Yesterday on Good Morning America, Beyonce was giving her secrets to looking her Beyonce best. She has been practicing a vegan diet and it was giving her such great results she needed to share this with people. Which is great because it will become more mainstream. She is also going to start a vegan food delivery service with her trainer who designed her diet. All fantastic things…right?
Then the GMA reporter had two dishes for the other anchors to try. One was guacamole spread on toast with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes and black pepper, which she said was a substitute for eggs for breakfast. The other was chia seed pudding. Lara Spencer chose the toast while Amy Robach ate the pudding. George Stephanopoulos remained motionless while Robin Roberts said she would be eating the BBQ their next guest would be serving.
On one hand, I am thrilled more and more people are eating a plant-based diet, on the other hand, why does it have to be so weird
? When people think of vegan food, they only think of tofu, tempeh, seitan and now quinoa and chia seeds! Many people have eaten vegan food but since it hasn’t been labeled as vegan it was normal food…like spaghetti marinara without the cheese, beans on polenta or bread or meatless chili. Why does it always have to be weird food?
A few years ago, we attended a Rotary conference at a five star venue and for the dinner meal, they served us boiled vegetables on a bed of lentils that had no seasoning or oil. The meal was inedible. The thing that bothered me the most, besides my lack of dinner, was that the other 8 people at our table looked at our meal and were horrified and thought we actually ate that way. After all gawking at our meal, they continued to chomp happily on their prime rib. Frankly, it did not help us convince people to want to eat healthier. We couldn’t even eat that meal!
I don’t understand why people think vegan has to be flavorless or without oil or only salad. We are not rabbits.
SO, my point is vegan food can be SO delicious and satisfying. It doesn’t only have to be the weird food! So kudos to Beyonce, but make food that people will WANT to eat…it can be healthy too!
