Cities that proclaimed March 20th MeatOut Day In 2023
In 2023, MeatOut asked participants to go one step further and ask a friend or family member to participate with them. MeatOut+1 was celebrated throughout the United States and other countries around the world asking participants to take animals off their plates for one day!
2023 marked the 39th celebration of MeatOut Day. MeatOut has one simple ask: leave all animal products off your plate for just one day. This year, the MeatOut message was spread through proclamations, a partnership parody, free vegan food, and more! Check out all our 2023 wins for the animals in this 2023 recap.
Proclamations
Each year, FARM helps people across the United States and beyond reach out to their local and state governments to request MeatOut Day proclamations. This year, FARM added a new, easy-to-use form to the website for people to request help submitting their proclamation. In 2023, MeatOut was proclaimed in eights cities across the US and Canada, including:
- Dallas, Texas
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
- Madison, Wisconsin
- Vernon Hills, IL
- Burlington, Ontario
- Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Washington, DC
- New York City
Mayor Eric Adams is making MeatOut a tradition in New York City, proclaiming it for the second year in a row! And in case you want to read even more about it, PlantBased News also covered the proclamation. P.S. Kitchen, a vegan restaurant in NYC, also stepped up for the second year in a row, hosting a week-long MeatOut event for all who came to the restaurant and mentioned MeatOut. Thank you, P.S. Kitchen!
Events
This year’s MeatOut in Washington, DC was extra special because it was celebrated with the help of Animal Activism Mentorship (AAM). AAM is a group that helps connect and educate people that want to stand up for animals. FARM and AAM worked together to organize and host the Washington Week of Action. For seven days, 30-70 activists from near and far gathered for demonstrations, protests, and educational outreach throughout the District.
Click here for more about the AAM Washington Week of Action
The final day of the Week of Action fell on MeatOut Day (March 20), so the activists took to the streets, and to the trees! Sharing the news that DC Mayor Muriel Bowser had proclaimed MeatOut throughout DC, and some delicious samples too, activists visited the Cherry Blossom Festival, Jefferson Memorial, and the Mall. Seventy-two sticks of Primal Jerky were handed out to passersby in under 20 minutes! Nearly 200 samples of Treeline vegan cream cheese samples, and mini bagels were given away, along with coupons for Miyoko’s vegan cheese! More than 2,000 informational brochures were handed out, allowing our team to interact with and discuss veganism with thousands of tourists and residents of the DMV.
Thank you to Miyoko’s and Treeline for their generosity!
Events were also hosted by Animal Place in Grass Valley, California and the Vegan Society of PEACE in Houston, Texas. Our dear friends at Casa Vegana de la Comunidad in Puerto Rico hosted a MeatOut event, providing vegan literature and food! The Vegetarianos Hoy Foundation in Santiago, Chile celebrated by handing out 500 vegan sandwiches made of seitan, lettuce and mayonnaise; check them out!
Events were also hosted by Animal Place in Grass Valley, California and the Vegan Society of PEACE in Houston, Texas. Our dear friends at Casa Vegana de la Comunidad in Puerto Rico hosted a MeatOut event, providing vegan literature and food! The Vegetarianos Hoy Foundation in Santiago, Chile celebrated by handing out 500 vegan sandwiches made of seitan, lettuce and mayonnaise; check them out!
FARM also partnered with mother-son super team Brenda and Cory Davis, authors of Plant-Powered Protein: Nutrition Essentials and Dietary Guidelines for All Ages, for a panel discussion on the health, environmental, and ethical reasons to go vegan. Thank you so much to Brenda and Cory! (Include pic of cookbook and Brenda and Cory)
The MeatOut Buzz
In addition to all the articles about the proclamations, two letters to the editors were picked up by newspapers. One from a resident of Santa Barbara, California, asking her mayor to declare MeatOut, and the other from FARM’s Executive Director, Eric Lindstrom, encouraging people to try MeatOut’s simple ask of leaving animals off your plate for one day. The FARM Buzz also published a piece on the Wonders of Pigs and gave a shout out to MeatOut +1!
Social media mentions/engagement for MeatOut were shared far and wide. From Puerto Rico and Mexico to Serbia and beyond, everyone was talking about MeatOut 2023!
Meat-In
Some folks out in Nebraska thought they’d try to be clever and host a “Meat-In” event, since their governor declared MeatOut statewide in 2021 (following up on 2021’s backlash from Colorado’s proclamation). Elwood’s Organic Dog Meat thought this was a great idea and followed suit, hosting a Dog Meat-In event, begging the question: if you wouldn’t eat a dog, why eat a pig, cow, or any other animal?