Meatless Mondays

Have you heard about "Meatless Mondays"? It is a movement started by Johns Hopkins University to simultaneously improve public health AND the health of the planet.

The daily procedures at factory farms and major fisheries would probably put a lot of people off of animal protein if they saw them up-close-and-personal-like. It's a lot of blood, mud, waste, and machines. It DOES ruin our appetites, so we usually don't think about it, or we try to get to the farmers market and buy locally from people who tell us they are doing everything humanely and safely.

But Meatless Mondays is compelling because it's not trying to shock us into a major life overhaul with pictures of suffering...whether it's our own (nutritionally controllable diseases and/or obesity) or others (the treatment of the fallen cow at the slaughterhouse), it's asking us to do the do-able: Just work in ONE MORE vegetarian meal a week, because your waistline and health will thank you and the planet will thank you.

Even conservative folks who think that vegetarianism is weird and cultish, don't mind a plate of spaghetti with marinara sauce. Or hearty homemade vegetable soup with crusty bread. Or creamy hummus with crispy chips and carrot sticks. Or a really rich corn chowder. Or a zesty Mexican bean burrito. The more adventurous eaters might like "dal" and "nan" (Indian split-pea porridge and crispy flatbread) or a good French ratatouille. Veg Chili can be so hearty you'll never miss the meat. The point is, there are so many plant-based meals out there to try.

The Meatless Monday movement is not asking the world to go vegan. It's not asking us to stop celebrating special occasions with a steak dinner. It's not asking farmers and fishermen to quit their jobs. It's not asking us to become rabble-rousing political activists. It's not asking us to become freakish health nuts.
It's asking us to try ONE vegetable meal a week. ONE.

Even with my passion for pot roasts and lamb shanks, I am totally on board with Meatless Mondays. Even as I find most people who mix food and politics to be tedious and pedantic, I am totally on board with Meatless Mondays. Even as I was raised in a world that embraced hunting and fishing, I am totally on board with Meatless Mondays.

I think it's good for us: it's good for our health, it's good for our figures, it's good for our food budget/pocketbook, it's good for our farmers growing veggies and grains, it's good for our over-fished oceans, it's good for our sense of discipline, it's good for reducing production waste, it's good for the ozone and the breath we take(factory farms produce a lot of air pollution, believe it or not!), and it's good for stretching our imagination and sense of adventure in the kitchen.

I hope you'll give it a try:
http://www.meatlessmonday.com/