Propagating the myth of Meatless Mondays: How did we go from “Food Will Win the War” to a battle cry against meat?
by Season Solorio, Director, Issues Management – NCBA
Highlights
Meatless Mondays originated as an effort to aid the war and feed the troops overseas during World War I.
The goal of Meatless Mondays today is for individuals to reduce their meat consumption by 15 percent in order to “improve personal health and the health of the planet.”
According to research by Dr. Jude Capper at Washington State University, the environmental impact of Meatless Mondays (one meatless day per week) is miniscule — less than one-half of 1 percent of the U.S. carbon footprint.
Only 7 percent of Americans say that they actually participate in Meatless Mondays, according to Beef Checkoff-funded research; conversely, 96 percent of Americans say they eat beef.
The beef industry must continue to rally around the benefits of consuming beef and educate influencers on its positive nutritional, environmental and social benefits.
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Introduction
The history of Meatless Mondays dates back to World War I, when there was a scarcity of staple foods, such as meat, sugar and wheat. Today, meatless meals are propagated as “healthy” initiatives that will improve individuals’ health and the health of the planet. Perhaps the most well-known initiative today is “Meatless Mondays,” a campaign reinvigorated by the non-profit organization Monday Campaigns, in partnership with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which encourages consumers to give up meat one day per week.
These initiatives present a number of challenges to the meat industry, as they often include inaccurate claims about the environmental impact of raising meat and meat’s ( perceived negative) impact on human health, while also calling into question many of the social issues (animal welfare and animal rights) that are associated with meat consumption.
While Meatless Mondays provides consumers with simple, actionable steps that they can take to be “healthier” without the challenges associated with becoming a full-blown vegetarian or vegan, according to Dr. Jude Capper at Washington State University, the environmental impact of every American following Meatless Mondays is miniscule – the impact of one meatless day per week is equal to 0.44 percent of the U.S. carbon footprint or less than one-half of 1 percent. From a nutritional standpoint, a 3-ounce serving of lean beef provides 10 essential nutrients in about 154 calories. In fact, MeatlessMonday.com notes in their nutritional FAQ that meatless diets are not automatically healthier and won’t necessarily help consumers lose weight. So how does the beef industry counter the myth of Meatless Mondays?
Discussion
History of “Food Will Win the War”
Meatless Mondays haven’t always been used as propaganda to suggest environmental and health benefits. In fact, historically, this initiative was developed to support war efforts. During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson and the U.S. Food Administration urged Americans to reduce consumption of staple foods in an effort to aid the war and feed the troops overseas. Three years of intense fighting in Western Europe had devastated its people and their ability to farm. Herbert Hoover, who took charge of the wartime Food Administration (now the Food and Drug Administration or FDA), had a goal to provide food for troops and allied troops in war-torn Europe, as well as to feed the American and Allied populations. Hoover believed that unlike Europe, where strict food rationing had been instituted, food policy in the United States would be based on a voluntary effort. “We propose to mobilize the spirit of self-denial and self-sacrifice in this country,” said Hoover. “Food Will Win the War” became the slogan and the Food Administration’s widely disseminated “Meatless Mondays” and “Wheatless Wednesdays” campaign took off (Figure 1).
The initiative centered around an advertising campaign, supported by recipe booklets and menus in newspapers, magazines and pamphlets aimed at reaching women, the primary household food buyers and food preparers. The response was overwhelming – more than 10 million families, 7,000 hotels and nearly 425,000 food dealers pledged to observe meatless days. In November 1917, New York City hotels saved some 116 tons of meat over the course of just one week. The campaign resulted in a 15 percent reduction in domestic food consumption without rationing, meaning that in a 12-month period of 1918-1919, this country furnished 18,500,000 tons of food to the allies. According to a 1929 Saturday Evening Post article, “Americans began to look seriously into the question of what and how much they were eating.” The campaign returned during World War II and beyond, when Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman used rationing to help feed war-ravaged Europe.
It’s critical to remember that the goal of Meatless Mondays and Wheatless Wednesdays was “to save [wheat, meat, sugar and fats] for the army and the allies” and its motives were strictly patriotic. Food was extremely scarce and millions of allies, especially in France and Belgium, were starving and needed high-quality, nutritious food, like beef, that would give them the strength to continue to fight the war. Thousands of farmers and ranchers had abandoned their fields and livestock to serve their country in a time of need. Millions of Americans recognized their moral duty to take care of those who were fighting for their country by giving up foods that they enjoyed and rallied around the idea that they could make a positive difference in the health and wellness of soldiers if they were willing to sacrifice one or two days a week.
