Vegetarianism and The Food Network
I never used to watch The Food Network. I thought that it would be boring and make me hungry. I couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to sit around and watch food shows all day. That was close to the insanity of watching a home shopping channel, but not as bad as watching golf or bowling.
As it turns out, though, they have some interesting shows. I like Alton Brown’s Good Eats. I’ve learned cooking techniques and about differences in various types of foods (onions, potatoes). He is funny, sometimes just corny. Ace of Cakes; Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives; Unwrapped; Challenge … all shows that are entertaining in their own right. Have you ever seen Emeril? He never prepares anything that either me or my husband would eat and I think he would be truly stumped by having to create a healthy meal.
And that is my pet peeve with the network. There is a significant lack of healthy cooking. I’ve heard that there are shows that do have healthy cooking, but I’ve yet to see it. However … vegetarians? Oh forget about it, cause apparently we don’t exist … and if someone does remember that there is such a creature they get it wrong. Not that I spend a lot of time watching tv in general, I am talking maybe an hour a week with this channel, and different shows each time, as we watch at different times.
Imagine my excitement, when one day Matt turned on the Rachel Ray show 30 Minute Meals, and found out that it is vegetarian day! Whoo-Hoo! Let’s see what we do with that. It was predictable, salad/veggies and pasta. That is a typical, not very familiar with vegetarian eating standard food. Everything was going well, she made a cold chickpea and vegetable salad that looked tasty enough that I modified it a tiny bit and made it for my family’s Memorial Day picnic. It was a big hit. Then she made another type of salad, and included mozzarella cheese. Okay, that is vegetarian, but if you have a vegan, that is out. Then to the pasta … spaghetti noodles, grilled vegetables mixed in to a homemade cheesy sauce that included, wait for it …. chicken stock! Yes! Chicken stock! Didn’t you know that chicken stock is vegetarian? Grrrr……. what a dope! (to quote a good friend of mine).
No … chicken stock is NOT vegetarian! I hope she didn’t really serve that to some actual vegetarians! If they ate that and then went back and saw the show, they would be pissed off! Seriously so.
Today, while we were eating our breakfast, we flipped the station on and came across a show that we had never heard of. Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello. It was a cooking on the grill episode, naturally, with this being Memorial Day and all. I learned that many Caesar Salads have anchovies in them. Eww! Good thing I never eat Caesar Salad (warning to my vegetarian readers who eat those in restaurants!). After he made his gross buffet of various animal products, he started on the grilled mozzarella cheese, the potatoes, the bread and zucchini. Oh boy a vegetarian delight! He did mention that the vegetables were to appease his vegetarian friends. What he didn’t realize is that … he cooked the vegetables directly on top of various animal fat! It’s not vegetarian anymore.
What would these chefs do if handed some tofu, tempeh or seitan? They’d be perplexed. Tell them no broth except vegetable and don’t cook with the animals … their heads would probably explode.
The Food Network is doing vegetarians a disservice. If they are not going to cook it appropriately, they shouldn’t label it as such!
But never fear, I will be here to give you the right information!
One last lesson for tonight, my friends. Fish is an animal. Fish is NOT a vegetarian food.