City councillors voted in November last year to begin promoting the campaign, but its schools went the whole meat-free hog in order to improve nutrition among pupils and tackle a growing obesity epidemic in the US.
The move marks a significant shift in attitudes and a recognition by authorities that a reduced-meat diet is key to improving the health of its schoolchildren.
The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second-largest in the US, serving 650,000 meals a day to pupils up to the age of 12. It also operates the largest school breakfast programme in the country.
Los Angeles has a population of four million people, 42 per cent of whom are overweight or obese.
Writing in the Los Angeles Times, columnist Carla Hall applauded the move, adding that, given the size of the LA school district: “It should be a model for enterprising school menus, and going meatless is a smart move.”