'Meatless Mondays' - Healdsburg Elementary Schools Join Growing Trend

Healdsburg Unified School District kicked off a “Meatless Monday” program this school year joining a growing list of institutions in Northern California (including Santa Rosa City Schools, Oakland Unified, South San Francisco Unified, Mt. Diablo Unified, and Benecia Unified to name a few) and across the country that are participating in this movement to improve our country’s diet.

The school district is doing Meatless Monday at elementary schools, going exclusively meat-free, and offering such items as bean burritos and bean tacos.

There are vegetarian options available on the high school menus daily.

To get an idea, here is the October elementary menu: http://healdsburgusd-ca.schoolloop.com/file/1385194042387/1375543468058/393284480333780135.pdf

The Meatless Monday campaign began in 2003 at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, to promote cutting out meat one day a week for our health and the health of the planet, said Kristie Middleton, food policy manager for the Humane Society of the United States.

Although Americans are eating less meat than we were just five years ago, representing the first significant decline in domestic meat consumption in decades, meat consumption at current levels is just not sustainable, she said.

The HSUS promotes programs like Healdsburg Unified School District’s Meatless Monday to accelerate this trend toward reduced meat consumption.

“Eating meat-free, even for just one day a week, can help reduce the number of animals suffering on factory farms, reduce our carbon footprint, help control weight, and reduce the risk of chronic disease,” Middleton said.

“We’re thrilled that Healdsburg Unified is participating in Meatless Monday.”