today is World Vegetarian Day.

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

today is World Vegetarian Day.

 

After the North American Vegetarian Society has established it in

1977, vegetarian communities everywhere have celebrated the World

Vegetarian Day every year. This special day is intended to promote the

joy, compassion, and the many life-enhancing aspects of vegetarianism

in the field of ...

 

.. health considerations

* " appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally

adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment

of certain diseases. " (Position of the American Dietetic Association

and Dietitians of Canada -June 2003)

 

.. compassion for animals

* " 800 million chickens, 15 million sheep, 9 million pigs and 3

million cattle are slaughtered every year in the UK " . (Compassion in

World Farming)

* " They die piece by piece " : http://www.hfa.org/hot_topic/wash_post.html

* " The question is not, Can they reason nor, Can they talk? but, Can

they suffer? " (Jeremy Bentham)

 

.. ecological awareness

* Example water shortages: It takes 100.000 litres of water to produce

one kilogram of beef and just 500 litres for one kilogram of potatoes.

(from Compassion in World Farming Trust, 2002). Experts say that the

growth in demand for meat and dairy products is unsustainable.

 

.. the global hunger problem

* About three-fifth of world consumption of coarse grains is used for

animal feed.

* A growing share of wheat is used for animal feed in the industrial

countries - 45 percent of total use in the EU.

* It is expected that " even by 2030 about 440 million undernourished

may remain " (Source: FAO - World agriculture 2015/2030)

 

The European Vegetarian Union wishes everyone a very happy World

Vegetarian Day 2004

 

Best regards

Herma Caelen

EVU Secretariat

 

PS: If you want to prepare a special meal for this special day, you'll

find loads of recipes here:

http://www.veg-r.org/recipes/search.php?lang=en

 

http://www.european-vegetarian.org/lang/en/info/info.php