"Natural Food: Audition to Discover New Recipes"
To Serve Diversifying Dietary Habits
From Health to Environmental Protection
The most closely-watched talk session, entitled “Government Agency vegetarianism: Sending a message from the administration - A new vegetarian and vegan culinary culture spread from the government to the private sector”, was a dialog between Mr. Norio Kojo of the Cabinet Secretariat and Mr. Katsuhiko Kunimatsu of Tokyo Metropolitan Government Personnel Support Foundation. The canteen at the Cabinet Secretariat took the lead in offering vegan menus since April 2017. The Cabinet Secretariat canteen was featured on the Meat Free Monday site (which calls for eating vegetarian once a week), promoted by Paul McCartney. It serves a vegetarian lunch of vegan cuisine every Friday. From this May, it stepped up from vegetarian once a week to twice a week. In October 2018, the employee canteen on the 32nd fl oor of Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offi ce started offering a new vegetarian set menu, using only vegetables and plant-based foods, for Monday lunches. It is available to all diners, so it is increasingly gathering attention.
Describing the background to the Cabinet Secretariat's vegan menu, Mr. Kojo says "In 2006, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced a report entitled 'The State of Food and Agriculture 2006'. Since then, the trend of recommending that people refrain from eating meat from the perspective of environment protection has been growing stronger around the world. Within that movement, the government is also taking action, aiming to stimulate and invigorate society with measures such as introducing vegan menus for the sake of environmental protection. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) met in South Korea last year and specifi ed refraining from buying meat and dairy products as actions individuals can take to avoid worsening the environment. In international agencies, the relationship between livestock and the environment is treated as a natural fact".
Mr. Kunimatsu of the Metropolitan Government said "For the sake of diversity for Tokyo 2020, we aim to make this a city where vegetarians and many other types of people can enjoy their stay in safety and comfort. We started with the aim of doing what we can at the Metropolitan Government canteen first. We serve a vegetarian menu every Monday, in the staff canteen on the 32nd fl oor of No.1 Government Offi ces. Anyone can eat there, so please come and try it".
As for the "Meat Free Monday" activities that prompted the introduction of the vegan menu, Mr. Kojo says "That is something that Paul McCartney is calling for to protect the global environment etc. By practicing vegetarianism / veganism for just one day a week, each of us can act to stop climate change, protect irreplaceable resources, save countless animal lives, and make our own bodies healthier. Last year, Governor Koike met Sir Paul, generating huge buzz around Meat Free Monday".
By publicizing the meat-free mind, the Cabinet Secretariat is spreading it nationwide, with the aim of "establishing vegetarianism /veganism and inbound tourism" for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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