I know many people (myself included) who started out on the road to veganism (or so I thought) with Meat Free Monday (aka Meatless Monday). And I also know some people who are still stuck at that point.
For a while I thought it was a totally great campaign – something easy that people could get involved with, without any hardship, that would save some animals, get them trying out new dishes and then realising how great veggie (and hopefully – subsequently vegan) food could be. I saw it as a a good starting point for engaging people.
But as time has gone on, I’m not so sure it’s a great idea. Because looking back, I realise that before I did Meat Free Monday I was already eating a couple of veggie meals each week – mac and cheese or broccoli bake or veggie quiche, for example, were some of my favourites. Breakfast was 9/10 times vegan by default anyway and lunch could quite easily be one of my favourites such as veggie soup (well it would be wouldn’t it?!).
So with hindsight, what I actually did was to eat these veggie meals on a designated (Mon)day instead, pat myself on the back and cleanse my conscience thinking I was doing a good thing. I hadn’t actually made any changes at all to my eating habits and certainly none to any other aspect of my lifestyle!
Extra animals spared any suffering = zero.
There were other far more profound events that conspired for me to go beyond Meat Free Monday and to become veggie and then vegan. This campaign had nothing to do with my ‘journey’.
And it’s not the first time I’ve heard this. When at an Animal Aid Xmas Fayre in London last year, a very vocal activist at one of the talks I went to pulled up one of the speakers for advocating Meat Free Monday as a starting point – saying just what I have – it can absolve people’s consciences, as they think it means they’re doing enough by following it.
But it isn’t enough, nowhere near enough.
I can understand how and why Meat Free Monday came about (aside from it perhaps being a clever marketing message for a certain brand of food products), there is a recognised strategy where people dilute vegan messages in order to appeal to more of the populous. But is there a chance that it’s backfired?
Maybe all that effort should have been put into resolutely making veganism more mainstream, accessible, easy, aspirational and inspirational?
As a committed vegan I personally would struggle to say to someone it’s OK – just cut down on meat for one day a week – that’s great!
But of course some people say something is better than nothing. Well yes, but why have an aim that’s so low? As a good friend very recently said to me – aim for the stars and you could at least reach the moon!
Let’s just say for the same effort you use to inspire 3 people to try MeatFree Monday, you could perhaps inspire 1 to try veganism. It doesn’t take a mathematician to see which is the better result.
And more importantly, please now consider this…
Many people who cut out meat replace it with additional cheese and eggs. Its even encouraged in the cookbooks and on the various websites.
Sadly, there’s not much difference really in terms of both cruelty and negative environmental impact between meat, dairy and eggs – in fact, in some cases, it might even be worse! I therefore do not see this as a positive campaign result.
but feel free to steal my baby and my milk…
So this is the line I’m taking on it: I congratulate someone who tells me they do Meat Free Monday, I relate my own story to them and ask them why they do it. They tell me all of the reasons – which, invariably, are vegan reasons. So I then say, great, sounds important to you, how come you’re not doing it every day then? And then I overcome each and every one of the usual reasons (excuses) that they present – most of which are based on perception, not reality. I appeal to their conscience and make it ridiculously easy for them to work towards going meat free, dairy free and egg free EVERY day instead.
AND on a practical level to do this (remember, effective activism needs a dual approach, sharing info AND showing ‘how to’) I point them to some specific pages on our website:
easy meal ideas – brimming with over 150 delicious ideas with foods from mainstream shops and supermarkets that literally blow all of the excuses out of the window
vegan swaps – linking to all of the ways in which you can use either convenience foods or whole foods to replace animal food products
food shopping – with advice on how to read labels as well as some helpful apps and website links to more info
food directory – we’ll even save you money on vegan food! Just one of our Associate benefits is discounts from many generous ethical companies
So this is why I favour promoting full lifestyle veganism instead. Of course to me it’s an ethical obligation, BUT as I also know how easy it can be – I feel my effort is better spent in helping people to reach for those stars and even if they fail they might land on the moon – which is miles away from where they are now.
So I urge you, let’s go for the bigger message, the one that saves more lives – more quickly. I’m going #meatfreeeveryday (and of course fish free and dairy free and egg free and honey free etc).
I’m going vegan – all the way.
It occurs to me that if someone cares enough to do Meat Free Monday, then, deep down, they care enough to try veganism too. Let’s help them to realise that, then support them in practical ways to live this wonderful lifestyle.
Opinion piece. With these writings we aim to encourage lateral thinking and debate. There is no right or wrong in opinions, they are views, judgements and ideas that have been shaped by information, experiences and thoughts. These are the opinions of today and they should always be free to change as new information comes to light and we evolve.
Join the debate: Have your say on our Twitter feed or our Facebook page .