Meatless Monday aims to curb intake just for a day
If you ate a burger for lunch or had pork fried rice for dinner on Jan. 3, I forgive you.
Not too many people I've spoken with recently have heard of the Meatless Monday movement, so the start of the new year gives me a great opportunity to let you know what it is and why it's important for you and the planet.
First off, the idea of Meatless Monday isn't a new one. It reaches back to the beginning of the last century when Herbert Hoover, then head of the country's Food Administration, encouraged Americans to cut consumption of key staples, like meat, to aid the war effort. The campaign gained popularity during World War II for the same reasons.
Then the prosperity of the 1950s and beyond spread across the country and the movement went to the wayside as our hunger for ground beef casseroles and grilled steaks, ham and bacon, fried chicken and chicken sandwiches increased.
Along with that so did our collective health problems and our impact on the environment, currently called our carbon footprint.
In 2003, Meatless Monday was recreated by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore as a public health campaign to reduce saturated fat consumption. Animal proteins contain varying amounts of saturated fats, which have been shown to increase the likelihood of heart problems, cancers and other diseases.
Pushing aside animal products for fruits and vegetables means adding good-for-you fiber and disease-fighting phytochemicals to your plate, and that can lead to a healthier you.
The campaign's goal is for everyone to reduce meat consumption by 15 percent. So far, according to the group's website, meatlessmonday.com, people around the world, from Quebec and Korea, Sweden and South African, have joined the effort.
Public schools in New York, Virginia, California and Colorado and Kentucky and colleges and universities in Missouri, Florida and Wisconsin have signed on. A growing number of restaurants — locally Big Bowl and Bin 36 Cafe in Chicago — offer Meatless Monday menus and the celebrity chefs Mario Batali and Marcus Samuelson have become vocal proponents.
Now, how does the planet benefit from this?
According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, the meat industry generates nearly 20 percent of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Meat production depletes water as well. An estimated 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water go into a single pound of beef. Eat less meat and reduce your carbon footprint.
I plan to do my part from here on out by serving meatless meals at my house (no more turkey sandwiches in the boys' lunches or chicken cutlets for dinner) and providing readers with meatless recipes each week. When space in the printed section is tight, the recipe will be posted online and available on Facebook to friends of Deb Pankey Daily Herald.