The nearly one million students who attend public schools in New York City will eat a little healthier starting this week, when ‘Vegan Fridays’ are added to the free cafeteria menu, copying thus the vegetarian diet of Mayor Eric Adams, who had promised that he would promote healthier eating habits in the Big Apple.
The spokeswoman for the City Department of Education (DOE) Jenna Lyle confirmed in a statement that in the more than 1, schools that exist in the five counties this diet will be incorporated on Fridays, which joins other changes in the school menu that had already been made in order to improve the nutrition of minors. In 2010 the so-called ‘meatless Mondays’ began and last April the practice was extended to ‘meatless Fridays’.
Adams is the city’s first vegan mayor, and even before winning the elections, during the campaign, he had expressed that if he became mayor he would encourage New Yorkers to have a better diet, including the little ones. After experiencing symptoms of diabetes five years ago, Adams decided to make changes to her diet and lifestyle, transitioning to a vegan life.
As part of his diet, and as described in his book ‘Healthy At Last’, he does not eat meat, fish, dairy, eggs or, as Adams himself says: “Nothing that has a face and a mother.” It also involves avoiding processed foods, salt, sugar and cooking or adding oil to food, and ensures that you sauté food with broth, wine or water.
“I love healthy food, and I love life, and our kids shouldn’t be continually fed foods that are causing health crises for them: childhood obesity, childhood diabetes, asthma,” Adams said Thursday on the television show ‘Good Day New York,’ adding there are a “real correlation between what we serve in the Department of Education every day and what is served in our hospitals, our jails. We shouldn’t be fueling crises.”
What will be served on ‘Vegan Fridays’?
The DOE He specified that as part of the vegan menu, children will receive a lunch at schools that will vary each week, and that this Friday will premiere with a dish with a Latin flavor, since it will be made up of vegetable tacos, broccoli, and a carrot and lemon salad.
And for next Friday 11, the menu will be Mediterranean chickpeas, served with rice or pasta, roasted cauliflower and broccoli, and spinach and blueberry salad.
DOE spokeswoman Lyl clarified that the non-vegan meal option will be available upon request, and cafeterias will continue to offer milk with every meal.
“The DOE is committed to the health and well-being of all children, and to have A consistent, nutritious, and plentiful meal each day is essential to ensure that students can be successful both day and night. I walk in as if I were out of the classroom,” Lyle added. “Following the success of ‘Meatless Monday’ and ‘Meatless Fridays,’ we are pleased to expand access to healthy and nutritious food options for New York City students with the gradual introduction of a vegan menu on Fridays.”
The DOE reminded that schools from all over the city had already been serving vegan food on a daily basis.
What does it mean to be vegan
“The words vegan, with the meaning of ‘strict vegetarian’, and veganism, which refers to the lifestyle and diet based on absolute respect for animals, are two terms already incorporated into Spanish,” according to the Fundeu organization.
To see the menu of the month
- Visit the DOE website:
https://cdn-blob-prd.azureedge.net/prd-pws/docs/default-source/school-menus/print-menus/february -2022-menu.pdf