Meatless Mondays

Well for Alberta and I this title has been the truth for every day of the week. But recently I discovered that it has taken on a new meaning. I read in an article (using the "stumble on" feature online) that the Baltimore Public School District adopted a meatless Monday menu for the thousands of students in schools. On the West coast in California, each Monday has been declared "Veg Day" by the San Francisco Board Supervisors. Other cities have also joined the group. A city in Belgium decided one day out of the week would be a "Veg Day," and a city in Maryland formed an entire meat-free week taking place between April 24-30th. As the article states these resolutions 'will encourage restaurants, grocery stores, and schools to offer a greater variety of plant-based options to improve the health of... residents and visitors, and to increase the awareness of what the impact a Green Diet would be on our planet.'

In relation to our class discussions the article goes on to discuss how livestock are one of the greatest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. This is due to the great distance meat must travel from the farm to the dinner table. I'd like to take this opportunity to say that I feel pretty proud to have gone through this challenging pescitarian diet for a couple weeks. The fact that other cities are implementing plans of their own to encourage vegetarian diets made my experience that much more significant.

I'd like to take this time to inform you as to what I ate today. Once again my fraternity house offered meat, hot dogs, for lunch. I, on the other hand, had a helping portion of mac n cheese and a ceasar salad. I love ceasar dressing. For dinner I worked at the sorority house again. They were having Thanksgiving diner, complete with turkey, stuffing, green beans, and sweet potatoes. I of course abstained from the turkey and topped the meal off with pumpkin pie.

I'd by lying to say this diet has not been difficult at times. But looking at how it is becoming a global occurrence has made me come to appreciate it more. When this is all said and done, I know for a fact I will continue with a meatless Monday... or Tuesday... or one of the days.

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