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Billie Eilish hosted a series of plant-based food drives during her US tour.
In November, the Grammy award-winning singer encouraged fans to bring non-perishable canned and dried plant-based foods to specific shows on her continuing Hit Me Hard And Soft tour.
Read more: Billie Eilish’s Plant-Based Menu Halved Food Emissions At Co-op Live Manchester
The food drives took place at Eilish’s shows in Philadelphia, Long Island, San Francisco, and New Orleans. In New Orleans, all goods collected at the drive will be donated to the Women & Children’s Center, the largest of its kind in the city.
In particular, fans were encouraged to bring foods like canned corn, peas, and other vegetables, beans, fruit, plant-based pasta sauce, dried pasta, nuts, and rice.
As with the rest of the tour, the nonprofit Support + Feed will be present at shows within Eilish’s “Eco-Action Village.” Support + Feed was founded by Eilish’s mother, Maggie Baird, and aims to tackle food insecurity, fight climate change, and encourage plant-based diets, including through its 30-day pledge.
“We’re seeing unprecedented need around the country, especially in light of recent cuts to government food programs,” wrote Support + Feed in a blog post about the drives. “So if you’re going to one of these shows, we encourage you to bring a non-perishable plant-based food item to donate.”
While the US’s food stamp-style SNAP benefits system resumed when the government shutdown ended, millions of people are expected to lose access permanently in the near future. More than 12 percent of Americans, approximately 41.7 million people, use SNAP. Forty-seven million Americans go to bed hungry.
Read more: Maggie Baird Says ‘Everyone Can Try’ Just One Plant-Based Meal Per Day
‘All I heard was people praising how delicious the food was’
In the UK, Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena said that it reduced food-related emissions by 47 percent during Eilish’s July headline shows by offering an entirely plant-based menu. Earlier in the year, the entire O2 Arena in London, UK, went vegan for the duration of Eilish’s headlining run there, and served options like plant-based burgers, hot dogs, saucy chips, and the “Billie Burrito.
Darrell Sawczuk, the Plant Based News (PBN) social media manager and a volunteer with Support + Feed, said that everyone he spoke to at the London shows was “very supportive” of the plant-based menu. “All I heard was people praising how delicious the food was.”
Read more: Animal Farming Is ‘World’s Biggest Cause Of Food Waste,’ Says Report
