No meat here! While some stars love a good hamburger or roast chicken, others prefer to follow a diet that doesn’t include meat. Vegetarians, such as Carrie Underwood, avoid foods like red meat, poultry and chicken, whereas vegan celebrities such as Mayim Bialik steer clear of meat as well as animal byproducts, including eggs, cheese, dairy milk and more.
The Big Bang Theory alum partnered with chef and friend Ali Cruddas on Bodhi Bowl, a vegan restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, which opened in May 2019. Though the eatery has since closed, it was dedicated to inspiring people to choose a healthier, greener and more compassionate lifestyle through plant-based eating.
Bialik, who has been a vegetarian since she was 19, began following a vegan diet more than a decade ago. “It was always a dream of ours to have vegan food be accessible to more people and more reasonably priced because, when I became vegan, there really wasn’t vegan options at all,” she told Us Weekly exclusively at the time. “We’ve seen the vegan world explode, which is awesome.”
And even though the Secret Life of the American Teenager alum knows Veganism isn’t the “solution for everyone,” she is hopeful that more people will be open to the eating regimen, even if it’s just for one day a week. “I think the notion of Meatless Mondays is really smart, and I think that’s one way that people can start [vegan diets],” she added. “I always tell people just to start having awareness of what foods they eat that are already delicious even without meat or cheese.”
For Paul McCartney, who started the Meat Free Monday movement in June 2009, the decision to cut meat from his diet came from his “compassion” for animals. “We’ve all got this chance in life to survive, and so I like the idea of giving [animals] their best shot,” the Brit told National Geographic in November 2017.
Regarding Meat Free Mondays, which involves people cutting meat from their diet for one day a week, the “Hey Jude” singer added: “The truth is, there’s a lot of [vegetarian] options these days. What we’re doing with Meat Free Monday is just urging people to try it for one day, because it will make some kind of a difference if enough people do it or if the idea spreads.”
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