Meatless Mondays Debuts in Leesburg

Meatless Mondays made its debut in Leesburg on Monday, May 7. Meatless Mondays is a national campaign that promotes vegetarian dishes in order to reduce saturated fat from diets.

Currently, there are 14 restaurants on board, which will feature at least one meatless dish, in addition to their regular menu items, each Monday. 

“We’ve sold quite a few vegetable omelets this morning,” said Manager Robin Peacemaker. “We haven’t been very busy for lunch but we’ve probably sold at least six roasted vegetable subs already and people have loved it.”

Peacemaker said her daughter is a vegetarian and has talked about doing Meatless Mondays for quite some time. When Executive Director of Loudoun Veg Sue Sedlazek presented the idea, Shoemaker said she was happy to get on board.

“I thought it was great because people want to do something that’s healthier,” Peacemaker said. “I want to help promote that."

's Waily Whang agreed. She said she decided to participate because it’s important to promote healthy eating. 

“People need to eat more vegetables,” Whang said. “Once a week’s not bad. I think it’s nice and people should know what’s healthy for them.”

That’s great news for Sedlazek who spearheaded the idea of bringing Meatless Mondays to Loudoun County, along with owner Jane Shihadeh, earlier this year.

Both women showed common values in trying to create a sustainable, healthy and compassionate community, Sedlazek said, and they were excited that so many restaurants wanted to get involved.

“I’m psyched that the community is embracing it,” Sedlazek said. “I’ve overheard a number of people ordering veggie specials and it’s just our first day.”

Sedlazek said she hopes the idea continues to grow. The national campaign has been backed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, she said. Since then, people from around the world have joined the movement.