Meatout - For Food Editors

Recent times have seen some startling developments in national dietary trends:

• Jonathan Foer’s “Eating Animals” and two other vegan books have made the bestseller list.
  
  
• Last March, the respected National Cancer Institute reported that people who ate the most red meat were "most likely to die from cancer, heart disease and other causes."
  
  
• Last July, the conservative American Dietetic Association has affirmed that “…vegetarian and vegan diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may pro-vide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.”
  
  
• Reports of meat consumers infected by the deadly E. coli strain continue to accumulate.
  
  
• Last November issue of World Watch magazine, two World Bank scientists have claimed that meat production may account for more than half of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
  
  
• According to U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of animals killed for food in the U.S. in 2009 is expected to have dropped by 6% from 2008.
  
  

Launched in the "dietary dark ages" of the 1980s, Meatout, observed on March 20th, has become the world's largest grassroots diet education campaign. It has served as a model for the multimillion-dollar 5 A Day and other mainstream campaigns advocating increased consumption of vegetables and fruits.

Every March, caring folks in a thousand communities in all 50 states and two dozen other countries are welcoming spring by asking their friends and neighbors to "kick the meat habit and explore a wholesome, nonviolent diet of vegetables, legumes, fruits, and grains." They are holding colorful educational events ranging from information tables and exhibits to lectures, public dinners, cooking demonstrations, homeless feedings, and elaborate festivals.

The explosive growth of Meatout has been due largely to the support of consumer advocates, health authorities, and the mass media. Governors and large city mayors are issuing Meatout proclamations. Celebrity entertainers like Casey Kasem, Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Asner, Jennie Garth, Bill Maher, Rue McClanahan, and James Cromwell support the observance. Hundreds of bus ads and billboards in major metropolitan areas carry the Meatout message. Food editors are carrying stories on the national shift to plant-based eating, providing vegan recipes, and covering local Meatout events.

For more information, please contact us:

info@meatout.org at 1-800-MEATOUT(632-8688)