How did we go from food will win the war to a battle cry against meat?
Today, the Meatless Mondays campaign has shifted from a moral and patriotic imperative that helped win a war to using questionable science that encourages consumers to moderate consumption of meat. In 2003, Meatless Monday was revived by a former advertising executive turned health advocate and his wife who wanted to take on the challenge of turning the mundane idea of “moderation” into something irresistible and hip. Sid Lerner, who spent more than 50 years on Madison Avenue and is perhaps most famous for creating the “Squeeze the Charmin” 1960’s commercial in the which grocery shoppers and Mr. Whipple can’t keep their hands off the irresistibly soft Charmin toilet paper, and his wife, Helaine Lerner, thought that the prevalence of preventable illnesses could be reduced by going meatless one day a week and decided to introduce Meatless Monday as a public health awareness campaign.
The initiative is backed by the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for a Livable Future and endorsed by 30 schools of public health. According to the Animal Agriculture Alliance, the Lerners have worked with JHU on a number of initiatives. In 2000, the Helaine Heilbrunn Lerner Fund gave JHU’s School of Public Health over $546,000 for the “Center for a Livable Future” for an environmental program targeting livestock agriculture and in 2001, another foundation in their name, gave $900,000 to an animal-rights program at JHU, which also benefited from donations from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The Lerners also gave more than $4 million between 1997 and 2000 to the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE), a group that is focused on eliminating modern animal agriculture. This link suggests that the ulterior motives of those behind Meatless Mondays may not be as simple as they might seem to the casual observer.
Lerner and his staff now spend their time blending social media and traditional advertising techniques to spread the word about Meatless Mondays, which includes working with bloggers, famous chefs, health experts, companies, foundations and celebrities to endorse Meatless Mondays. Today, the goal of Meatless Mondays is to encourage individuals to reduce their meat consumption by 15 percent in order to “improve personal health and the health of the planet.” The campaign has spread to 23 countries and expanded into a series of “Healthy Monday” campaigns designed to motivate people to exercise, quit smoking and take other small steps to prevent chronic disease.
What is also interesting is the call to action – why Meatless Mondays, instead of Wheatless Wednesdays or Sugarless Sundays? From 1970 to 2008, flour and cereal products represent the largest increase in average daily per capita calorie consumption, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) data on food availability (Figure 2). These “plant-based” foods provide 193 more available calories to the food supply, versus only a 19-calorie increase from meat, eggs and nuts during the same period. Grain-based desserts were cited as the top source of solid fats and the second highest source of added sugars.
Conclusions
Rallying around “Good for You, Good for the Planet”
Judging by the number of people who partake in Meatless Mondays, perhaps there is healthy skepticism among the general public about this campaign as well. According to research funded by the Beef Checkoff, only 7 percent of Americans say that they actually participate in Meatless Mondays.
Today, though we still have many men and women fighting overseas, the food supply is not as scarce as it was during World War I and II; yet, campaigns like Meatless Mondays seemingly take the abundance of food and variety of choices that is available in the United States for granted by demonizing certain foods and trying to emotionally resurrect the patriotic duty of sacrificing foods consumers enjoy as part of a healthful diet. Though Meatless Mondays during World War I and II helped feed the troops, current research does not demonstrate there is anything to be gained from giving up meat one day a week in the present. While there are sadly still people both in the U.S. and abroad who go to bed hungry at night, the average farmer or rancher today feeds 155 people here and abroad compared to 19 people in 1940. Part of U.S. farmers’ ability to feed a growing population has come as a result of increases in production efficiency through the adoption of technology. According to Dr. Capper, one person going meatless for one meal per week would be equivalent to planting 0.09 trees. So, the greater environmental impact could actually be achieved by planting 4.68 trees for carbon sequestration versus participating in Meatless Monday campaigns.
Additional Resources
Cornell University Albert R. Mann Library: Meatless Mondays and Wheatless Wednesdays, Home Economics in World War I. http://exhibits.mannlib.cornell.edu/meatlesswheatless/meatless-wheatless.php
Meatless Mondays Website. http://www.meatlessmonday.com/
Animal Agriculture Alliance Website, including editorial by Dr. Jude Capper on the Myth of Meatless Mondays. http://www.soundagscience.org/
ExploreBeef.org Website. http://www.explorebeef.org/factsheets.aspx
Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010. http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/DGAs2010-DGACReport.htm
