Ghent, Belgium - Two thousand years after the earliest Christians gave up eating meat on Friday as a penance, the Belgian town of Ghent went one better on Wednesday, urging its citizens to turn completely vegetarian on Thursdays.

"No meat on the table one day a week is good for the climate, your health and your taste buds," the city council told citizens on its website, www.gent.be.

Town councillor Tom Balthazar launched the appeal on Wednesday from a party held, appropriately enough, in Ghent's vegetable market, calling on his fellow-townsmen to sign a pledge to turn vegetarian at least once a week, preferably on Thursdays.

The council's campaign, "Thursday - Veggie Day", argues that meat eating can contribute to heart disease and obesity, and that Ghent (population 240,000) has more vegetarian restaurants per head of population than Paris, London or Berlin.

Organizers also say that meat production is bad for the environment, as it leads to forest clearance, consumes huge amounts of grain and water, and causes more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars in the world.

"You could say, 'Better a vegetarian in a four-wheel drive than a meat-eater in a hybrid car,' but nothing beats a vegetarian on a bicycle," the website said. (dpa)