Meatout 2009 and the BOCA Egg Campaign

Two important animal-related happenings this Friday, March 20: Meatout 2009 and hopefully BOCA's promised response to Compassion Over Killing and Mercy for Animal's campaign to get BOCA to stop using eggs in its products.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the annual Meatout, here's an explanatory blurb:

On (or around) March 20 — the first day of spring — thousands of caring people in all 50 U.S. states and two dozen other countries get active to host educational Meatout events. Activities include colorful festivals, lectures, public dinners, feed-ins, cooking demos, food samplings, leafleting, information tables and more.

The occasion is Meatout, the world's largest and oldest annual grassroots diet education campaign. This year is the 25th annual observance! Every spring, thousands of caring Meatout supporters educate their communities and ask their friends, families, and neighbors to pledge to "kick the meat habit (at least for a day) and explore a wholesome, compassionate diet of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains."

This year's theme is "Change Your Diet - Change the World!"

Want to learn more? Check out the Web site. Order a free starter kit. Sign up for weekly Meatless Monday recipes. Purchase a great "Change Your Diet - Change the World - Live Vegan" shirt.

As noted, there are Meatout events happening around the United States and internationally. Check out this long list to see if there's an event near you, and if there isn't one, plan one yourself! I know, I know--I should have suggested this a couple weeks ago, so that you would have time to order official Meatout materials and plan, and I'm sorry that I didn't, but you can still celebrate an animal-friendly, vegan meal with friends and family, even if you can't attend or host a large-scale event. If you're already a vegan or moving toward veganism yourself, and you have friends and family who are open to exploring a compassionate, plant-based diet, here's a great opportunity to talk to them about it and invite them to an event.

And yes, I did say "vegan," not just "meatless," meal up there. The truth is that replacing meat with cheese or eggs is just replacing one set of cruelties with another, and after all, dairy and eggs result in "meat" too. The cows exploited for the milk intended for their calves will be slaughtered for hamburgers once their bodies tire, and they stop producing enough milk to be profitable. The hens exploited for their eggs will be slaughtered for food too when their bodies tire, and they stop producing enough eggs.

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Now on to the BOCA campaign! As many of you may already know, the campaign asking BOCA to get rid of the eggs in its product line launched in early February, and BOCA responded quickly (so quickly that the campaign was put on hold before I even got around to posting about it here): "BOCA is committed to meeting the needs of our vegan consumers. We are actively working on this matter. While this process takes time we will be able to share an update by March 20, 2009."

So all eyes will be on BOCA during this weekend's Meatout events. Stay tuned.