Sandna Kaur (6)

This Meatless Monday experience was an interesting one. For breakfast, I had toast, orange juice and an omelet with spinach, green peppers, onions, and cheese. I like the days when I have to go to campus for my evening classes only. This usually gives me time to make breakfast for my family and myself. Since Sunday was my brother’s and father’s birthday, we had a lot of delicious food left over to eat for lunch. So for lunch, I had ate some of the leftover Thai food that had some rice, noodles, tofu, and vegetables. Before I had to go to campus for my evening class, I had some tea and a piece of fresh fruit top cheesecake (which was the birthday cake) with my relatives that had came from New York City.

After few hours in class, I went home and ate palaak paneer (an Indian dish made of spinach and cottage cheese), yogurt, and naan for dinner.

Since I had some relatives over this week, they were curious to why I was not joining them when they were eating meat that day. So I eventually explained this course, the meatless Monday campaign, and my experience in participating in meatless Monday to my relatives. They were surprised to hear about the effect meat and some agriculture techniques have on emitting harmful gases into the atmosphere and contributing to the greenhouse effect. They had always thought industries and car being the cause of the pollution that is effecting our environment. They were impress and thought the meatless Monday campaign is a nice way for students/people to get involved in being more earth-friendly and learning different ways to help lower our carbon footprint and adapt a healthier lifestyle.

This week, the meal that was most affected was lunch because there was a lot of leftover food from my brother’s and father’s birthday dinner and I had only few vegetarian type of food that I was able to eat. I believe going meatless on Monday impact me the next day because my relatives suggested in having some meatless meals on Tuesday day in order to support of the cause of the Meatless Monday campaign. Though, it was a little difficult for them at first, they believed it was possible to not eat meat for at least one day per week. We saw meatless Monday campaign as a way of challenging ourselves in trying to substitute a meal with meat with vegetables instead. In the Meatless Monday campaign, a participant can use an old recipe that they haven’t used for a while or look up some interesting recipes they always wanted to try to cook but never got the chance to do it.

During the meatless Monday campaign I believe I spent less money because I would plan my meals, pack my lunch, and limit eating out. I want to continue supporting the Meatless Monday campaign by hopefully continuing to eat meatless for one day per week and eat meatless for at least one meal each day. I think Meatless Monday might sound like a challenge for many but it is definitely possible to overcome. The reason behind this campaign can be seen as a great one because everyone has played a hand in contributing in status of the environment around us. Thus, everyone has the ability to make a difference in changing the environment for the better.