Did You Know the Idea of Meatless Monday is a Century Old?
The idea of Meatless Monday (or Tofu Tuesday, etc.) is actually 100 years old in 2017. The first U.S. campaign to encourage people to enjoy a plant-based diet was in the early 1900s. During WWII, the idea got promoted again heavily by President Roosevelt as a way to help conserve rations for troops.
Note: I got inspired for this post about Meatless Monday after reading this excellent contribution by @razvanelulmarin on being a "flexatarian."
You can watch a video about the history of Meatless Monday here:
This video is from MeatlessMonday.com, an organization dedicated to the idea of this global movement.
Why Celebrate Meatless Monday Today?
Of course, the reasons for giving up animal products for at least one day a weak have evolved in the 21st Century. You can find a very good list of reasons to celebrate Meatless Monday on FrugalPig.com.
Reasons to celebrate Meatless Monday include:
- Reduce your risk of developing certain diseases and health conditions, including obesity, diabetes, and some kinds of cancer.
- Make Earth more sustainable by limiting meat consumption. By leaving animals alone, you can help reduce water consumption, improve land use, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce fuel consumption.
- Save money by eating plant-based protein instead of meat.
- Stop encouraging awful, cruel, dangerous factory farming. If you don't believe modern animal farming methods are awful, go look it up.
Getting Started With Meatless Monday!
Anyway, the idea is to encourage people to give up meat and possibly all animal products for just one day out of the week. Hopefully, when you see how easy and satisfying this is, you may start including more animal- and cruelty-free days in your diet. It's pretty easy to substitute beans, soy, and other plant-based protein sources in many of your favorite recipes. Heck, if you don't like to cook, peanut butter, banana slices, and jelly on sprouted grain bread tastes YUM.
Spread the Idea of Meatless Monday
Keep the idea alive. Please let me know in the comments about how and why you started giving up animal products. Offer tips to others, or even show off your favorite articles on the topic. Of course, an upvote, resteem, or follow helps spread the message too. Later, if there's interest, I'll offer some great Meatless Monday menu ideas.
Thanks for reading and leaving useful comments!
A few months ago I decided to get educated and watched many doucumentaries including What is Health, Fat sick and nearly dead and cowspiracy... I have decided to eat less meat and add more vegatables to my diet. I feel good about taking personal responsibilty for myself.
Thanks, in addition to taking responsibility for yourself, I think you're helping the planet!
I had no idea this was a global initiative and had such a long history. Right now, I think I'm sort of the opposite. I probably eat meat about once a week. I do eat eggs and dairy more. I need to explore more animal-free alternatives, and this gives me some inspiration. Thanks!
Also, @originalworks
Thanks for stopping by to comment. Yeah, it's hard to change lifelong eating habits, so just doing it for one day a week is a good way to start. Whatever people do to reduce animal consumption helps, IMO.
If you want more inspiration on Steem, check out @michelnilles. He's a vegan cook, and he regularly posts lovely photos of his vegan creations.
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