To mark the World Vegetarian Day on October 1, Switzerland has decided to encourage everyone to go vegetarian for a day. It has decided to celebrate the occasion as the Swisstainable Veggie Day.

To do its bit to encourage people to follow a healthy lifestyle and help save the planet, Switzerland will be going vegetarian for a day on the Swisstainable Veggie Day on October 1.

Over 1200 local restaurants and businesses will participate in making this endeavor a success by offering a vegetarian-only menu for a day. The national carrier Swiss will participate in Veggie Day by offering only vegetarian meals to business class travellers on October 1. Edelweiss, all the 173 restaurants of the McDonald’s chain and the 14 restaurants of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) will also dish out vegetarian food for a day, says a press statement.

The statement adds that according to a study conducted in Switzerland, if everyone in Switzerland ate vegetarian food for just one day a week, it would save the equivalent of 3.7 billion km worth of car emissions in just one year.

It adds that major nutrition and environmental-research studies conducted over the years have concluded that a vegetarian diet is key to furthering the sustainability of our planet. It has been proven that vegetarian food generates less carbon emission and hence the more companies participate, the greater the impact.

Why celebrate Swisstainable Veggie Day?

According to a study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, if everyone in Switzerland ate vegetarian food for just one day a week, we could save the equivalent of 3.7 billion km worth of car emissions in just one year – that’s 90,000 times around the earth!

In 2020, the Swiss population bought 52 pc more plant-based meat substitutes than in the previous year and this number is set to keep increasing each year. This growing global need for more vegetarian menu options provides Swiss culinary experts with a great opportunity to reinvent their menus making Switzerland an even more attractive tourist destination for global travellers.

It adds that the restaurant Hiltl, founded in 1898 in Zurich, is the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the world?

What to expect?

Tourists and locals alike, are invited to celebrate World Vegetarian Day and enjoy a creatively put-together scrumptious vegetarian feast. On Swisstainable Veggie Day, goes without saying that the vegetables will be the star of the show. All participating restaurants and hotels across Switzerland will be developing a special vegetarian menu to showcase the most versatile and diverse range of vegetables grown and sourced locally. All you need to remember is that every time you eat a vegetarian meal, you are contributing towards a more sustainable world!

“Switzerland has always offered a complete culinary experience for every kind of traveller, which is why it is also such a popular destination for Indians. We believe in all things natural including vegetarianism and on October 1, everyone who is in Switzerland will be able to experience some of our best traditional vegetarian dishes like raclette, fondue, the Valais vegetable cake Cholera or polenta from Ticino as well as the popular rösti (made with grated potatoes). In addition, Swiss chefs will also whip up a wide range of high-quality vegetarian and vegan dishes,” says Ritu Sharma, Deputy Director, Switzerland Tourism.

Another interesting trivia brought out by the press statement cites Albert Einstein, who himself was a propagator of vegetarianism. “Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances of survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet,” said the Nobel laureate Einstein.