Meatless Monday for Lent!

Congratulations! We survived our first all­-vegetarian potluck lunch!

  • “Wow! The food is so colorful!”
  • “Delicious!”
  • “I was surprised at how filling the food was! I didn’t feel hungry afterwards.”
  • “That was awesome! That was the first church potluck I’ve attended where I could eat everything on the table!” ~ from a vegetarian

 

The Green Team thanks you all for your flexibility and willingness to try something new!

During the season of Lent, many people pledge to give up some kind of food or drink, like chocolate or coffee, as a way to become closer to God and more aware of their faith in their life. FPCY’s Green Team is inviting the congregation to give up meat one day each week for the 6 weeks of Lent.

Meatless Monday is not a new idea. During World War I, the U.S. Food Administration encouraged Meatless Mondays and Wheatless Wednesdays to aid the war effort and conserve basic staples. It was reinstituted during World War II and during the post­war era to help feed war-ravaged Europe. Meatless Monday was revived in 2003 by former ad man and author Sid Lerner in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. This effort to improve health and environmental sustainability has now spread to 36 countries around the world.

So what’s the big deal?

  • Good for your Health – Reducing meat consumption has been shown to reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes; curb obesity; extend lifespan and increase the nutritional quality of your diet.
  • Good for your Wallet – Meat is more expensive than the vegetables, beans and grains that make up a meatless diet, so it helps your weekly food budget and can curtail healthcare spending on the health problems listed above.
  • Good for the Planet – Meat production is very resource intensive, using significantly more water and fossil fuels than vegetable production. For example, it takes approximately 1,850 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, but only 39 gallons of water to produce one pound of vegetables. Reducing meat consumption saves valuable natural resources and reduces greenhouse gases and fossil fuel dependence.

 

As we seek to be good stewards of our bodies and the resources and the planet God has given us, let’s join together in reducing the amount of meat we consume. The Green Team would love to hear from you about your experience with this, as well as any good recipes you find! For more information and recipes, please visit www.meatlessmonday.com.