Giving Meatless Monday a Try

I'm not really the type to jump on any old bandwagon. I'm not the earliest adopter. I didn't get the first generation iPhone, and I waited several years to get a DVD player. I wait things out to see if they're gaining traction before making my move.

So it has been with this newfangled idea they're calling Meatless Monday. I've mostly ignored the background babel. Meatless Monday is a concept initiated by The Monday Campaigns in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

When I first heard about Meatless Monday it sounded to me a bit like Backwards Friday, an annual event we had in grade school when all the kids wore their clothes backwards. It was something you do once for the novelty of it--it wasn't something anyone would make a lifestyle out of.

I have to admit that I didn't initially investigate the concept or read up on the why and how of Meatless Monday, but it didn't sound like something I'd try, much less permanently implement (even though I am generally quite content forgoing meat). But in the burgeoning movement to reduce one's carbon footprint, and toward greater long-term health, my interest was slowly piqued by this one-day-a-week vegetarianism thing. After all, I do love a good eggplant parm. How hard could it be?

I'm particularly interested in a fresh start on Monday after gorging all weekend. The cheeseburger right off the grill at Saturday's barbecue melted in my mouth (washed down by a bottle of beer), but following it with two pieces of The Pioneer Woman's chocolate sheet cake was just unnecessary (but worth every bite!).

Monday is a new beginning. Monday speaks to me in tongues of crispy vegetables and protein sources low in saturated fat.

In his bestselling books, Michael Pollan has endorsed quasi-vegetarianism, and others are taking note. Giving up one-seventh of meat consumption (the equivalent of one day per week) is practicable, Pollan says, and I agree. I can do this.

So I mentioned it to my husband this weekend. "Honey, will you do Meatless Mondays with me?" I expected him to laugh and reply with a sarcastic, "Yeah, right." But in a surprising moment of marital support, and without asking why, he said, "Sure. Starting tomorrow? Pasta Mondays." I told him tomorrow we could indeed start with pasta--a win-win (easy for me to cook, even easier for him to like). But in my secret scheming, I plan to slowly intervene in this carb-lover's lifestyle--after all, replacing a hearty protein with an empty carb is not helping anyone. Next week we'll try a tofu or bean dish.

We're aiming to try this for the long haul--for ourselves and for our planet. Meatless meals can be less expensive and easy to prepare. I'm all for that as a bonus.