Paul McCartney’s meat-free Sacramento

Illustration by TK

Paul McCartney is still in Sacramento—in tribute and influence, anyway. He christened the Golden 1 Center on October 4, and his legacy remains because the Sacramento City Council passed a resolution on September 27 in joining the Meat Free Monday movement. McCartney, longtime vegetarian and animal-rights advocate, began the Meat Free Monday nonprofit campaign in 2009. At the council meeting, high school students recited health and environmental problems brought on by consuming factory-farmed animals and the treatment of these 9 billion annually slaughtered birds, pigs and cattle. Michael Tuohy, the arena’s executive chef, slipped in between student statements for damage control, saying the meat at Golden 1 isn’t feedlot-produced. McCartney’s also influenced this month’s Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge, which encouraged participating restaurants to name its vegan menus after the musician’s work: Gabriel Aiello at Old Ironsides wins with Live and Let’s Dine.