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Ghent Goes Vegetarian

Ghent, a city of about 233,000 in Belgium, is going vegetarian every Thursday. From the BBC: "Starting this week there will be a regular weekly...

Andrew Price
By Andrew PriceMay 15, 2009
Andrew Price
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Ghent, a city of about 233,000 in Belgium, is going vegetarian every Thursday. From the BBC:"Starting this week there will be a regular weekly meatless day, in which civil servants and elected councillors will opt for vegetarian meals.... Public officials and politicians will be the first to give up meat for a day. Schoolchildren will follow suit with their own veggiedag in September.... Around 90,000 so-called ‘veggie street maps' are now being printed to help people find the city's vegetarian eateries." So Ghent isn't mandating vegetarianism. For now, the city officials are just making sure that on Thursdays the main courses in city-run cafeterias are vegetarian, and trying to promote the idea of eating less meat.Some people might feel this is a case of government intruding into people's personal decisions. But the policy is hardly coercive and its effects, in practice, will be less carbon in the air and a healthier Ghent, so that's positive. And given the extra effort the city is putting in to familiarize people with vegetarian restaurants and cooking, it will also just help people feel more comfortable with a less meat-heavy diet.

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