It encourages people to make healthy eating decisions at the start of the week and to help the health of the planet. UN figures suggest that meat production puts more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than transport. If enough people consume less meat, it will make a difference to both their health and that of the planet.
Now there's a Meat Free Monday Cookbook (Kyle Books) which is divided into four seasonal sections, each with 13 weekly recipes for breakfast, lunch or a packed lunch, a snack or side, a main dish and dessert. There are a lot of enticing recipes here: spicy falafel with tahini sauce, spinach tart, Sicilian cauliflower pasta with garlic, and salads of all sorts, and all are vegetarian. With attractive recipes like these, it would be easy to have several meat-free days.
Other recent books for those avoiding gluten are The family friendly gluten-free cookbook by Sarah King (New Holland) and Gluten-free cooking for kids by Paul Vickery (Kyle Books). King, who runs the Gluten-free Grocer in Auckland, concentrates mainly on baking, the most difficult aspect of a gluten-free diet, and many of her recipes are also dairy and egg-free.
Vickery's book is aimed at parents whose children have been diagnosed with coeliac disease. It starts with baby food and goes on to all sorts of other child-friendly food.