On this day in vegan history · June 15, 2009
Meat Free Monday Launches
Paul McCartney and his daughters asked the country for one thing: skip meat on Mondays, and see what happens.
The facts
- Launched
- June 15, 2009, by Paul, Stella, and Mary McCartney
- At the launch
- Yoko Ono and other supporters joined the McCartneys
- Cited inspiration
- The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's 2006 report Livestock's Long Shadow
- Later reach
- Within a few years, more than 3,000 UK schools were taking part
On June 15, 2009, Paul McCartney and his daughters Stella and Mary launched Meat Free Monday in London, joined at the event by Yoko Ono and other supporters. The idea was deliberately small: pick one day a week and leave meat off the plate. The family said they had been struck by a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report, Livestock's Long Shadow, which tied animal agriculture to serious environmental damage. What began as a family campaign with a website and later a cookbook spread on its own, picked up by schools, hospitals, and local councils across Britain.
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.
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I think many of us feel helpless in the face of environmental challenges, and it can be hard to know how to sort through the advice about what we can do to make a meaningful contribution to a cleaner, more sustainable, healthier world. Having one designated meat free day a week is actually a meaningful change that everyone can make, that goes to the heart of several important political, environmental and ethical issues all at once.
Paul McCartney, at the campaign's launch, June 2009
Source: Daytrippin' Beatles Magazine -
I have been a vegetarian for 40 years. I like the idea of saving animals, saving people's health and saving this beautiful planet of ours.
Paul McCartney, on why he started Meat Free Monday
Source: Meat Free Monday
Why it still matters
Meat Free Monday gave people a low-stakes way in, no pledge to go vegan, just one day, and that made it easy for institutions to adopt without a fight. It helped turn eating less meat into a mainstream, unremarkable habit rather than a niche identity.
Sources
This history is still being written.
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