Our kids need less meat and more vegetables

Mayor Eric Adams’ new Vegan Fridays in public schools have just begun, and as expected, they have garnered significant controversy. Outlets including the New York Post and Barstool Sports have described the move as “a food war” and “criminal.”

You shouldn’t believe the negative hype. As recent graduates of the NYC public school system, we strongly support Adams’ decision, which will benefit students and pave the road for New York City — and hopefully the rest of the world — to become healthier, greener and more compassionate.

Adams’ justifications for the new plantbased meals are mostly health-related, and despite misguided critiques about plant-based diets lacking protein, Adams’ move is supported by the latest research. The USDA’s Report on Dietary Guidelines for Americans, for example, acknowledges that “a healthy vegetarian dietary pattern can be achieved by incorporating protein foods from plants.” A recent study also found that poor diet, driven by a lack of whole-grain plants and fruits, kills more people globally than tobacco or high blood pressure.

The Trump administration rolled back legislation that promoted healthy foods in public school lunches. The result has been greasy pizza and burgers in schools across the country. We’re glad that Adams is taking a bold step toward healthier food.

Crucially, vegan Fridays cannot be an excuse to serve food that no student wants to eat. Critiques of the program have centered around viral images of particularly poor vegan lunches. If these failures persist, hundreds of thousands of New York students who rely on free lunches will leave school on Friday feeling hungry and malnourished. That’s got to be fixed.

Vegan food does not need to be unappetizing scoops of zucchini and mushrooms. It’s essential that the Adams administration promotes delicious school lunches for students, involving input from top-notch chefs and the latest vegan foods like Impossible and Beyond Meat. Adams has emphasized healthy and tasty eating in the past; it’s time he puts this into action.

The benefits of vegan Fridays are not just health. The uncomfortable truth is that 15% of all greenhouse gasses come from animal agriculture, and Americans eat more meat than any other country in the world — on average more than 250 pounds per person per year. If we reduced our beef, poultry and pork consumption by 25%, and substituted plant-based alternatives, America’s greenhouse gas emissions would decrease by 82 million metric tons. New York cannot become a world leader in the fight against climate change without taking concrete actions on food like the switch to vegan Fridays.

Plant-based advocates should follow Adams and highlight the benefits of a plant-based diet without blaming people for their choices, which is counterproductive. This view is well articulated by Ethan Brown, the founder and CEO of Beyond Meat, who calls it “hedonistic altruism.” His goal is to “try [and] create products that help people feel better about themselves, but also confer benefits to the world, versus obligating someone to eat something because it’s good for the world.”

That means that the path to a healthier, greener future does not need to involve puritanical diets. Piecemeal steps should be celebrated. A report last year by Faunalytics, an animal advocacy research organization, found that just 21% of people transitioning to veganism or vegetarianism did it overnight, and of those, a large majority relapsed more than once. Despite this, more than 90% of study participants intended to stick with their diet change permanently. The report concluded that “when going vegan or vegetarian, imperfection is the rule rather than the exception.” That’s an important lesson for those who seem to be steamed at Adams for representing himself as a vegan when in fact he eats fish.

If rolled out successfully, vegan Fridays can show students and their families that plant-based meals and diets can be easy, tasty and affordable. Despite the regular vitriol for plant-based diets and vegans, the vast majority of Americans believe animals deserve at least some protection under the law, and nearly three-fourths describe themselves to some degree as animal lovers. Most Americans don’t eat meat because they enjoy killing animals; they eat meat because they’re used to it and it tastes good. Give them cheaper, healthier substitutes that taste like meat and they’ll flock to them.

Don’t just take our word for it. According to one market research study, 98% of plant-based meat buyers also purchase meat products, and 90% of those who have tried plant-based meat say they would eat it again. The trope of carnivores being disgusted by plant-based alternatives no longer holds water.

Fast-food chains around the country are racing to add plant-based substitutes to their menus, driven by record sales. If McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC are filling their menus with tasty, protein-filled vegan alternatives, NYC public schools can too.

Rohrig is a junior at Swarthmore College. Rose-Berman is a senior at Brandeis University. They are recent alumni of Stuyvesant High School.