Meat Free Monday — Try converting to vegetarianism for one day a week.
When I decided to become a vegetarian, my family of devout meat-lovers looked at me like I was crazy. They didn’t understand why I felt the sudden need to abstain from consuming meat products. In the early stages of my vegetarian dieting, my grandmother asked me “Tahli, can you still eat ham on your sandwich”, to which I replied, “No Ma, that’s processed meat.” Clearly this has become a learning experience for us all.
In becoming a vegetarian, my first reasoning for changing my diet came about when doing research on how meat production is responsible for producing greenhouse gases. It turns out that globally, animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gases than all the world’s transportation systems combined.
I also saw that according to the Environmental Protection Agency, raising animals for food is the number-one source of water pollution in Australia. As I read these facts during my research, I felt compelled to alter a small proportion of my lifestyle as a way of contributing to the end of climate change.
If you aren’t interested in giving up meat once in a while, in order to help the environment, maybe you’ll consider doing it as a way of helping yourself. Not only has a diet high in vegetables proven to be better for the environment, but it also has a multitude of health benefits.
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” — Albert Einstein
It is a proven fact that vegetarians appear to have lower cholesterol levels, blood pressure levels, and lower rates of type 2 diabetes than meat-eaters. Vegetarians also tend to have lower rates of cancer and a lower risk of developing chronic illnesses. If at this point you’re wondering how plant-based diets offer so many health benefits, it’s because vegetarian diets include lower amounts of fat, saturated fat, and preservatives. Animal proteins also have a higher concentration of sulfur-containing amino acids, that when metabolised, are far too acidic for the human body. A plant-based diet creates less disease overall.
Chair of the Department of Nutrition, Dr. Frank Hu recommends that meat-eaters should stick to no more than two or three servings of meat per week. He also asks people to “Consider red meat a luxury and not a staple food.”
This is why the Fry’s Family Foundation’s idea for Meat Free Mondays in Australia will better the health of communities and the environment. They are asking people to lower their meat servings per week, in order to create the idea of meat as a luxury, instead of something that can be consumed every day.
The Fry’s Family Foundation commits themselves to developing various programs that promote the welfare of animals and protect our environment. The Foundation was established in 2012 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Wally Fry. Collaborating with Foodwise, the Fry Family created the Australian ‘Meat Free Mondays’ campaign. The idea behind the campaign is to aim for meat reduction, without asking people to give up meat cold turkey (pun intended).
Melbourne’s Moreland City Council is currently participating in Meat Free Mondays. Although the decision has been criticised by the Australian meat industry, it has received positive feedback from environmentalists. Moreland City Council, which governs a Northern central area of Melbourne, decided in 2019 to be meat-free on Mondays for environmental reasons, in efforts to improve the climate.
Reading about how Moreland City Council was able to take action and promote Meat Free Mondays within businesses and the community made me think, “How can I lobby for Meat Free Mondays where I live, in Bligh Park, a small suburb in Western Sydney?” Moreland is successfully participating in this cause, with a much larger population of meat-eaters.
In order to create a platform where people of the Hawkesbury can follow events towards action and discuss their thoughts on Meat Free Mondays, I created an Instagram page and a hashtag ‘meatfreehawkesbury’.
https://www.instagram.com/meatfreehawkesbury/?hl=en
This Instagram page aims to inform people who live in the Hawkesbury about what can be done to make positive changes to community health and the environment. The hashtag #meatfreehawkesbury encourages people to share their vegetarian dishes. If enough people use the hashtag, follow the account, and get on board with the project, we can pitch the idea to Hawkesbury City Council. The project must be widely supported to be made an eligible organisation, which means that the more local viewership we have, the better.
As one of the world’s highest meat consuming countries, in Australia meat is dominant throughout our meals. This is evident in my small community of Bligh Park, where it has become second nature for families to go down to the Bligh Park Butchery to buy a slab of beef to cook for their dinner.
I propose that the Hawkesbury City Council advocates for ‘Meat Free Mondays’ within the suburbs, in order to reduce community meat consumption once a week. This is not a big ask. The Bligh Park Butchery and IGA can start to advertise and sell vegetarian meat substitutes and other meals and recipes for ‘Meat Free Mondays’.
After conducting a small survey, aimed at the people of Bligh Park and South Windsor, I received surprising results. I gathered 18 responses from men and women of different ages, living in the suburbs. I found that the 15 meat-eaters that participated in the survey would be “happy to give up meat for one day a week.” I also found that 20 percent of the meat-eaters surveyed, eat meals containing meat seven days a week. This means that 80 percent of this group is already eating meat-free at least one day a week.
Products such as the Fry Family Food Co. meat-free sausages, schnitzels, burger patties, mince, seafood, roasts, pies, and snacks can be ordered in bulk and sold to the Bligh Park community. The Fry Family Food website also offers recipes that use their meat-free products, so that people aren’t in the dark about how to prepare them.
There are also a variety of other great brands that make meat substitutes, that in my personal opinion taste great and are overall better for the long-term health of the environment and our bodies.
Restaurants such as Mad Mex and Grill’d are participating in Meat Free Mondays, offering plant-based meat fillings and burgers as a way of reducing carbon emissions and fighting climate change.
