Story at a glance
- New York City public schools have now started offering vegan-only options on Fridays.
- The vegan-only rotation started this week.
- New York City Mayor Eric Adams went vegan five years ago after experiencing complications from type 2 diabetes and has advocated for others to do the same.
New York City public schools will now offer vegan meals on Friday for the rest of the school year, as the state Department of Education launched its “Vegan Fridays” into school lunch rotations this week.
The inaugural lunch will consist of veggie tacos, broccoli, and carrot and lemon salad, and the city will phase in the new program in shifts, The Gothamist reports. Non-vegan options are still available upon request.
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“I love healthy food, and I love life, and our children should not continually be fed food that’s causing their healthcare crises: childhood obesity, childhood diabetes, asthma,” said Mayor Eric Adams, who is vegan, during an interview on FOX 5’s “Good Day New York.”
“There’s a real correlation to what we serve in the Department of Education every day, and what is being served in our hospitals, our jails. We should not be feeding the crises.”
Adams became fully vegan five years after temporarily losing his vision to type 2 diabetes and attributes his better health and now trimmer physique to his plant-based diet. He has previously encouraged his fellow New Yorkers to switch to veganism for their health’s sake.
The DOE will continue to offer milk at every meal. Public schools across the five boroughs have already offered a vegan option for students during, according to NY1.
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