Vegetarian Star » Reality TV

“Extreme Couponing” Features Vegan Couponholic (Video)

Vegetarian Star — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:40:45 +0000

TLC’s Extreme Couponing follows the lives of those who set the alarm early for Sunday morning just to start clipping before the coffee’s even heated.

Most vegetarians know that the coupon world is more of a miss than hit for us, as brands of meatless, eggless and dairyless products usually aren’t promoted in the Sunday paper.

But one woman named Perry who’s raising her family on a vegan diet is showing there’s a voucher for everything–even that soft, vitamin-infused, miso flavored tofu you thought you’d never get a discount on.

“Anybody know if these are vegan?” Perry asks her group of regulars during a Couponers Annonymous meeting.

Perry claims her meetings with her fellow anon coupon collectors are responsible for about 50% of the coupons she uses.

She also mentions that using coupons for products can be extremely helpful as it allows you to save money from things that are harder to get coupons for, like organic fruits and vegetables.

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“Great Food Truck Race” Gets Veganized This Month (Video)

Vegetarian Star — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:16:23 +0000

Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race premieres on Sunday, August 14th at 10pm ET/PT.

As previously reported, this season’s race features a vegan truck ran by Nicole Daddona, Stephanie Morgan and Raya Belna.

“This truck came to life with a dream and a desire: A dream for vegan street food, and a desire to provide healthy, local food that’s convenient and fairly priced,” said Stephanie Morgan, founder of Seabirds. “Orange County is a great place to live, but it was lacking quality choices for those wishing to consume a healthier, plant-based diet. I started Seabirds because I wanted to make a difference not only in the lives of the people of Orange County, but in the world we love and live in.”

Seabirds uses organic ingredients whenever possible and tries to source from local farmers in its area. Below is a preview of what you can expect to see during the Great Food Truck Race.

EIGHT TOP-NOTCH FOOD TRUCKS HIT THE ROAD FOR HIGH-STAKES TRIP OF A LIFETIME IN SEASON TWO OF THE GREAT FOOD TRUCK RACE

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“Cupcake Wars” Vegan Winner Goes For The All Stars Trophy

Vegetarian Star — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:50:07 +0000

It’s time for another round of vegan cupcake competition on the Food Network.

Earlier this year, Doron Petersan, owner of D.C.’s Sticky Fingers Bakery, won the competition on the network’s Cupcake Wars, where she raced against another vegan baker in the quest to impress the judges with her desserts like chocolate seltzer cake topped with ganache, banana crème frosting.

Petersan will once again be competing, this time on an all star episode of Cupcake Wars. The chefs are aiming for the opportunity to bake for the VIP party at the 65th annual Tony Awards.

When Petersan won Cupcake Wars, she told VegNews, “Even professional bakers are realizing that vegan baking methods can hold their own in the mainstream baking world, which has, up until now, been ruled by eggs and butter. Those aren’t the only two ingredients you can use in baking that taste great, or that give you the results you desire. It’s now two seasons in a row where dairy and eggs took a back seat to healthier and tastier alternatives.”

The all star episode of Cupcake Wars featuring Petersan will air Tuesday, July 12.

Photo: Xpopx/Creative Commons

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“Food Network Star” Makes Paula Deen Eat Tofu

Vegetarian Star — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:23:14 +0000

Reality TV cooking shows usually play devil and not angel to vegetarian contestants and meals, but during a recent episode of The Next Food Network Star, the chefs made meals from Kellogg’s products that were mostly meatless.

The bad boys and girls must be ice skating in hell right now, because when Paula Deen eats tofu the place has definitely frozen over.

And amazingly, Paula didn’t wrap the piece of soy in bacon, fry it in lard and dip it in butter.

Bran cereals and Pop Tart don’t sound like ingredients to star with to make an award-winning dish, but the teams Art, Crew, Writers, Vanities and Cast put together meals containing collards greens, quinoa and the especially made tofu dish for Paula. As expected, she didn’t like it. But at least she made history by eating it.

During the past few months, we’ve seen some good representation of veggie eating on food television. Vegan donuts from Seattle hit “holes in one” on the Food Network’s first ever breakfast food competition. Masterchef put a vegetarian chef in the finals. And Sudhir Kandula‘s vegetarian/Indian/health idea for a restaurant made it to the top three in the all-new show that searched for America’s Next Great Restaurant.

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Rocco DiSpirito Pleases Vegetarians On “Rocco’s Dinner Party”

Vegetarian Star — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 23:54:08 +0000

Rocco DiSpirito is the host of a new Bravo show that pits culinary contestants against each other in competition to provide the best private dinner party experience to select guests.

Good chefs know every important party will have plenty of vegetarians and DiSpirito said meatless eaters should enjoy any experience they have at Rocco’s Dinner Party.

