Meatless Monday

This aligns with the religious observance of Clean Monday in Greece, marking the start of Lent and emphasizing purity, including abstinence from meat.

[5] This culinary tradition aligns with cultural and religious practices aimed at improving health and minimising environmental impact.

[6] The United States Food Administration (USFA) urged families to reduce consumption of key staples to help the war effort and avoid rationing.

To encourage voluntary rationing, the USFA created the slogan "Food Will Win the War" and coined the terms "Meatless Tuesday" and "Wheatless Wednesday" to remind Americans to reduce intake of those products.

The USFA provided a wide variety of materials in addition to advertising, including recipe books and menus found in magazines, newspapers and government-sponsored pamphlets.

[15] On April 6, 2010, San Francisco became the first city in the United States to officially declare Mondays to be "meat free", calling it their Vegetarian Day.

In 2017, the Casa Rosada of Argentina instituted, for one lunch of the day, meat-free Mondays, serving only vegan options to its approximately 500 employees, including Argentinian President Mauricio Macri.

Veggie Thursday (or "Donderdag Veggiedag" in Dutch) was created by the Ethical Vegetarian Alternative, an organisation partially funded by the Flemish government.

[21] Israeli magazine Al Hashulchan (On the Table) introduced the Sheni Tzimchoni (Vegetarian Monday) initiative in June 2009.