French mayor accused of promoting vegetarianism after taking meat off school menu 

School meals in Lyon will be minus meat

Credit: Alamy

The Mayor of Lyon, France’s second largest city, has been accused of trying to promote vegetarianism after removing meat from school menus during the Covid outbreak.

Gregory Doucet, a member of France’s Green Party, said he made the decision to speed up food distribution in light of coronavirus sanitary protocols.

But other French politicians accused Mr Doucet of using the outbreak to promote a lifestyle agenda. The Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, described it as an “insult to French farmers and butchers,” adding that "the moralist and elitist politics of the ‘Greens’ exclude the working class.”

France’s Agricultural Minister, Julien Denormandie, called on the local prefect in Lyon to reverse the decision, saying: “Let’s stop putting ideology on our children’s plates!”

On Sunday, Mr Doucet responded to his critics by pointing out that his right-wing predecessor made the same decision during the first wave of the pandemic.

Mr Doucet promised that meals fed to students in Lyon’s 206 schools would remain balanced, and still include fish and eggs. The temporary measure is only scheduled to last until the Easter holidays.