Celebrity Chefs and Animal Deaths

[Catherine]

A report has come out that looks at celebrity cook books and counts up how many animals would have to die to produce all of the recipes in each book. Yes it is a lot of animal deaths, but some chefs use a lot more animals to complete their recipes.

http://www.macleans.ca/society/620-anima...-cookbook/

The results are a bit shocking. Chef Mario Batali averaged 5.25 deaths per recipe.  That is a lot of animals to die for one meal.
Other chefs were not as bad, but still not good.

What is clear from this article and the report is the fact that celebrity chefs focus on cooking meat. They are not producing meat alternative recipes. If we want to change people's eating habits we need to work on the chefs that they watch on TV.

These chefs could be setting an example. For health reasons alone we shouldn't be eating such massive amounts of meat. 
Maybe what the world needs right now is a famous celebrity vegan chef. If the vegan chef had a trendy new TV show it would be even better. Then we would all have to make a point of watching the show. I like cooking shows. I would watch.

[Tobi]

That wouldn't be such a bad idea. I have heard of people who are interested in being vegetarian or vegan, but haven't a clue what tasty food they can cook, or think that would involve nothing but a plate of vegetables alone with nothing else!
I think there has to be an opening for a TV veggie chef!

[Catherine]

Most people have no idea what a meat free meal is. They just leave the meat out and wonder why it doesn't work. I have had vegetarian meals in restaurants where they just did a rice dish with vegetables, but they didn't add any protein alternatives.
The rice alone is not balanced. There would need to be nuts or lentils.

Indian restaurants have proper vegetarian meals, but people don't always want that style of seasoning.
I am sure there are other cultures that regularly eat vegetarian meals. We just don't know how to cook that way.

A show, a chef and a cookbook that would tell people how to eat less meat would make a big difference.

[Tobi]

Yes it's important to have balanced meals just as much when you're vegetarian or vegan as when you eat meat!

There are loads of vegetarian and vegan proteins and many other foods which contain things like Omega-3's, vitamin D and Calcium etc.
Combining them into a tasty balanced dinner or lunch isn't really so difficult when you get used to it. But for veggie newbies a bit of support is very helpful, and good recipe ideas to make things healthy and tasty.

Yes, some restaurants simply haven't got much of a veggie option, and so will serve just vegetables or salad with chips....and that sort of thing.
I was in a meat-based restaurant once and asked could I have baked beans with the chips and a side salad? Now that is a balanced vegan meal. They thought about it for a minute, because that wasn't exactly on the menu as such. But I got it in the end. They were all treated as "side orders". But options can be very limited in ordinary restaurants.
That's why I like to cook at home! Where else am I going to find my special nut burgers?

[Catherine]

If you want to eat the way you want to eat you have to eat at home. 
In some ways my favourite restaurant is called "my kitchen". At least I know what I am getting.

Actual restaurants need some instruction on how to put together proper vegetarian and vegan meals.
Their regular meals are not too balanced either. Usually they serve meat with something on the side. The meat portion is not supposed to be more than 25% of the diet. Since vegan protein sources are also high in fiber they could be more than the 25%. 
We need a vegan dietician to get in on this and lay out a proper diet plan with amounts of foods for non meat meals.

I think various groups like Peta will send a vegan starter kit which is really some basic recipes. There are probably web sites that give basic instruction. What we really need is for a popular and famous chef to become vegan and start producing vegan meals and make it a new trend. People would find they like them and the idea might catch on. 

I think many people are uneasy about the animals we eat, but they don't know what else to eat. It is what they know. 
Right now I encourage people to eat less meat. That would be less meat with each meal and some meals that are meatless. 
It is a start and a well intentioned person would be able to do it. Once that becomes a habit they can explore the meatless options more. I think starting small and building on it is doable even for the majority of people.