Meat Free Monday campaign celebrates five years

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From paulmccartney.com, June 16, 2014:

From a star-studded launch in London’s St. James’s Park, Meat Free Monday is now a global awareness movement

London – As the Meat Free Monday campaign celebrates its fifth year, the campaign, headed by Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney, looks forward to reaching new audiences.

Meat Free Monday has had an incredible response so far. Some of the world’s leading authorities on climate change have endorsed meat reduction as an effective way of fighting global warming, including former US Vice President Al Gore, Chair of the IPCC Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Lord Nicholas Stern and former UK Government Chief Scientific Advisor Sir David King. And a host of celebrities and high profile chefs support the campaign, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Leona Lewis, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Oliver, Joanna Lumley and Sir Richard Branson. […]

Paul: “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.”

Mary: “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!”

Stella: “After five exciting years since the launch of MFM, we thank you for all your support and encourage more change, so we can do such a small thing for such a huge cause! 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.” […]

Since its launch in 2009 Meat Free Monday has:
 
·       Made a compelling plea to the European Parliament to take the issue of meat reduction seriously. In December 2009 Paul McCartney, along with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Chair Dr Rajendra Pachauri and others, spoke at a special European Parliament hearing entitled ‘Global Warming and Food Policy: Less Meat = Less Heat’.
 
·       Published The Meat Free Monday Cookbook featuring 312 recipes, including contributions from 42 celebrities, chefs, actors and fashion designers.  Split into the four seasons, there are recipes for breakfast, packed lunch, lunch, side dish, dinner and dessert for every Monday of the year.
 
·       Got the message out to schools. In June 2012 Paul McCartney’s ‘A Meat Free Monday Message to Schools’ was screened at the Sunday Times Festival of Education. More than twomillion school students take part in weekly ‘Meat Free’ lunch programmes, including in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Ghent, Helsinki, Liverpool and London. 

·       Gained support from big companies. Supermarket Ocado and green energy company Ecotricity support the campaign and sportswear manufacturer Puma was an early adopter of Meat Free Monday in its German headquarters.  Malmö Aviation became the first airline to support the campaign and the Nordic Light Hotel in Stockholm has also implemented a Meat Free Monday.

From paulmccartney.com, September 22, 2014:

Meat Free Monday recently invited you to pick a lyric from Paul’s song ‘Meat Free Monday’ and represent that lyric in a creative way for their fifth anniversary video. They received thousands of entries, from Sweden to South Africa, Tahiti to Taiwan, with images taken on beaches and gardens, in restaurants and allotments, on top of mountains and even under water!

The video features images from MFM supporters, from schools, from celebrities including Woody Harrelson, Joanna Lumley, Twiggy, Fearne Cotton and Sharleen Spiteri, from chefs including José Pizarro and Rozanne Stevens, from restaurants including tibits, HILTL and The Gate, and from many different MFM campaigns – after all “… it’s happening all around the world!”

Video created by Sarah Randell

Last updated on February 7, 2021