Chef Gordon Ramsay Held a Vegan Cook-Off to Help Celebrate YouTube Milestone
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, and notorious vegan critic, recently did something completely out of character: he participated in a vegan cook-off.
To both kick off the new season of “Masterchef” and celebrate his one billionth view on YouTube, Ramsay challenged actress and vegan, Madelaine Petsch (“Riverdale”), to a one-on-one, “Masterchef”-inspired mystery box challenge. The one caveat? Petsch made sure they would only use strictly vegan ingredients.
Using mushrooms, dates, kelp noodles, chickpeas, cauliflower, cashews, and tofu, Ramsay whipped up a cauliflower steak while Petsch created pesto with kale, yeast, pine nuts, olive oil and garlic pesto over kelp noodles.
Pastry chef and former “Masterchef” judge Christina Tosi appeared at the end to judge the two dishes, exclaiming, “The first-ever vegan ‘Masterchef’ challenge!”
The verdict? After deeming Ramsay’s cauliflower steaks a little “bulky and hefty,” she tasted Petsch’s pesto and told her, “I would eat this for lunch” and promptly crowned her the winner.
Although the cook-off had a satirical tone to it, it’s a big step in the plant-based direction for Ramsay who’s been known to criticize not just vegans, but also PETA, the animal advocacy group.
However, he recently surprised his fans and critics when he tweeted in April, “Going to give this #vegan thing a try … Yes guys, you heard that right. Gx,” and added a vegan pizza to his Gordon Ramsay Street Pizza’s menu.
Does this mean that the chef is going totally plant-based? Well, considering he compared dates to “grandad’s armpits” and tofu to his “grandma’s loofa,” it doesn’t seem likely.
But since plant-based foods topped $3.1 billion in sales in 2017, and the category is expected to only grow, it’s clear that Ramsay understands he underestimated veganism and is trying to embrace it the only way he can: bitterly.
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