Sixth edition National Week Without Meat & Dairy

6-3-2023

Today, March 6, marked the start of the sixth edition of the Dutch National Week Without Meat & Dairy. Since the last edition, dairy has been added to the campaign, now a permanent feature. The campaign invites the whole of the Netherlands to take up the challenge to become aware of the positive climate impact of eating less meat and dairy in a positive and inspiring way. This is the week in which the Netherlands learns how easy and delicious eating without meat and dairy can be. After a record number of participants during the last edition, this year has many participants too, like supermarkets, producers, schools, petrol stations, student associations and ministries are joining this initiative.

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A Week Without

With the ambition to further increase the success of previous years, the organisers of the Dutch National Week Without Meat & Dairy are releasing a television programme this year: ‘A Week Without’. In this programme, chef Mikko Kuiper and Jetske van den Elsen, daily cook accessible and above all delicious dishes without meat and dairy. Each day, they focus on a different theme, such as budget cooking, protein sources and meat substitutes. ‘Een Weekje Zonder’ can be seen every day at 18:00 on 24Kitchen.

National Week Without Meat & Dairy full of initiatives

The campaign is strong with 69 partners this year and they too are organising all kinds of initiatives. Here’s what to expect this week:

• All major supermarkets are making vegetarian and plant-based products accessible through various promotions and discounts.
• During Diningcity’s National Restaurant Week, several affiliated restaurants are offering a special Week Without Meat & Dairy menu.
• Taste NEW MEAT on 6, 7 and 8 March during Berlin Visits at Bistro Bar Berlin in Nijmegen. During this event, chef Peter Gast (* Michelin) will cook a 5-course dinner with Redefine Meat to draw attention to sustainability in the hospitality industry.
• Monday 6 March at 12:00, Vivera will playfully draw attention to the climate. They will kick off the National Week Without Meat & Dairy by setting off a moo alarm on every radio station in the Netherlands. The cows literally sound the alarm, because it is high time to take action for a better climate.
• The Vegetarian Butcher celebrates ‘Pluimfeesten’ throughout the week across the country, handing out free vegan Pluimfeest Burgers accompanied by a Pluimfeest band.
• During the Week Without Meat & Dairy, you can also visit train stations for tasty vegetarian and plant-based alternatives. On Thursday 9 March, all small veggie pastas at Julia’s are € 5. Julia’s celebrates this on the same day with an activation at Utrecht Centraal between 12:00 and 20:00. At Kiosk and Stationshuiskamer, a vegetarian sausage roll and at the Kiosk also a vegan bacon&egg wrap will be introduced.
• HelloFresh, in collaboration with The Vegetarian Butcher, will give consumers the choice of surprising vegetarian dishes in March.

The sixth year

Last year, 1 out of 5 people in the Netherlands took part in the campaign and almost two-thirds of the country had seen or heard about it. At the end of the campaign, 87% of participants said they wanted to leave meat out more often and 73% of participants also wanted to leave dairy out. Despite this great success, the organisation behind the National Week Without Meat & Dairy continues to innovate in order to reach and activate everyone in the Netherlands to take up the challenge. This year, for instance, there is more emphasis on the male target group through three male ambassadors: Bas, Felix and Jason. A new, creative abric campaign has also been chosen in collaboration with Chuck Studios. The abric campaign was created with the ambition to get everyone in the Netherlands thinking, so that as many people as possible take up the challenge to discover cuisine without meat and dairy.

Like previous years, a digital recipe magazine has also been developed and can be downloaded here, so that everyone can get inspiration to enter the Week Without Meat & Dairy in a tasteful way.

We have written about this initiative before. 

Website: Dutch National Week Without Meat & Dairy

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