Veganism in Schools: A Rising Global Movement, Part 2 of 2

This Waldorf School was founded in 2006 in downtown Stockholm and became a vegan school when it moved to Hagaparken in 2018. In 2017, in response to a student campaign, the Los Angeles Unified School District launched a pilot program offering vegan options to students daily. Two years later in 2019, the California’s Legislature introduced the Healthy Climate-Friendly School Lunch Act, which would mandate vegan options in all schools. Public School 244 (PS244), located in the Queens neighborhood in New York City, is the first public school in the US offering complete vegetarian meals. The city’s Department of Education introduced Meatless Mondays and Meatless Fridays in 2019 and 2021.

In Brazil, the successful plant-based food initiative “Alimentação Consciente Brasil” (Conscious Eating Brazil) is gaining momentum. Each year, the program serves five million plant-based meals in city-run public schools. In Israel, the Ministry of Health mandates all schools serve weekly vegan and vegetarian meals to meet the demands of 18% vegan and vegetarians among the nation’s young people. With training from Canada’s Forward Food Program, participants are learning how to create sustainable plant-based options for students. “Focusing on plant-based Cuisines, so whole foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes and good quality plant-based protein, just basically trying to get more fruits and vegetables in institutions.” With a high demand for plant-based, the university plans to make plant-based options, covering 40% of menu items served in residences by Jan 2024.

Dozens of UK universities have taken steps towards 100% plant-based catering. The representatives of the Students Union at Cambridge University, for example, voted to make its catering 100% plant-based to help combat environmental injustice. In addition, over 650 UK academics signed a letter calling on universities across the country to commit to 100% plant-based catering. “And what that research is telling us is that shifting to a plant-based food system is unequivocally a key solution to our climate and ecological crisis.”