Liverpool, UK
First Mover!*
First Movers are cities, local governments, or public institutions (like universities, schools or hospitals) that have at least one meal per week that is completely dedicated to vegetarian foods. This is often alongside other great programs like public education and organic sourcing, but the main criteria is having at least one dedicated vegetarian meal or day per week.
Liverpool schools serve over a million meals a year in 41 schools, so when they decided to embrace Meat Free Mondays in 2011, it had a huge impact (Meat Free Monday is a campaign to get people around the world to go meat-free one day a week). Since then, the city, working with the not-for-profit meal provider Food for Thought, has increased its commitment with two (sometimes three!) meat-free days each week. And the ingredients they do use are more sustainable: 50% is locally-sourced, and 30% organic.
This is especially impressive given that meat has long been a big part of the Liverpool diet. Food for Thought has taken a well-rounded approach – not just serving vegetarian meals, but teaching vegetarian cooking to students and parents. Mike Carden, the project leader, has said “despite some opposition at first, often from adults, Meat Free Monday is now accepted as a normal menu day.”
What’s next?
Now that this has been so successful in schools, why not expand it to other public institutions, like hospitals and government buildings?