Elmo Advocates for Vegetarian School Lunches

In early December, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, also known as the school lunch reform bill. It was a victory for all the major non-profits, public health advocates, government officials, parents, educators and Change.org members who took a stand against the outdated Child Nutrition Act.

What that means is that your kids' cafeteria will soon be replacing mystery meat with more fresh veggies, which also means vegetarian options will become much more accessible in schools.

At least, that's the gist of what Sesame Street's lovable little red monster recently learned from White House chef, Sam Kass. In a video produced by the White House after the bill's passage, Elmo was worried that he wouldn't have any good food to eat at school. Kass reassured Elmo that, thanks to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, there would be plenty of "colorful" food at school. He showed off vegetarian burritos, vegetable lasagna, fruit and salad ... not a hamburger, hot dog or ham sandwich in sight.

This wasn't Elmo's first pro-vegetarian stint. He also appeared on Dr. Oz's show early last year with a kid-friendly recipe for vegetarian alphabet soup.

As Ecorazzi commented, "It's pretty cool to think that vegetarian kids will have healthy and reliable options at school." Not only that, but as kids learn that there's more to life than chicken nuggets, it means fewer chickens will suffer in factory farms during their lifetimes.

Vegetarian kids got even more support from the White House late last year, when Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative rolled out their Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign.

Let's Move! also launched a contest asking people to submit original recipes for school lunches in one of three categories: Whole Grains, Dark Green and Orange Vegetables, or Dry Beans and Peas. While animal products aren't banned from the contest, the lack of a meat-focused category caused predictable outrage from the beef industry. Kristina Butts, legislative director for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association wrote that excluding meat from the kids recipe contest only served "to add to the misconception that meat is over-consumed in the U.S." It's a good thing Let's Move! isn't run by Big Ag.

Vegan advocates stepped up the recipe challenge and encouraged people to submit animal-free entries. The recipes will go through an intense judging process, but let's hope — for the kids' sake, for animals and for Elmo — that a tasty veggie treat makes it to the finals. The deadline for the contest was December 30th, but you can still ask Michelle Obama to actively promote vegetarian and vegan meals with the Let's Move! campaign.

Just like public health advocates are counting on the wide reach of school lunch programs to teach kids healthy habits and combat obesity, the programs also have the ability to expose kids to animal-friendly food choices.

When it comes to influencing what kids want, Elmo has Cattlemen beat any day of the week. Share Elmo's message and let's make sure there's no vegetarian left behind.

Photo credit: YouTube