections in 2013, the German green party Bündnis '90/Die Grünen campaigned with a so-called "veggie day" in their manifesto, which resulted in a public outcry over "paternalism".

Norway the Norwegian Armed Forces

Switzerland Thursdays, coordinated by Swissveg

North America

United States Los Angeles has declared all Mondays "Meatless Mondays," citing actions by Baltimore public-school system, Oakland, California Unified School District and school districts in Arlington, Virginia, Oneida, New York, Longmont, Colorado; the cities of San Francisco, Takoma Park and Annapolis, Maryland, Marin County, California and the District of Columbia Council.

See also Awareness day Friday fast List of food days Meatless Monday List of vegetarian and vegan festivals Vegetarian week Vegan school meal World Vegan Day World Vegetarian Day

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Meat-free days

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Meat-free days claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Meat-free days before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Meat-free days ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Meat-free days

In research: Meat-free days appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Meat-free days in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Meat-free days is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Asceticism, Christian fasting, Meat, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Meat-free days outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Meat-free days in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Meat-free days means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Meat-free days out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Meat-free days in simple terms?

Meat-free days or veggiedays are declared to discourage or prohibit the consumption of meat on certain days of the week. Mondays and Fridays are the most popular days.

Why does Meat-free days matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Meat-free days?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Meat-free days.