New York City's mayor Eric Adam has launched his revolutionary Vegan Fridays campaign in all NYC public schools amid rising healthcare issues
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New York City’s Mayor, Eric Adams, has rolled out Vegan Fridays at all 1,700 public schools in the city.
Vegan Fridays will see all participating school canteens serving plant-based meals that day.
The largest of its kind campaign was initiated by the mayor in response to the country’s healthcare crisis.
Moreover, Adams says the campaign is in response to the growing demand for “better food in schools” from pupils.
Image Credit: Getty Images / Michael M. Santiago / Staff
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Vegan Fridays at New York schools
The latest initiative from the city’s Department of Education will see an estimated 1.1 million school children eating plant-based at school.
Speaking with Fox 5’s Good Day New York, Adams said: “I love healthy food, and I love life, and our children should not continually be fed food that’s causing their healthcare crises: childhood obesity, childhood diabetes, asthma.
“We should not be feeding the crises.”
Furthermore, pupils can request non-vegan meals if they wish.
In 2017, Adams worked with The Coalition for Healthy School Food (CHSF) to launch healthy vegan lunches in 1,200 NYC schools.
Eric Adams became New York City’s first ‘plant-based’ mayor in November 2021, claiming a vegan diet reversed his type-2 diabetes.
However, Adams has recently come under fire after revealing he sometimes eats fish.
While many people have criticised the mayor for labelling himself as vegan, Adams has responded saying he acknowledges his “imperfect” diet.
Plant-based school dinners
As veganism continues to rise, more schools are introducing the diet to children to improve their health.
In 2020, 180 schools in Leeds initiated vegan school dinners to combat the climate crisis.
Additionally, the campaign invested in teaching pupils the benefits of recycling and cutting down food waste.
Furthermore, Meatless Farm recently launched its ‘For Kids By Kids‘ campaign, aimed to increase plant-based food options in schools.
We think it’s imperative that children have access to nutritious foods at school, to enable them to get the best start in life.
With more emphasis on plant-based school dinners, we hope to see more schools follow in New York’s footsteps.
Do vegan children perform better at school? Here’s what we think …
Feature image source: Klaus Vedfelt via Getty Images
Source: Plant Based News
