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On this day in vegan history · May 13, 2009

Ghent Makes Thursday the City's Vegetarian Day

A Belgian city known for its butcher shops told its own schools and offices to skip meat one day a week, and the habit stuck.

The facts

Date
May 13, 2009
Declared by
Tom Balthazar, Ghent's deputy mayor for environment and social affairs
Partner organization
Ethical Vegetarian Alternative (EVA)
Who it covered
Ghent's municipal schools (ages 18 months to 12) and city offices, vegetarian lunch by default each Thursday

On May 13, 2009, Tom Balthazar, Ghent's deputy mayor for environment and social affairs, declared Thursday the city's official vegetarian day, working with the Ethical Vegetarian Alternative (EVA), Belgium's largest vegetarian organization. Ghent's own municipal schools and city offices led by example: every child between 18 months and 12 years old was served a warm vegetarian lunch on Thursdays by default, not as a special request. EVA had spent years making the case for a weekly meat-free day nationally; Ghent was the city government willing to bake it into its own cafeterias rather than leave it as a suggestion. The scheme went on to draw international press and imitators in cities from Brazil to South Africa.

In their words

The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.

  1. Rather than forcing people to eat meat-free, we want to inspire them in a positive way.

    Nena Baeyens, EVA spokesperson, quoted in SBS Food

    Source: SBS Food

  2. The Veggie Thursday campaign was started by the non-governmental organization, Ethical Vegetarian Alternative (EVA), in Belgium, with the health of individuals and the planet in mind.

    NYC Food Policy Center, Veggie Thursday urban food policy snapshot

    Source: NYC Food Policy Center

Why it still matters

Ghent showed a city hall could set the default meal for its own kids and workers instead of just publishing a leaflet about eating less meat, and that model traveled to other cities afterward.

Sources

This history is still being written.

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