Introduction



**Meatless Mondays ** **By Kaylin Beauregard **

As the “Go –Green” initiative spreads worldwide, its message has found a home here at the dinner plates of Medfield High School students, faculty, and community alike. Over the past four weeks, environmental science classes have devoted much time to expand their knowledge on all things food – the people involved, the animals affected, and the effects on our environment. In-class viewing of the film, “Food Inc.” paired with informational websites and class activities such as “Food Footprint” allowed us an all-access pass to the realities of today’s top food industries. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has established “Meatless Mondays” in order to improve our health, reduce our carbon footprint and bring us together as a nation. Likewise, supporters of sustainabletable.org offer ten reasons why sustainable home cooking is a must. Besides helping the environment, did you know that going meatless once a week reduces your risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity? In an attempt to further our knowledge of the subject, classes created this useful cookbook to provide alternative [|vegetarian dinner recipes] for those willing to positively contribute to the betterment of our planet.  Rather than a written test, students were actively engaged at home in the kitchen, applying their newfound knowledge in front of the stove and inside the oven. With a vegetarian recipe of our choice, we had two weeks to prepare for our meatless meals. It was our job to pick the recipe, shop for ingredients, cook the meal, serve the meal to our family, and clean up after ourselves. Even if cooking was not anyone’s particular forte, we had to put in a solid effort to get the grade. Photographs of the student-chef’s and their respective meals were proudly presented to prove participation.  Included in the recipes is the name of the student, the source of the meal, prep time, cook time, ingredients, instructions, nutritional information, and a rating. Five stars indicate a first-rate, champion cuisine while just one star merits a meal not up for recommendation, in other words, unsatisfactory.  Environmental students have worked diligently to provide you with an amazing vegetarian cookbook. We hope that you enjoy and share our recipes amongst friends and family. Making a vegetarian meal is a small step towards saving the planet, but all efforts will help to better our environment.

Photo Credit
 * http://tinyurl.com/5uc3e6x**