Meat Free Monday Week Two? A Meat Free Timeline

So it's week two of meatless Monday at UW and in fact, despite the vocal outcries of carnivore males alike, the campus has not imploded - yet. I just thought it was only appropriate to take this time to remind ourselves of the evolution of vegetarianism in the world. I personally don't have much against it, and actually I think Paul McCartney's meat free Monday song is kind of catchy (linked at the end of the blog), but you'll still find me going out of my way on the first school day of the week to get my protein in the form of meat. Without further ado , here goes. 

Behold: Pythagoras. Vegetarian and
father of a^2+b^2=c^2

500s BCE: Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher and "the father of numbers" teaches that a vegetarian diet is best for the body and spirit. Later Greek philosophers would learn from him and in turn extoll the benefits of vegetarianism. Vegetarians, though not a majority, were a very visible and important minority. (Now, the diets of Greeks are still largely vegetarian, and Greek classical literature is known world-wide.)


1460s-1470s: Leonardo da Vinci becomes a vegetarian. As one of the most important people of the Renaissance, he impacted many people, not only in Florence and throughout the Italian states and France, but throughout Europe and the world.


1922-1924: In 1922, the state of Gujarat becomes the first political entity in the modern world to declare itself vegetarian. Then, in 1924, Tamil Nadu becomes the second political entity in the modern world to declare itself vegetarian.


2007: On June 27th, Taiwan officially becomes the third country (after Sundarapore and India) in modern times to declare a ban on meat. The three recent national bans start to send warning signals throughout the non-veg population, especially in those countries with a vegetarian majority.


2009: Former Beatle Paul McCartney, Chris Martin and Sheryl Crow launch campaign to reduce meat consumption to tackle climate change.


2012: University of Washington Seattle eliminates all meat products from the dining facilities in both the 8 and Terry Hall's Eleven 01 Cafe.  
http://dailyuw.com/news/2012/apr/04/meatless-seattle/


And here's... ummm... a song