Most of the world loves to eat meat—and eat it they do. It’s delicious; it’s satisfying; no cucumber could ever compare to a slice of bacon, and I get it. But just as meat-eaters CHOOSE to include animals in their diet, vegetarians CHOOSE to refrain. We’re all the same, just exercising freedom of choice and eating our way towards happiness, which is why there is no reason a vegetarian should ever be bullied, harassed or shamed about his or her familiarity with meat.
Fox network’s “MasterChef” cooking competition recently aired an episode called “A-head in the Competition”, and it was the final straw. The show is down to its top seven home cooks, all fighting for the title of American MasterChef, $250,000 and a cookbook deal. The patronizing regard for 28-year-old Hetal Vasavada, the first and only vegetarian to ever compete on the show, has been building and building, and finally, the pressure cooker burst open. Hetal was practically sobbing as a bloody lamb’s head stared at up at her from her cutting board, meanwhile Gordon Ramsey and the other chefs feigned horror, smirked, and even laughed. Hetal was so disturbed, she couldn’t turn around to look at the giant cow’s head sitting conveniently on the bench behind her. The cow is the most sacred animal in the Hindu religion. Was this a not-so-subtle low blow to the Hindu chef’s morale? She looked ready to succumb to nausea, while Ramsey and the others laughed and stared at her, seemingly waiting for her to crumble.
It wasn’t just “MasterChef”, like so many other reality food shows, doing its usual thing with meat—this was a blatant attempt to make Hetal, a Hindu vegetarian who has never tasted meat, feel uncomfortable. This happens on so many cooking shows—the vegetarian is faced with some carcass and the way the judges and other chefs relish their pain was sickening. I suspect that if there wasn’t a vegetarian chef on “MasterChef” this season, there never would have been a designated vegetarian challenge this week, followed up by a disgusting “animal head” elimination challenge that served to shake Hetal’s resolve.
“I doubt you’ve cooked one of those before”, Ramsey said to Hetal, waiting expectantly for her to reply with emotion, disgust, fear, or panic. She must have disappointed him with her strength and determination, because Ramsey kept goading and taunting her until the end of the challenge. “You’ve never cooked it,” and “You’ve never eaten it” – his singsong-y jabs were relentless, yet somehow, Hetal managed to fight and cook on with grace.
Perhaps judges enjoy the obvious discomfort of a vegetarian chef because it is, after all, a competition. Other cooks have been basting chickens and searing steaks for years, so someone like Hetal is at a serious disadvantage week after week. Any little edge one competitor has over another is cherished. But forget for a moment that these cooks are fighting for money and fame. Food reality television is supposed to be about celebrating the natural beauty of food and the talented chefs and home cooks who possess the unique ability to turn vegetables and meats into edible art. This offending “MasterChef” episode celebrated nothing. By following up the “first ever vegetarian challenge in the history of MasterChef” with a challenge featuring whole animal heads, the entire message of welcoming vegetarian chefs into the competitive culinary world was immediately undermined.
How dare “MasterChef” invite 50 of America’s most esteemed vegetarian chefs, food critics and writers to judge the dishes in the first half of the episode; and only to figuratively spit on them in the latter half of the episode when the show made a seemingly relieving return to meat. Anytime a culinary reality show introduces a vegetables-only challenge, it’s presented with fake generous bravado and excessive charitable pride, as though vegetarians everywhere should be weepingly grateful for such a gift. The patronizing attitude almost says “We’ll let you play with your veggies for 30 minutes before we get right back to meat, the real food.” Chef Ramsey was laughing as he admitted that millions of Americans follow a strict vegetarian diet. I must have missed the joke—what’s so funny about millions of Americans opting for a healthier and more environmentally conscious way of life? He failed to mention the reasons why these people chose vegetarianism – religion, health, compassion, earth-consciousness, and much more. For someone like Hetal, it’s more than just a dietary choice; it’s a religious and cultural conviction that means a lot to her. In a previous episode, she remarked jokingly that God was punishing her for cooking meat every week. Or was she even joking?
Yes, a chef’s skills need to be diverse, versatile and they need to be knowledgeable about meat preparation. Because people eat meat, and if you’re in the business of feeding people, you need to know how to cook what they want to eat. Hetal meets the mark on this requirement: she serves up a surprisingly impressive plate of meat each week. How sweet, or rather savory, would her victory be if she triumphed over another chef in the finale by cooking a flawless steak? For viewers, it would be the quintessential victory of an underdog. But there is never a need to treat a vegetarian chef as though she has a crippling disability, and act as though her proactive and respectable decision to refuse dead animals on her plate is a character flaw that she needs to overcome.
Hetal handles fruits and vegetables with masterful finesse, and is just as capable as any of the cooks in that kitchen. The same can be said for vegetarian chefs all over the world, who have learned to embrace produce with a sense of respect and pride that can only come from refusing to kill and consume animals. They shouldn’t even have to prove that they can cook meat in order to prove that they are real chefs. But prove it they must, and they may never receive the recognition they deserve by competing in popular American cooking competitions such as “MasterChef”, “Chopped”, or “Top Chef”. However, their incontestable influence on food and diet trends is carving out a need for the celebration of vegetarianism in the business of televised entertainment. Perhaps an exclusive competition for cooks like Hetal is in order. They, and their squash and tomatoes and beans, will have a place to shine and share the simple beauty of nonviolent food with the world. Just as the pressure built up to make Hetal fail, a similar pressure is building to give vegetarian chefs, and even vegan chefs, the status they deserve in the culinary world.
The issue at hand is larger than the appalling behavior of “MasterChef”’s writers, directors and judges so far in this season. The last episode showed how quickly vegetarian-shaming, which by extension can be interpreted as religion-shaming and culture-shaming, can escalate in this world. It’s not a dog eat dog world; it’s a man eat cow world, and unless you conform to this undeniably easy habit of consumption, you’re a freak and unworthy of competing side by side with the normal chefs. Hetal has been facing the challenge with bravery and poise, and although she may not win it all this season, she has already won a battle for the vegetarians of the culinary world.
