Meatless Monday met with campus-wide backlash

Last Monday, student-led Wellesley Energy and Environmental Defense (WEED) organized its first Meatless Monday, a sustainability initiative that called for the majority of the College's dining halls to serve only meat-free dishes for the entire day.  Despite pledges to remain meatless for the whole day, several dining halls  ended up serving meat for dinner after receiving complaints from the college community.   

"Meat was served for dinner because many students and parents felt that it should be a choice," executive chef of Wellesley Fresh Larry Kessel said in an email.

Complaints began in the morning and stemmed from not having enough advance warning about Meatless Monday, according to Leslye D. Penticoff '11, co-president of WEED.

But it was AVI Fresh, the College's food provider, who made the decision to reintroduce meat for dinner.  WEED was not involved in the decision-making process.  

"We would've appreciated being involved in the decision [to return meat to the menu]," Penticoff said.  "But I do understand why they did it.  They're the ones dealing with the complaints."

Through Meatless Monday, WEED intended to raise awareness of the environmental impact of meat and "to spark community discussion about why we eat meat and to the extent that we do," Penticoff said. "[Eating meat is] a huge amount of our carbon footprint."

Going meatless reduces carbon emissions, conserves water and creates less dependence on fossil fuels, according to MeatlessMonday.com.  The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the meat industry generates nearly one-fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions, according to its website.  One pound of beef requires 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water, whereas soy tofu requires approximately 220 gallons of water per pound.  Furthermore, 40 calories of fossil fuel energy go into every calorie of feed-lot beef, whereas 2.2 calories of fossil fuel energy go into every calorie of plant-based protein.

Meatless Monday took place in Bates, Tower and Stone Davis dining halls (Pomeroy dining hall is always vegetarian).  The Campus Center offered meat because WEED recognized that some students have dietary restrictions that require them to eat a high-protein diet, Penticoff explained.

Tower's breakfast menu featured hard-boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, a waffle bar, an oatmeal bar, home fries, southwestern tofu scramble, fresh fruit and a fried egg sandwich.  A Greek-style panini, sweet and sour tempeh, spinach and pepper fritatta, broccoli, corn, bulgur wheat pilaf, cheese pizza and vegetable primavera pizza and a "chicken" shawarma bar were on the menu for lunch.

The original meatless dinner menu was to include spaghetti and vegan meatballs, tofu marsala, sweet garlic-stewed peppers, broccoli rabe, garlic bread and the same cheese pizza, vegetable primavera pizza and "chicken" shawarma bar from lunch.  But by dinnertime, the Tower dining hall was also serving hot dogs.

Elisa Prebble '14, a vegetarian, was disappointed that Tower served meat for dinner.

"I think [Meatless Monday] should be a weekly event," she said.  Prebble cited the environmental benefits to the meatless diet: reduced carbon dioxide emissions and reduced animal cruelty.  "I think every meal matters," she said.

WEED also organized a discussion panel called To Meat or Not To Meat.  Environmental Studies Professor Beth Desombre moderated the panel, which featured members from Regeneration, Slow Food and Philosophy Club.  They discussed whether meat is necessary for a diet and how we should provide it in a sustainable way.

Penticoff noted that although Meatless Monday was not completely meatless, WEED isn't discouraged.  "We'd like to hold another day in the spring during Earth Week with lots of advanced notice so AVI can't point to that as a reason for reintroducing meat," she said.

"If a majority of the students felt this was a positive program for the Wellesley campus community, Wellesley Fresh would be happy to partner with WEED and student government in planning for the future," Kessel said.  "AVI/Wellesley Fresh has many sustainability and healthy eating initiatives that are currently in place on the Wellesley campus.  Many of these views and practices are similar to WEED's."