It’s unlikely the tour planners have an inkling, but it seems wherever Paul McCartney lays his Hofner or Rickenbacker, meat free initiatives are in plentiful supply. There was Sacramento, then Tokyo and now São Paulo has been stepping up to the plate with the MFM founder in town.
Yesterday Paul played his second date in Brazil’s largest city, where Meat Free Monday’s sister organisation, Segunda Sem Carne, is continuing to make great strides in educating people about the joys and benefits of eating with people and planet in mind. The latest innovation is a brand new weekly meat free menu for the city’s schoolchildren to tuck into.
Pupils used to enjoy MFM twice a month, but in December a Cardápio Sustentável (Sustainable Menu) was launched and is now on offer every week. The city began serving up vegetarian meals to 3,500 of its schools in 2011, but felt it was time for the menu to be updated, both in terms of recipes and frequency. Launched by the mayor Bruno Covas, and his education department, now headed by João Cury Neto, the more nutritious and environmentally friendly fare will be enjoyed by 1.1 million pupils every Monday.
Wider São Paulo State has also proved its commitment to the meat free cause, under governor João Doria and education department secretary Rossieli Soares. Since 2017, 5,300 schools in 100 cities in Brazil’s most populous state have been taking part – that means a total 1.8 million greener meals served per MFM.
“Adding up the capital and state of São Paulo, a total of 67 million meat free meals were served in 2018 – an astonishing positive impact for the environment and for people’s health,” said Mônica Buava, national coordinator of Segunda Sem Carne, which was set up by the Brazilian Vegetarian Society in 2009.
Paul finishes the Brazilian leg of the tour in Curitiba, capital of the southern state of Paraná, on Saturday. No pressure, Curitiba, but we look forward to getting a meat free message from you soon!
Twitter @PaulMcCartney 28 March 2019:
