Veggie Wednesdays

Veggie Wednesdays -every Wednesday Sodexo serves exclusively 
meat-free dishes to reduce our ecological impact.

Why Veggie Wednesdays?

The campaign for a meat-free day in the school canteens was begun by the Dover Student Council and the Global Concerns movement some years ago and also promoted by a GPers Critical Challenge group and Focus on Food at East. The idea came from famous American Colleges such as Berkeley and UCLA , who started weekly ’Meatless Mondays’ in their canteens as a result of student pressure for these institutions to act on what they knew about the ecological impacts of animal agriculture.  Much education and discussion was had which led to a majority consensus among all student groups that UWCSEA should adopt its own version of Meatless Mondays.

The campaigns both here and in the USA (and later in Europe and elsewhere) were not trying to convert everyone to vegetarianism and were not organised by vegetarians. They were not run under slogans such as ‘Meat is Murder’ and did not emerge from the animal rights movement. The campaigns were based instead on the fact that reducing the amount of meat in our diets has significant ecological benefits (and in some cases health benefits also). The facts are very well-established but you can read more here if you are not convinced. Or here.  Or here. Or here. Meat production demands far, far more energy, water, and land than producing crops to eat directly and produces far more water and air pollution. It seems we are not going to meet our Climate pledges without a radical reduction in meat consumption as the rest of the poorer world starts to eat more.

Reducing meat consumption is one of the easiest and most effective ways to reduce a personal or institutional Carbon Footprint and help meet the world’s emission reduction targets set last year at the COP 21 Climate talks. Veggie Wednesdays are thus one way in which the College expresses its mission- to unite peoples, nations and cultures for Peace and a Sustainable Future and achieve its stated ambition to become a world leader in environmental stewardship.

Veggie Wednesdays used to operate on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month. Despite being only 2 days per month, the size of the College meant that the reduction in meat consumed still has a large impact on the College’s footprint. The College saved approximately 5 tonnes of meat per year* through this initiative. Nothing else we could do as a college other than turning off the air-con all day or stopping flying would have as large an impact on our footprint as eating less meat. With weekly vegetarian Wednesdays at Dover Campus, the savings per year is now up to 7.5 tonnes.

Because of the strong individual and cultural perspectives on diets, meat will never be banned on campuses on Veggie Wednesdays. It’s just not served at Sodexo outlets here on 4 days per month.

Students and staff are free to consume meat and fish in packed lunches and go off campus where they have permission.   Veggie Wednesdays are a very visible expression of the College Mission in the same way that GCs and Service and IFP are, and the College would hope that students would support this....even if they do not particularly like it. If you think you can go meat-free for four lunches a month, this would be great - do try it....as Sodexo have increased the options available on both campuses at all their canteens. 

* Daily consumption of meat and fish is approximately 283 kilos across 2 campuses. With normally 18 VWs an academic year, we reduce our consumption by over 5 tonnes.

You can read a previous debate about student choice on VWs here

You can read some other responses to questions about VWs here:

You can see results of a 2018 survey of Dover MS/HS here:

You can see all the work put into education and menu developments on both campuses over the last few years here.

En Francais:la-lutte-contre-les-changements-climatiques-passe-par-une-reduction-de-la-consommation-de-viande