Sick of watching your coworkers chow down on artery-clogging cheeseburgers in the office cafeteria? I suppose you could always apply for a job at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), which has implemented a vegan office policy mandating that only plant-based foods be eaten at its headquarters. Like PETA, which supports nearby vegan-friendly restaurants by ordering a vegan lunch for interested staffers each day, PCRM advocates a vegan lifestyle and wants its employees to fuel up on healthful, cholesterol-free foods. This suits PCRM staffers just fine.
Many vegetarians and vegans have to work to get meat-free meals in the workplace. Members of the newly formed Congressional Vegetarian Staff Association—aka the “Veggie Caucus”—are lobbying for more meat-free meals in Capitol Hill cafeterias. They’re tired of the same boring bean dishes every day. They want Capitol Hill to promote healthy eating—and to help save animals and the environment. If it does, maybe more workplaces will follow suit.
Encouraging employees to eat healthier—and conserve resources—by offering more vegan options in the office cafeteria is a win-win situation. When employees eat vegan foods, they’re less likely to suffer from weight problems, heart disease, strokes, cancer, diabetes, and other diet-related conditions, which, in turn, reduces everyone’s health-care costs.
Many large companies aspire to be green by recycling and using reclaimed water and energy-efficient lighting but still serve meat in the office cafeteria—even though studies show that cooking just one charbroiled burger causes as much pollution as driving an 18-wheeler for 143 miles. Researchers from Loma Linda University say that vegans have the smallest carbon footprint, generating 41 percent fewer greenhouse gasses than meat-eaters do and 13 percent fewer than vegetarians, and a NationalGeographic.com report shows that the average vegan indirectly consumes nearly 600 gallons of water a day less than the average meat-eater. If you multiply these savings for a staff of 100, it’s … well, it’s a lot—even if some employees choose to eat meat or other nonvegan foods when not in the office.
Many Americans are fed up with meat, though. U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics suggest that meat consumption in the U.S. has been on a steady decline for four years. People are clearly craving something better. If more employers implement a vegan office policy—or even offer just a few more vegan foods—the workforce might be healthier and happier.
If you work in an office with a cafeteria or have a lunchroom meal plan, ask your employer to offer more vegan options. If this gets you nowhere—or if you work somewhere without a lunchroom—PETA and the LunchBoxBunch.com both offer free vegan “brown bag” recipes. It’s easy enough to tote tasty vegan fare, such as hummus and veggie wraps, pasta salad, lentil soup, and vegetarian sushi, to work with you, but if your office cafeteria is serving a lot of meaty meals, it’ll benefit everyone if you encourage your employer to include vegan options, too.
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Image courtesy of Flickr.