As you may be aware, Pakistan has just adopted the "one dish" law at the provincial level whereby only one dish can be served at all official and unofficial functions because of a lack of food stocks and to provide relief to the poor. In fact, Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik were not allowed to serve more than one dish at their wedding. So PETA sent a letter to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari asking him to encourage provincial governments to improve upon the new rule by making it a "one vegan dish" law. PETA opines that the government's policy objectives could be better achieved if the dish were vegan (pure vegetarian and containing no animal-derived ingredients) because it would save money, lives and precious resources that can be used to serve the poor. Studies show that raising animals for food is grossly inefficient because, although animals eat large quantities of plants, they produce relatively small amounts of meat, eggs and milk in return. It is wasteful to use land to raise crops to feed farmed animals instead of hungry humans – it takes 10 kilograms of feed to produce 1 kilogram of beef and 2.1 to 3 kilograms of grain to produce 1 kilogram of poultry. Please let me know if you would be interested in doing a feature on PETA's efforts to have Pakistan's new "one dish" law amended to be a "one vegan dish" law. PETA's letter to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari follows. Best, Nikunj Sharma 3 May 2010 Mr Asif Ali Zardari President Constitution Avenue Islamabad Pakistan Dear Mr President, I am writing from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) regarding the decision at the provincial level to serve just one dish – such as what Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza were required to adhere to for their wedding celebration – at all official and unofficial functions in order to save tax payers' money and provide relief to the poor masses. This is a commendable move. However, serving just one dish will only truy help conserve resources and assist the poor if that dish is vegan (pure vegetarian and containing no animal-derived ingredients). Won't you please encourage provincial governments to make it a "one vegan dish" policy? Raising animals for food is grossly inefficient, because while animals eat large quantities of plants, they only produce small amounts of meat, dairy products or eggs in return. It is wasteful to use land to feed crops to farmed animals rather than use it to feed hungry people – especially when you consider that it takes 10 kilograms of feed to produce 1 kilogram of beef, 4 to 5.5 kilograms of grain to produce 1 kilogram of pork and 2.1 to 3 kilograms of grain to produce 1 kilogram of poultry. What's more is that producing meat, eggs and dairy foods require vast amounts of water. It takes about 300 gallons of water per day to produce food for a vegan, while it takes more than 4,000 gallons of water per day to produce food for a meat-eater. More water is saved by not eating a pound of beef than by not showering for an entire year. In fact, the food for a vegan can be produced on only 1/6th of an acre of land, while it takes 3¼ acres of land to produce food for a meat-eater. To put it simply, the more meat, eggs and dairy foods people eat, the fewer people who can be fed. If everyone on Earth received 25 per cent of his or her calories from animal products, only 3.2 billion people could be nourished. Dropping that figure to 15 percent would mean that 4.2 billion people could be fed. If everyone went vegan, there would be more than enough food to nourish the world's entire population – more than 6.3 billion people. There are other benefits to advocating a vegan diet too. Our most serious environmental problems – climate change, overexploited natural resources, deforestation, wasted land and water and air pollution – as well as today's most serious health problems, including heart disease and cancer, are all directly linked to the consumption of meat, eggs and dairy products. A 2006 United Nations report concluded that the livestock industry is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global”The report attributed 18 per cent of annual worldwide greenhouse-gas emissions to farmed animals, but new research indicates that the figure could actually be much higher. In "Livestock and Climate Change", the Worldwatch Institute estimates that raising animals for food actually accounts for 51 per cent of all greenhouse-gas emissions. I hope you agree that if we are to help the poor, the environment and ourselves – not to mention alleviate animal suffering and have a much kinder society – we must encourage people to eat vegetables, grains, beans, lentils and other vegan foods instead of meat, eggs and dairy products. As George Monbiot of the UK newspaper The Guardian wrote, "[I]t now seems plain that [a vegan diet] is the only ethical response to what is arguably the world's most urgent social justice issue". Nikunj Sharma Senior Campaigns Coordinator