06/21/10 An Unusual Picnic on the Main Square
As part of the Green Monday campaign Animal Friends launches an on-line veggie guide with about one thousand plant based products
On Monday, June 21, at 12 noon, at the Ban Jelacic Square in Zagreb Animal Friends will set up blankets where they will sit, relax and enjoy healthy fruits and vegetables, to encourage citizens to join the Green Monday campaign, e.i. to eat plant based foods for at least one day a week, on Mondays.
Picnic baskets will contain various vegan products and citizens will be able to see and taste some of the opulent plant based foods which they can use on Green Monday. Activists will, among others, hand out vegan desserts made with Zagreb eco-strawberries. Some public figures will also lend their support to this likeable invitation to participate in the Green Monday campaign.
In order to make it easier for citizens to find plant based products, Animal Friends has put together an on-line guide which offers detailed information on vegan products in Croatia. Veggie guide can be found at www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr, as well as www.zeleni-ponedjeljak.com, where citizens can subscribe to regularly receive recipes. It contains information on exact product names, their general price and places where they can be purchased, so you can find different plant based milks, cheeses, salamis, sausages, bread spreads, sweets and desserts and many other products.
In the European Parliament a newly passed amendment, which for the first time gives the legal definition and protection of the term "vegetarian" and "vegan," is just in the process of being put into effect. This amendment guarantees that products labeled as "vegetarian" do not contain any products derived from any kind of animals, including fish, and those labeled as "vegan" do not contain any animal based products, such as milk, eggs and honey.
This amendment will exclude terms like semi-vegetarianism, which will introduce some order into labeling of products and understanding of the vegetarian diet. Croatia has already introduced the V-Label, which is in accordance with the mentioned amendment and guarantees reliability of the information on the ingredients of products for both companies and consumers. More information at www.v-label.info.
Green Monday is an educational campaign, the aim of which is to increase the citizens' awareness about the influence of eating habits on health and environment. Some companies will join the campaign and encourage their employees to eat plant based foods on Mondays.
The first company which has joined the campaign, along with all of its employees, is Lush hand-made cosmetics. As the main reason for joining the campaign they quote the influence of meat industry on the global warming, which is more than the entire world transportation, but they are also aware of the health benefits of vegan diet. Therefore some of the employees of this ecologically conscious company will also participate in the picnic.