I'm a TV potato- was raised on it, babysat by it, and as an adult, have a serious relationship with it. Usually, I'm multi-tasking in front of it (cooking, reading, blogging, petting the dogs, etc.)- so naturally I tune a lot of it out. But a few things recently have caught my attention in a good way! Thank God for Tivo, otherwise I may not have believed it.
First, some old episode of Star Trek NG came on while I was surfing on my laptop. All of a sudden I hear, "We humans no longer enslave animals for our food sources..." (!) Imagine my double-take! It was Commander Riker who said it, and was referring to their futuristic "replicators" that simulated meat, making most everyone on the ship a vegan. But for him to say it in that way really surprised me (and elated me, being that I AM a closet nerd, and the coolness of the sci-fi future just got cooler).
Second, I was somewhat watching Alton Brown on Good Eats, talking about how to cook peas, when I realized that the recipe for Pea Burgers was completely vegan- no meat or eggs or nothin'!! How often does that happen on his show, let alone the Food Network??
Third, Good 'ol perky Rachel Ray came on, and the first thing she announced was that she was cooking a Vegetarian Feast! AND... the reason for the show, was because so many viewers had requested more vegetarian recipes (NICE). Ok, well we haven't gotten to the point where vegan is the norm, but one step closer is a good thing!
So along with it being my birthday week, I have been gifted with the evidence of hope for a vegan friendly world. I'm not an extremist, and not looking for world domination- just a lift in consciousness and a little less sarcasm and jokes.
Sorry, no recipes today... my husband informed me that I am not to cook since it's my birthday week and should take it easy (yes, I'm a lucky girl!)... but I plan to sneak some fun cooking in there pretty soon!
Happy birthday week!
ReplyDeleteCool Star Trek/Food Netword vegan update.
Hi Karma: First of all, a belated happy birthday week. Nice to know you too are February-born: my birthday is this week :)
ReplyDeleteYou're right: there really seems to be a trend toward vegetarianism, especially among the young, and I see some hope that one day the world will look back at our times and be horrified that people actually ate animals.
As for Rachel Ray, I find her a little annoying at times, but I also like her for being the only cook on Food Network who actually acknowledges that there actually exists a group of people who don't eat meat. She has even done a few all-vegetarian 30-Minute Meals.
Everyday Italian on the Food Network usually features one vegetarian dish per episode (or one dish with very little meat that would be super-simple to just omit). It's a good resource for me for vegetarian (though not necessarily vegan) recipes.
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