Transformative Education for a Sustainable Future – Vegan School Meal Options, Part 1 of 2

Today, we would like to lovingly share with our dear viewers examples of how vegan meal options in schools around the world are helping to create the harmony and balance that we all pray our children will have throughout their lives. Many studies have shown that meat is an inferior source of protein compared to plant food. For example, the largest study ever done on health and nutrition, The China Study, has shown conclusively that consuming even a small amount of meat is detrimental to health. So, what is the best diet from a nutritional standpoint? Study after study in the last decades has shown that a whole food plant-based diet is the healthiest. For instance, recently in 2014, a comparative study of over 1,800 vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores by a task force involving the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) – a UN intergovernmental agency, and seven faculty members from universities in Europe concluded that the results “indicated consistently the vegan diet as the most healthy one.”

“Bringing plant-based meals to schools will help students establish healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime. Not only do these foods help students stay focused and energized in the classroom today, but they also reduce long-term risk for heart disease, type-2 diabetes, obesity, and other chronic diseases.” – Dr. Neal Barnard

Fortunately, as awareness soars across the globe about the harms of meat and dairy and the virtues of a plant-based diet, many schools have begun adding vegan options to their meal offerings. In 2006, for example, a survey of foodservice directors in the USA by the School Nutrition Association found that 5% of elementary, 6% of middle, and 10% of high schools offered vegan options. Since 2010, an exciting new “vegan school” phenomenon has also been sweeping the globe. These are private schools and preschools that do not rely on government funding and have chosen to switch to a fully vegan menu or have opened their doors as 100% plant-based schools. More than ten of these vegan schools now exist in the world, as of 2021.