George Bernard Shaw, the playwright and prominent vegetarian, said: “Animals are my friends… And I don’t eat my friends”. Now, the London Vegan and Vegetarian Society hope that on Mondays, Londoners will not be eating them either.
Their goal by 2015 is for 100,000 Londoners to go meat free every Monday. But for the insatiable carnivore it need not be the end of rib eyed steak, roast chicken and succulent ham.
According to Brian Jacobs, founder of VeganLondon, a website that is an aggregator for restaurants, cafes, and all things that cater to vegans, said: “what’s happened in the last year or so, is that now restaurants are having separate vegan and or vegetarian menus. Or at least they’ve itemised which items are suitable for vegans. For example Pizza Express have a pizza without cheese that is labeled as vegan. Before, you’d have to ask restaurants to change their ingredients.”
Flexitarianism is a growing trend that encourages people to reduce meat in their diet while opting for more vegetables. This approach is taken to gain the health benefits of eating more vegetables without sacrificing meat completely. It is seen as an easier way to maintain a vegetarian lifestyle, without needing to become a vegetarian. It could be argued that this is simply a compromise, an unwillingness to be a full out vegetarian or an unabashed carnivore, but flexitarianism simply makes the best of both worlds.
This is seen as a middle ground for people who want to be vegetarian but like to eat meat, and for those who hardly ever eat meat but would not classify themselves as vegetarian.
Flexitarianism is seen as a way to stay healthy materially and physically, with health benefits including lower cholesterol levels, a decrease in blood pressure, and weight loss. The reduction of red meat in particular is also seen as a way to lower the risk of heart disease.
There are also environmental concerns in becoming a flexitarian. The loss of trees to provide more room for livestock, to meet the demand for meat has meant an increase in the gases responsible for climate change. As Tom Micklewright, the founder of the London Vegan Society, said the current consumption of meat is “unsustainable”.
Alison McNaught is a flexitarian and runs a vegetarian and pescatarian (fish) café in Croydon. Her jointly owned café, Domali, has been going for 17 years. McNaught is not a vegetarian but she was when she begun Domali.
So why did she go back to eating meat? How did she become a flexitarian?
She said that she felt pressure to conform when she was travelling . In developing countries where food was not so abundant, disagreeing over meat when people were offering her food felt “ungrateful”. She succumbed when her friend made a roast dinner, with roast duck. She had one thought: “I want that”.
McNaught said: “I wasn’t veggie because I thought it was wrong to eat animals. I don’t think it’s morally wrong to eat animals. Animals eat each other, it’s something we’ve always done. I disagree with mass production and the meat industry.” As such the fish served at Domali is sustainable and from sources approved by the Marine Stewardship Council.
On the other side of Croydon is The Ship, a pub that has recently launched a full vegetarian menu, with updates expected in the autumn. In 2010, Siobhan Terry began serving vegan and vegetarian dishes which proved to be a hit with the locals. So does she think it is becoming more popular to go out for vegetarian food when eating out? “I think it’s becoming more popular, and I think this is because a) more people are becoming vegetarian b)more people eat vegetarian food as we are more aware of the health benefits of a veggie diet and c)People are becoming increasingly conscious of the ethics of our food, and a safe option is usually veggie when eating out.”
Terry is optimistic for the future of vegetarian cuisine, she thinks there are more veggie choices in supermarkets and that the pub and restaurant trade are catching up: “Croydon has a lot of regeneration plans (new shopping centre etc) so new businesses will come to the area, also I think vegetarians will grow in number and keep growing. The food trade will have to reflect this.”
Vegetarian advocates believe that Meat Free Mondays is one way of exploring flexitarianism. It might even lead to the option of becoming a vegetarian or vegan for that matter.
If you’d like to challenge yourself to a Meat Free Monday, check out a list of ten tips from someone celebrating 10 years of vegetarianism: here
The East London Lines team have been scouring the boroughs to help you give Meat Free Monday a go. It really doesn’t have be the ubiquitous egg and chips, cheese sandwich, or baked beans on toast.
Here are some of the vegetarian options for eating out available in the area:
Now check out some of our vegetarian recipes from local restaurants in the four ELL boroughs:
By Martina Melli, Oluwatosin Oyeniyi, Shona Owen, and Yara Zeitoun