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The Movement Gaining More Popularity Than Meatless Monday
The nonalcoholic movement reserves 37% of the days in a calendar year, nearly three times as many as Meatless Monday
The first time Americans were asked to reduce their meat consumption was during World War I. With the help of soon-to-be president Herbert Hoover, the U.S. Food Administration coined a slogan: Food will win the war. It was an effort to care for struggling Allies and nourish U.S. soldiers overseas that included asking Americans to cut back on their fat, sugar, wheat, and meat consumption through Meatless Tuesdays and Wheatless Wednesdays.
The campaign returned during World War II when Presidents Roosevelt and Truman were called upon to help feed a war-torn Europe. This time, though, Monday was the day of choice to abstain from meat, and 12 million Americans signed the pledge.
In 2003, Sid Lerner, a former advertising executive revisited Meatless Mondays with the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Not in response to food scarcity though, but rather a food surplus. They found that the average American was consuming 15% more meat than was recommended. Lerner argued that the average American eats three meals per day, 21 meals per week, so abstaining from meat or a full day, or three meals, would…