“There are lots of vegetarian elements because more people are vegetarian these days,” DiSpirito said. “Sometimes we learn about it when a guest shows up. Sometimes we know beforehand and we tell the chefs to be prepared.”

Each week DiSpirito presents the dinner party theme and contestants must create appetizers, a main course menu and choose the decor that best represents the theme.

Thinking of throwing a vegetarian dinner party yourself? Don’t forget to check out The Kitchn‘s meatless suggestions for an evening the guests will remember, which include roasted eggplant caviar, vegan corn tamales and vegan vanilla coconut ice cream.

Photo: PR Photos

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“Top Chef Canada” Cooks Up Controversy With Horse Meat

Vegetarian Star — Tue, 17 May 2011 19:16:15 +0000

Top Chef Canada is airing an episode today that will feature the cheftestants cooking native French cuisine.

French cuisine is known for its heavy use of animal products and this Top Chef episode is angering vegetarians and meat-eaters over the use of horse meat. Fans have posted their opinions of the show’s Facebook page and generated another page urging viewers to boycott Top Chef Canada.

“There’s absolutely no way to make it humane,” said Chris Heyde, deputy director of government and legal affairs for the Animal Welfare Institute, a group that succeeded in getting several of the last horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. shut down. “It’s an industry that cannot be regulated to make it humane.”

Horses used for meat are obtained from old racehorses that are deemed no longer competitive. The animals are slaughtered with the same equipment used for cows, making it inefficient and causing suffering. They are also shipped hundreds of miles to the location of the slaughter.

Because horses aren’t raised for food, producers do not have to follow guidelines on acceptable chemicals that may be present in the product. Horse meat may contain several drugs and potential carcinogens to humans, including antibiotics, steroids, de-wormers and the common horse veterinary medicine DMSO.

Passing on horse meat while consuming other flesh doesn’t guarantee this meat will not end up in the food chain. In Britain, officials discovered several sources of salami that were imported from other countries contaminated with horse meat.

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Food Network “Great Food Truck Race” Features Seabirds Vegan Truck

Vegetarian Star — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:44:04 +0000

A vegan food truck named one of PETA’s Top 5 Vegan Friendly Food Trucks will be competing against other food trucks in the Food Network series, Great Food Truck Race, according to a recent Tweet from vegan chef and cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Hosted by Tyler Florence, the show features several food trucks racing across America to sell the most food for a grand prize of $50,000.

Moskowitz Tweeted that she’ll be reporting on each of Seabird’s locations as it visits each city, converting one foodie at a time.

“I’ll be tweeting @SeabirdsTruck’s location as they travel across the US in @FoodNetwork’s Great Food Truck Race. Win it vegans!”

Seabirds originates in Orange County, California, where it sources many of its ingredients from local producers, including Orange County Produce, LLC.

Seabirds features raw meals every Wednesday in addition to the completely animal-free food that is cooked, such as the BBQ Tofu Taco, the Seabird Burger and the Beer Battered Avocado Taco, a “fried avocado wedge topped with shredded cabbage, red onion and our creamy jalapeno sauce” that is said to be a fan favorite.

Yes, even Seabirds’ junk food is healthy–it’s Vitamin A rich sweet potato fries to go with that veggie burger!

For more information on Seabirds, visit its website.

For more information on The Great Food Truck Race, visit the Food Network.

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“Top Chef Masters” Suvir Saran Makes Graceful Beans And Lentils Exit

Vegetarian Star — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 21:44:55 +0000

Top Chef Masters had a healthy twist for their most recent challenge. Three meals had to be prepared for “The Biggest Loser” elimination round, where a day’s worth of entrees had to equal less than 1500 calories.

No problem for a vegetarian chef like Suvir Saran, who uses low-fat sources of protein like beans and lentils in his dishes and has refused to bend during the season, cooking plant-based meals for every challenge.

Serving a veggie burger with Asian slaw, Saran gave a fantastic speech on the benefits of a plant-based diet.

“Legumes and beans can give you all the protein without the bad calories of meat,” he said.

“Red meat is a direct enemy of our hearts and arteries, and as a nation we’ve really done it wrong for so many decades that we are the fattest nation in the world.”

Oh, preach it!

Unfortunately, Saran’s client wasn’t the most devout follower of his message and kept repeating, “I like my meat,” when faced with the horrible task of trying something that was good for her.

Even more unfortunate, meat loving mama may have pushed the judges into thinking Saran wasn’t a top chef after all, because instead of trying to cater to her heart-attack desires, he actually wanted to save her life.

And another veggie bites the dust.

Reality Wanted got an exclusive interview with Saran upon his exit.

“I wish I had more time to show people [that] you don’t need foie gras, steaks and oysters to make a statement about chic dining,” he said. “You can do it with beans and lentils.”

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