Great idea! We do it in my apartment on occasion, usually without regard for whether or not the dish has meat, simply that it is balanced.
My current roommate, Kathy, has introduced me to legumes. They're AMAZING. And I've had a homemade veggie burger recipe bookmarked for a year now. Might have to make them this weekend!

choosing a meatless diet is one of the single biggest ways you can reduce your carbon footprint. and it's kinder. if you need convincing, read "eating animals."

My bf and I did Meatless Mondays for about 6 months. I was surprised he agreed to it since he's not really a big fan of vegetables.

It expanded my cooking horizons. That was a good thing and a bad thing. On the good side, I learned to make new dishes (and of course all the personal and planet-wide health benefits). On the bad side, not all of them were tasty, they mostly took a lot more effort than grilling a burger, and on the nights when I was just too tired to be creative, we ended up eating pasta with Ragu.

In the end I stopped because it was still taking way more effort than eating meat. I had hoped there would be a learning curve and then it would become quick and easy, but it never did. I know that is a very selfish reason, but there you have it. I might start up again and really focus on simple, quick, nourishing recipes.

My problem was that anything easy tended to be not very nutritious or not very interesting to eat, and most of the nutritious, tasty meals were a lot of work. My vegetarian mom makes AWESOME food but she is a natural foods chef who works from home and spends a lot of her day cooking food.

One of the winners from the whole experiment was the Kitchn's Kale & Potato Gratin. Except I use frozen broccoli instead of kale because I'm lazy (see above).

WRONG! This study was thoroughly debunked by multiple sources almost as soon as it started making the rounds in the blogosphere.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/06/study-comparing-local-to-meat-free-is-dated-and-debunked.php

You should strongly consider deleting this post to keep credibility and avoid spreading misinformation.

@Keira, it's a good point that some studies are dated and / or not accurate, but I myself would like to see the actual studies and review of the literature. Treehugger are not famous for their accuracy and what's more they are not a scientific source. Cattle farms do in fact produce methane, although it is short-lived and rice paddies are more to blame for methane release. Nonetheless, potagers / kitchen gardens provide multi-layered habitat for many animals and may even absorb pollution; so aside from monoculture crops like corn that require deforestation, it may be better to container grow or buy from multi-crop farms.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2387592

I was a vegetarian for 20 years until a darned wheat allergy knocked me down, now I eat mostly vegan except when I'm feeling anemic. It's a good way to go both health wise and environment wise, but we still need to keep a close eye on where our food comes from, even local food.

@Emmi: Treehugger was not the only source to debunk the study, just the first link I could find in a hurry.

I'm vegetarian, myself, and would love to see more people get on board the vegetarian movement. I just hate seeing people doing trendy things like "go meatless for a day to fix the environment!" and think they're really making a difference.

I haven't eaten meat in almost a year. The environmental effects of producing animal products (not to mention the ethical aspect) was what pushed me to become vegan.

Wow, why did I never think about going meat free for a day a week. There have been many occasions I have had the urge to want to be a vegetarian (for health and ethical reasons), but never have done so. I feel like going meat free for a day a week might help balance out my emotions.

@Keira; Even if people are doing it for the wrong reasons, (being trendy like you said) going meatless for a day can still have an impact even if its not as big as going all the way vegetarian or even as much as the article says. Plus, like other comments have mentioned, it starts getting people to make that push towards becoming a vegetarian.

Besides, as far as "trendy" things go I think a huge amount of people are only going vegan/vegetarian because its trendy so that argument is kinda moot.

@Keira - your point of view seems pretty exclusionary. try to remember there are other colors in the world besides just black and white :)

I don't purposefully avoid meat on any specific day of the week, but I am attempting to change the way I approach meat. Sometimes I've heard it described as ethical carnivorism or humane eating, but no matter what you call it, seeing as how I'm no millionaire, one of the side effects is that I eat a LOT less meat that I did a year ago. I also keep a food diary, so I know that most weeks I have about two or three completely meatless days. Some weeks more, some less. I don't really need a study to tell me that my own eco-print is a little bit smaller on those days I don't eat meat - that's just common sense.

