Meat Free Monday, the global celebrity-backed campaign to promote one day of not eating meat a week, is celebrating its five year anniversary today.
The campaign, which is headed by Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney, is celebrating the occasion by celebrating the diversity of its global supporters and launching new tee shirts.
It has also started an Instagram page to encourage followers to post creative meat-free meals, using the hashtag #MeatFreeMonday.
Since its launch in 2009 the campaign has gained global support from the Norwegian military, the Croatian ministry of Agriculture, the Hong Kong airport authority and Kuwait’s ministry of health.
It is known in over 35 countries and 23 languages, including Lunes Sin Carne in Mexico, Meatless Monday in the USA and Luntiang Lunes in the Philippines.
Ex-beatle and Meat Free Monday campaigner, Paul McCartney, said: “Thank you to everyone who supports the campaign. Eating more fruit and veg, and less meat, is good for our health and good for the planet. With diet-related diseases on the rise, Meat Free Monday is more important now than ever.”
McCartney is joined in the project by his two daughters, photographer Mary and high-fashion designer Stella.
It has also been backed by a host of celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow, Leona Lewis, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Oliver, Joanna Lumley and Sir Richard Branson.
“Happy fifth birthday Meat Free Monday! It's brilliant to see so many people embracing MFM and enjoying a break from meat at least once a week. I have noticed meat-free food options are more widely available than ever – flavourful and imaginative,' said Mary McCartney.
Stella McCartney took the chance to thank supporters of the campaign and emphasise the achieveability of not eating meat once a week.
She said: “One day a week without meat is achievable for us all and we know you can do it to have better health and a better environment.”
The Meat Free Monday campaign was founded as a result of increasing evidence to suggest that eating meat is not environmentally or economically sustainable.
It uses statistics such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)'s estimation that global meat production accounts for nearly 15 percent of all greenhouse emissions.
The campaign has focused on both consumer and wider political aspects: it has published a Meat Free Monday Cookbook and has issued a plea with the European Parliament to take the issue of meat reduction seriously.
