Meatless Monday and Meat-Free Monday are international campaigns that encourage people to not eat meat on Mondays to improve their health and diminish environmental effects.
History
Greece In the Greek island of Crete, the tradition of consuming legumes every Monday is deeply ingrained, with meat traditionally considered inappropriate to eat on this day. This aligns with the religious observance of Clean Monday in Greece, marking the start of Lent and emphasizing purity, including abstinence from meat. Monday was traditionally seen as a day to "purify the body" after the consumption of meat on Sunday, which was traditionally the only day of the week when meat was consumed. This practice fits well with the Meat Free Monday initiative, reflecting Crete's traditional diet where vegetables and legumes dominate (70% of intake), while meat (10%) and fish and seafood (20%) are less commonly consumed. This culinary tradition aligns with cultural and religious practices aimed at improving health and minimising environmental impact.
United States During World War I, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation calling for Tuesday to be observed as a meatless day each week and for one meatless meal to be observed each day. The United States Food Administration (USFA) urged families to reduce consumption of key staples to help the war effort and avoid rationing. Conserving food would support U.S. troops as well as feed populations in Europe where food production and distribution had been disrupted by the war. To encourage voluntary rationing, the USFA created the slogan "Food Will Win the War" and coined the terms "Meatless Tuesday" and "Wheatless Wednesday" to remind Americans to reduce intake of those products. Herbert Hoover was the head of the Food Administration as well as the American Relief Association during Woodrow Wilson's presidency, and played a key role implementing the campaign, which was one of Hoover's many attempts to encourage volunteerism and sacrifice among Americans during the war. The USFA provided a wide variety of materials in addition to advertising, including recipe books and menus found in magazines, newspapers and government-sponsored pamphlets. The campaign returned with the onset of World War II, calling upon women on the home front to play a role in supporting the war effort. During this time, meat was being rationed, along with other commodities like sugar and gasoline. The Truman administration, through the Citizens Food Committee, encouraged "Meatless Tuesdays" and "Poultryless Thursdays" throughout the autumn of 1947; backlash was swift, noncompliance was rampant, and the poultry lobby responded with the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation, the forerunner of the modern "turkey pardon."
Meatless Monday Campaigns Several organizations promote meatless monday in the United States, such as the Meatless Monday nonprofit initiative founded by marketing professional Sid Lerner, of The Monday Campaigns Inc. in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for a Livable Future. The public-facing campaign was designed and piloted by Social Impact Studios, a national creative agency based in Philadelphia that focuses mainstream marketing practices on social issues. Meatless Monday is based in the United States. Meatless Monday is part of the Healthy Monday initiative. The program follows the nutrition guidelines developed by the USDA. Healthy Monday encourages Americans to make healthier decisions at the start of every week. Other Healthy Monday campaigns include: The Kids Cook Monday, Monday 2000, Quit and Stay Quit Monday, Move it Monday, The Monday Mile, and others. Meatless Monday focuses its initiative on Mondays for several reasons. Wednesday and Friday are traditionally days for fasting among Catholic and Orthodox Christians. Monday is typically the beginning of the work week, the day when individuals settle back into their weekly routine. Habits that prevailed over the weekend can be forgotten and replaced by other choices. A weekly reminder to restart healthy habits also encourages success. A 2009 trial published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine provided individuals with weekly health prompts and encouragement. Approximately two thirds of participants responded with improvements in their overall health, eating habits and physical activity levels. Monday was also chosen for being alliterative with "Meatless" (cf. Taco Tuesday and other similar day-specific campaigns). On April 6, 2010, San Francisco became the first city in the United States to officially declare Mondays to be "meat free", calling it their Vegetarian Day. Several other countries have meat-free days as well, including Canada.
United Kingdom Meat-free Mondays exist in the United Kingdom both as an advertising campaign for Goodlife Foods and as an environmental campaign. On June 15, 2009 Paul McCartney and his daughters Stella and Mary launched a Meat-free Monday campaign.
Argentina In 2017, the Casa Rosada of Argentina instituted, for one lunch of the day, meat-free Mondays, serving only vegan options to its approximately 500 employees, including Argentinian President Mauricio Macri.
Belgium In May 2009, the city of Ghent, Belgium became the first city with "official" weekly vegetarian days. Veggie Thursday (or "Donderdag Veggiedag" in Dutch) was created by the Ethical Vegetarian Alternative, an organisation partially funded by the Flemish government.
Brazil In October 2009, Meatless Monday was launched in São Paulo with government support by the Brazilian Vegetarian Society. In December 2009, Meatless Mondays launched in Australia.
Israel Israeli magazine Al Hashulchan (On the Table) introduced the Sheni Tzimchoni (Vegetarian Monday) initiative in June 2009. Dozens of Israel's top restaurants will create innovative meatless meals on Mondays throughout July and August 2009.
Vegetarianism adoption Meatless Mondays is related to efforts to add daily vegetarian and vegan school meals. Committed engagement in Meatless Mondays has been associated with a higher likelihood of adopting a vegetarian diet. A 2021 study found that one-third of participants who continually partook in Meatless Monday became vegetarian after 5 years.
Opposition An attempt by the Greens in Brighton, England, to initiate Meat-Free Mondays, thereby stopping the local council cafeteria selling any meat-based foods, was halted after opposition from council staff.
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