New York: Forget the meat pizza or mystery cheese.
Instead, Chickpea Wraps and Veggie Taco will be on the menu for New York City Public School students as the largest school district in the country shifting to “vegan fridays” in the school cafeteria.
The move was driven by the new mayor of the city of Eric Adams who followed and promoted the vegetable diet that he credited to improve his health.
“I can’t tell people what to put on their grill on weekends.
But damn it, we shouldn’t feed the health care crisis in our prison, our hospital and the most important thing in our school, so we want Enter a healthier direction, “Adams said in an interview at WNBC-TV on Friday.
Vegan choices are available in all public public schools every day, but start Friday and continue weekly, lunch offers will be vegan.
Students can still request non-vegan options, according to the Department of City Education, and Milk, Sandwich Peanut Butter and Jelly, Hummus and Pretzels will always be available for students.
New York City Public Schools, which have around 938,000 students, has offered meat Monday since 2019 and Friday without meat since April.
Throughout the country, 14% of the school district offered vegan food and 56% offered vegetarian food at least one of their schools, according to the 2018 survey of the School Nutrition Association, trade groups representing programs and nutritional workers.
It is not clear whether other districts throughout the country plan to go vegan one day a week like the New York City School.
The New York City School said his vegan food had been tested and approved by a small group of students.
The Friday menu includes “vegetoe tacos vegan”, with tortillas and salsa, with broccoli, and carrots and lemon salads on the side.
Other offers planned this month include Mediterranean bean dishes with rice or pasta, and black beans and rice bowls.
Adams, former police captain of New York City, said he traded in a lifestyle with Junk Food for a vegetable diet that helped him overcome diabetes.
He wrote a book about his diet, “finally healthy”.
Nearly 40% of New York City School Children in Class K-8 are overweight or obese, according to the data quoted by the city in 2019.
Angela Odoms-Young, a professor of Associate in the Nutrition Division at Cornell University who helped Developing Nutritional Standards for the National School Lunch Program, said that the shift in the New York City School was “innovative and exciting”.
Odoms-Young said that adding in vegetable foods can help ensure students get five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, expose them to foods that are usually not usually consumed and strengthen healthy habits for life.
He also said it could eliminate the idea of ​​children who were resistant to eating vegetables.
“It doesn’t just have to be broccoli,” said Odoms-young.
“It can be a large number of things that children might eat – especially if prepared in a different way.”