Mondays are the perfect time for a fresh start. Why not begin making a positive choice for your health, the environment, and animal treatment?
Notre Dame Food Services (NDFS), co-sponsored by the Office of Sustainability is joining with The Monday Campaigns and the Humane Society of the United States to encourage diners to be meatless for a day.
Meatless Monday offers you the chance to try to dine meatless for the day.
You can make an impact on your health:
- Studies suggest that diets high in fruit and vegetables may reduce your cancer risk.
- Replacing saturated fat-rich foods such as meat with foods rich in polyunsaturated fat such as nuts and seeds can reduce risk of heart disease by 19%.
- Diets higher in red or processed meats increase the risk of diabetes.
- People with a vegetarian diet tend to have less obesity.
- Red and processed meats are shown in studies to increase total mortality.
You can make an impact on the environment:
- The meat industry generates more greenhouse gas emissions than transportation.
- Livestock needs a tremendous amount of water. A pound of beef is estimated to require 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water. Vegetables may require only a few hundred gallons.
- On average one calorie of beef uses about 18 times the amount of fossil fuel as a one calorie of plant-based protein.
You can make an impact on animal welfare:
- By eating less meat, the number of animals that each farmer has can decrease thus; increasing the opportunity for the farmer to treat these animals well.
These impacts are still delicious.
Instead of the traditional fajita, tacos, or burrito, try our portabella fajitas. Try our savory vegetable pancakes instead of a breaded pork fritter. You can also take a chance on something that is new and different with an international flair. We will feature Casablanca Stew, a rich blend of vegetables, beans, potatoes, and Mediterranean flavor. Expand your palate and give a new quinoa a try; this ancient grain is new to most of us.
This is not an all or nothing initiative. You will still see meat in the dining halls. We will be featuring some additional and new vegetarian entrees. You can take a stand and pledge to go meatless on Mondays or just give it a try for the day.
"If each American chose meatless options just one day a week, more than a billion animals would be spared from factory farms each year, our environment would be better off and our health would improve,” said Kenny Torrella, Outreach Coordinator at The Humane Society of the United States. “We’re pleased that the University of Notre Dame is the latest school to show that being socially responsible can also be delicious.”
