70. The Power of Meatless Mondays

How do we shift the outlook on the plant-based lifestyle from extreme to mainstream? Kristie Middleton, vice president of business development at Rebellyous Foods is here on the show to tell us how she’s been doing exactly that for the last 20 years! She's the author of MeatLess--Transform the Way You Eat and Live--One Meal at a Time. During her time at Rebellyous, she has launched the successful rebrand of Seattle Food Tech to Rebellyous Foods and commercialized three SKUs for retail and four for foodservice. She and her team have now launched our products from coast to coast.

Her work has been covered by national media, including The Los Angeles Times, Civil Eats, San Francisco Chronicle, and Politico. She’s a co-founder and board member of East Bay Animal Political Action Committee and serves as an advisor to Clear Current Capital. She holds a certificate in plant-based nutrition from T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies.

Show notes:

• The impact that people & their communities can have when they commit to meatless Mondays
• The process of implementing meatless Mondays across school food programs
• Kristie’s work at Rebellyous foods & animal welfare initiatives
• How vegan food samples on the street make a huge impact
• What it’s like to work in the vegan food industry
• The importance of shifting away from the commonly dogmatic way of veganism
• Meatless Mondays’ WWI roots
• Kristie’s work at the humane society
• The popularization of meatless Mondays in school districts
• How to have a more pragmatic approach to veganism & seeing people as allies
• How bringing a vegan dish to an event can trigger a positive impact
• The power of not demanding perfection from those around us
• Meatless Mondays as a way to explore foods from around the world
• How meatless Mondays have impacted students & staff to make healthy food choices
• Advice for people considering going plant-based
• The positive health impacts of a plant-based lifestyle
• Giving yourself permission to be flexible in your food choices
• Advice for proposing meatless Mondays to your community centers
• The obstacles of large-scale food service programs & being a positive resource/problem solver
• Tips and tricks the help meatless Mondays stick
• Practical tips for making vegan food choices simpler
• The impact of sharing vegan dishes & recipes
• Words of encouragement for vegan activists when encountering negative pushback
• Tips to encourage a vegan lifestyle & being active within your communities 
• Thank you to our sponsors Caraway Home & Maxine’s Heavenly 

Resources:

• Rebellyous Foods
• MeatLess by Kristie Middleton
• Contact Kristie at ​​kristielmiddleton@gmail.com