Eric Adams to President Biden: We Need to Talk About Plant-Based Health

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has urged the Biden-Harris administration to adopt policies that will promote plant-based diets for the American public. Adams’ advocacy began in 2016 when he went vegan,  and his latest book Healthy At Last, warns that the current junk food diet is a health risk to vast numbers of Americans and advocates for a plant-based lifestyle for disease prevention. Adams helped introduce Meatless Mondays in the New York City public schools, the largest in the nation, and now the NYC mayoral candidate has his sights set on greater change across the country. Adam's urging the administration to start a dialogue around plant-based eating for all Americans follows a campaign launched by the JIVINITI Women’s Coalition—a group of organizations mostly led by women-of-color who work towards social justice through initiatives promoting plant-based nutrition—to challenge Vice President Kamala Harris to go vegan this January.

Asking Biden and Harris to consider implementing a plant-based diet is just the start: Adams and other activists hope to bring attention to the nutritional scarcity that affects so many Americans, especially communities of color. Since Adams went vegan, he’s prioritized plant-based programs that provide a sustainable way to address this form of systemic racism, which includes a disproportionately high number of food deserts and food swamps in low-income neighborhoods.

“I wholeheartedly support the JIVINITI coalition in initiating these vital conversations focused on women of color in the US and for marginalized women worldwide,” Adams explained. “We must turn food deserts into food oases, particularly in communities of color where nutritional foods are scarce. Switching to a whole-food, plant-based diet taught me about the transformative power of what’s on our dinner plate. With the new Biden-Harris Administration in office, it’s time we take this conversation nationally.”

Adams’ request is echoed by thirteen-year-old vegan activist Genesis Butler and British entrepreneur Heather Mills. The two, alongside Adams, hope that the Biden-Harris administration will see plant-based solutions as a possible route to fix these nutritional shortfalls.

“I urge the Biden-Harris administration to take steps towards shutting down large-scale animal agriculture and ending systemic racism and the health crisis,” Butler urged. “My generation looks up to our national leaders—especially powerful women leaders like Vice President Harris—to help secure a happy and healthy world for our tomorrow.”

US plant-based health policies would mirror a larger worldwide trend of countries recognizing the benefits not only nutritionally, but environmentally, in a diet free of animal products. The British parliament has been urged to cut 50 percent of its meat, fish, and dairy industries in favor of plant-based alternatives. With other countries moving in a plant-based direction, vegan activists hope that it’s only a matter of time for the United States to recognize this value. As plant-based politicians like Adams and vegan Senator Corey Booker advocate for a plant-forward approach to policy, the US moves closer to implementing initiatives that can help to fight dietary racism and the threats to the climate.