Baltimore schools go vegetarian one day a week

School lunches get health boost
by observing Meatless Mondays.

When the assistant White House chef Sam Kass visited a Baltimore school last week for lunch, he was treated to vegetarian eggplant dip that the students had made with vegetables and herbs from their own organic school garden.

It’s all part of an effort by the Baltimore school system to introduce children to healthier and more sustainable foods. In pursuit of that goal, lunches are now vegetarian every Monday in school cafeterias across the city.

Meatless Mondays have a long patriotic history in the United States. The first campaign came during World War I, when 10 million American families pledged to observe meatless days in support of the war effort. The most recent Meatless Monday campaign was initiated in 2003 by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Center for a Livable Future. Earlier this week, the center recognized the Baltimore City Public Schools as the first school system in the United States to observe Meatless Mondays.

The goal of the Meatless Monday campaign is to introduce consumers to meals that can reduce their carbon footprint and improve their health. Tony Geraci, director of the school system’s Food and Nutrition Department said the program is meant to inspire people to understand that there are other meal options than just meat and potatoes.

While Meatless Mondays are a modest start, they can serve as an important step toward more healthful, sustainable and ethical eating. In the American Dietetic Association’s most recent position paper on vegetarian diets, the authors noted that “vegetarian diets in childhood and adolescence can aid in the establishment of lifelong healthful eating patterns and can offer some important nutritional advantages.”

Studies have shown that vegetarian children have lower intakes of cholesterol and saturated fat and higher intakes of fruits, vegetables and fiber than nonvegetarians. Vegan children consume even more fiber and no cholesterol. While vegetarian kids grow normally, they tend to be leaner than non-vegetarians, an important consideration as obesity among children continues to be a serious public health issue. Research also suggests that vegan and vegetarian food choices in childhood and adolescence can lower risk for cancer in adulthood.

Meatless Mondays are a great way to expose children to responsible eating patterns based on plant foods.