Where are all the vegetarians?

As popular as the “vegetarian lifestyle,” as it’s often called, is becoming, and as important as a sustainable world is for us to attain for our own very survival, you would think that there would be several vegetarian cooking shows. Not only that, but that all of the mainstream shows would also start offering up more ways to eat locally, with a smaller eco footprint, and definitely meatlessly—at least on several episodes a week.

Instead, you get shows like the new Meat & Potatoes program, where only “mouth-watering meaty dishes”—some of which look huge enough for entire cities to eat, let alone one man—are featured. Food Network, do you honestly think that viewers need a whole show dedicated to meat when every single show you run already promotes meat?

From Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives to Chopped to every cooking show you have, meat is always featured. It was even included in the episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate…Chocolate! Do you really have to include meat in an episode about chocolate? Apparently Food Network does. The other night on a “burger” episode, I did see a chef talk about a veggie burger—and he was subsequently ridiculed by the other chefs. Really? Was that the cleverest way to present the information? Instead of coming off as funny, it was trite, and even a bit snobby. Once there was a vegan chef on Cupcake Wars, as well--who won!--and who was also ridiculed by her fellow contestants. I say give that woman her own show!

The fact of the matter remains that there are millions of vegetarians being excluded from this entire network. Other facts remain as well—such as the obesity epidemic in the country largely caused by the overabundance of meat, the environmental problems that are caused by meat (which get worse and worse every year), and the ethical implications of eating a high-meat diet—not only on the animals the diet comes from, treated cruelly and brutally throughout their brief lives, but also on the people of the world who die of hunger, who could easily be fed on the fraction of the grain it costs to feed so many livestock.

Food Network, you are all about food. Therefore, I think it’s time that you took a stand to really demonstrate all there is about food—including these complicated issues, what’s being done about them, and how people can get involved. How about a “Locally Grown” show? Maybe a program run by a homesteader who makes all of her own stuff—maybe even raises her own chickens (and then discuss the pros and cons of such a lifestyle and those choices)? Whatever you do, a vegetarian show is the minimum of what the network needs in order to reach the entire audience of America.