Out of all of my meals, I probably eat meat about 4 times a week. I like vegetables and have learned not to see meat as a necessity for a meal to be complete. I think the biggest obstacle is a mental one: both learning that meat does not have to be the focus and how to cook vegetables in a variety of ways to create tasty and satisfying meals. A good way to start is just by reducing the portion sizes of meat.

I backed off of eating meat about a year and a half ago due to ethical concerns, but didn't think my body would suffer. I did, and struggled with a way to maintain my own nutrition while not compromising on ethical and environmental grounds. We discovered that locally raised, grass-fed meat can be very ethically raised. I do not have an ethical concern for eating meat per se, especially since my body needs it so acutely -- so we have joined a meat CSA that offers different meats from several local farmers. I have heard that when pasture-based farms are operated efficiently, they actually improve the quality of the air and soil. Not to mention be much healthier eatin'. We don't eat meat with every meal to be sure -- I am pretty frugal and pastured meat is pricey -- but I haven't bought that miserable, drugged, hormone-laden, corn fed CAFO nightmare meat in nearly two years!

While I do think that having meatless mondays or consciously reducing one's meat consumption is admirable, I wonder if this post doesn't send people in the wrong direction. Yes, GHG reductions are desirable all around, but eating local is also about buying from smaller providers who grow delicious food the way it was meant to be grown. I'm all for people considering how their meat consumption impacts GHGs, but having a meal composed of fruits and vegetables shipped thousands of miles doesn't necessarily deserve a pat on the back.

@ username26
Thanks for the support! Well, the first paragraph anyways :) I have been thinking a lot about the food system and how it interacts with politics, the environment, culture, etc., and actually making some changes for myself that ended up being much easier than I expected them to be, mostly because I was finally following my own moral path.

That said, if eating meat is neither ethical nor humane for you, I respect that completely. However, I have to say that it sounds awfully pompous for you to tell me "Consider what is involved...and you will see..." My humanity and my ethics are based on my experiences, culture and background - of which you know nothing and are in no position to pass judgement on. There is no "one right answer for everybody" - each individual has to find their own humanity/ethics/morality, within themselves.

I tried to reduce my meat consumption. However, then I was diagnosed with many food allergies/intolerances that pretty much wipe out all alternative protein sources other than quinoa and yogurt. So that got derailed.

@username26
I really appreciate your honesty and openness. It seems like we have very similar personal history - I also grew up on a small farm and with a meat-centered family diet (at least when we could afford meat). I think our difference lies in the way we think about slaughter. I don't feel that raising animals for food and slaughter inherently equals pain and suffering for them. Death is a given, for all of us, so to me death itself does not equal pain and suffering. I've seen animals die from natural causes (illness, injury, predatory animal attacks, old age, etc), and I've seen animals die at slaughter. To me, slaughter done correctly is perfectly humane. Few undomesticated animals experience such a painless, instant death.
Of course, between the CAFOs and the factory farms, animals living a good life and dying a good death are now the exception, and not the rule. That's why, as I said, my meat consumption took a nosedive when I converted to eating animals with thought and compassion towards their life - and their death. But I have no plans stop eating meat, and I feel no moral/ethical compunction to do so.
So I guess, while I agree with you that inflicting pain and suffering on animals is definitely wrong, I don't agree that it logically follows that eating meat is therefore wrong.
This is a nice discussion, thanks!

PS @username26
"If you apply personal definitions to these terms [ethics and humanity] then absolutely anything goes."
Just had to add, the above only makes sense to me if I cease to consider human beings as an intelligent, creative, and social species, and instead consider them little more than monsters. I can't do that, I'm sorry.

@username26

"Anyway, I'm glad that less horrible meat is becoming more popular. I do think it's better for everyone involved and hope the trend continues towards legislating these practices be followed on all farms, as well as improving them further. I think we can probably agree on that?"

Absolutely we can. I love finding the common ground! Thanks, and have a lovely day.