“If you think chili needs meat, you don’t know beans.”
This slogan, coined by Executive Chef Shawn Fields of Johns Hopkins Hospital, has been plastered all over the walls advertising “Meatless Monday.” This initiative was launched on Monday, April 12 in hopes of getting patients, visitors and staff to reduce their consumption of saturated fat by 15 percent. The hospital’s newly renovated Cobblestone Café offers only vegetarian meal options at its Wellness Corner to promote the benefits of eating more grains, fruits and vegetables. For those who cannot do without meat, the hospital offers meals containing meat in other areas of the dining facilities. “I’m looking forward to helping customers learn that they’re not sacrificing taste by eating vegetarian meals,” says Fields.
The national “Meatless Monday” campaign launched in 2003 in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. Along with the recommendations of Healthy People 2010, “Meatless Monday” was intended to raise awareness of the environmental and public health impact of industrial meat production linked to water use, climate change and pollution.
Given the state of our planet, their efforts are without a doubt, for good reason. This video is a bit intense, but worth the watch! It has a lot more information where this came from:
In 2006, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that raising animals for meat and dairy was responsible for 18% of global warming -- that is more than all the world’s transportation put together. New figures now show that at least half of greenhouse gases are due to livestock production. If you watch the video, you will also learn that livestock happens to be the single largest source of human-caused methane gas. Specialists describe that the majority of global warming effects we experience at this moment are caused mostly be methane.
I initially did not intend for this post to be about global warming, but these figures are nauseating and make me think this issue is unrated. I have never attempted to be a vegetarian because to be honest, if faced with the choice to either eat meat or not eat at all, I know I would choose meat. I tend to not eat meat every day because I happen to love other sources of protein (nuts, eggs, beans, lentils, cheese) even more than I like the taste of a juicy steak or spicy chicken wings.
A friend was telling me about her short-lived endeavor to be a pescatarian while living in New York City, which should have been easy with access to all kinds of food imaginable, right? Well, she found herself completely sick of PB&J sandwiches and unable to afford fresh fish all the time. It was really difficult for her to turn down cheap turkey sandwiches and hot dogs on the street all while living on a poor student’s budget. Concerned about her protein intake, she gave up giving up.
I think the least we can all do is observe “Meatless Monday.” That will not kill us or deplete our bank accounts. It may require a bit more planning; perhaps a grocery list to prevent the aimless and confused walks through isles ending at the meat counter. For the foodies out there, feel free to post some meatless meals that you plan to eat next Monday and for more to come. Check out the Meatless Monday website for more information and recipes.
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