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[Geoff]

Foul mouthed? And the show is called Hell's Kitchen? (Actually, I think I can relate: anything that comes out of my kitchen certainly tastes like hell.)  


McCartney Slams Anti-vegetarian Ramsay
August 30 2008

SIR PAUL McCARTNEY has hit back at GORDON RAMSAY after the British TV chef criticised vegetarians.

Ex-Beatle McCartney has been a vegetarian for 30 years and admits he gets upset when people say "stupid" things about people who don't eat meat.

And the singer was outraged when Hell's Kitchen star Ramsay recently announced he would disown his daughter if she fell in love with a vegetarian.

Veteran rocker McCartney says, "I just read a quote from Gordon Ramsay... 'If my daughter ever grew up and married a vegetarian, I'd never forgive her.'

"But even that I would forgive because it's not my affair, it's not up to me if he talks stupid or not."

The foul-mouthed chef also recently threatened to punish his children if they gave up eating meat.

McCartney's youngest daughter, four-year-old Beatrice, is a vegan, and the recently divorced star would like the whole world to stop eating meat.

He says, "I'd be happier if everyone was vegetarian. The planet would be better off for it."

The music legend gave up meat after he met his first wife, Linda, in 1967. Linda died of breast cancel in 1998, and the star is preparing to relaunch her range of vegetarian food.

http://www.showbizspy.com/news/McCartney_Slams_Antivegetarian_Ramsay/08302008

[Joost]

I don't care if people eat meat, but if they talk about vegetarians that way, they can just go choke on a piece of meat, for all I care... What an a**hole.

[Geoff]

What an a**hole.

I haven't seen him myself, but apparently that's his shtick (check out the A A Gill quote):

Ramsay's reputation is built upon his goal of culinary perfection. Since the airing of Boiling Point which followed Ramsay's quest of earning three Michelin stars, the chef has also become infamous for his fiery temperament and use of expletives. Ramsay famously ejected food critic A. A. Gill along with his dining companion, Joan Collins, because Gill had stated that "Ramsay is a wonderful chef, just a really second-rate human being". Ramsay admitted in his autobiography that he did not mind if Gill insulted his food, but a personal insult he was not going to stand for. Ramsay has also had confrontations with his kitchen staff, including one incident that resulted in the pastry chef calling the police. Despite his fevered actions, Ramsay has a loyal staff and claims an 85% retention rate since 1993.

Ramsay attributes his pugnacious management style to the influence of previous mentors, notably chefs Marco Pierre White and Guy Savoy, father-in-law and business partner Chris Hutcheson, and Jock Wallace, his manager while a footballer at Rangers. Ramsay's ferocious temper has contributed to his media appeal in both the United Kingdom and the United States, where his programmes are currently produced. His fierce personality ensured that he was voted television's most terrifying celebrity in a Radio Times poll consisting of 3,000 people. MSN Careers featured an article about television's worst bosses, which listed Ramsay as the only non-fictional boss. They cited his frequent loss of his temper and his harsh critiques of cooking and people; feeling that quality of life doesn't have to be sacrificed for quality of food.

Although Ramsay often mocks the French, two of his most trusted matre d's, Jean-Baptiste Requien (who works for Ramsay at Gordon Ramsay at The London NYC and Gordon Ramsay's Maze at The London NYC) and Jean-Claude Breton (Royal Hospital Road), are French. Jean-Baptiste is also a regular on many of Ramsay's television programs including Hell's Kitchen.

Having once claimed that women couldn't "cook to save their lives", in November 2007 Ramsay installed 29 year-old Clare Smyth as head chef at his three-Michelin-starred flagship restaurant on London

[tkitna]

Gordons a chef. Of course he's going to be against vegetarians. I wont pretend to know him, but I love watching all of his shows. I guess Paul wont be dropping by for a bite to eat anytime soon.

[Joost]

Gordons a chef. Of course he's going to be against vegetarians.

I don't see how being a chef means that you can't respect other people's choices.

[Kevin]

Gordon Ramsay makes his money by being "controversial." His shows have constant digs at vegetarians. In fact most TV chefs are scathing about them. I'm pretty sure it's all supposed to be just a bit of fun.

[Joost]

Gordon Ramsay makes his money by being "controversial." His shows have constant digs at vegetarians. In fact most TV chefs are scathing about them.

I once got that from a chef in a restaurant where I was going to eat.

They didn't have anything without meat or fish on the menu, so I asked the waiter if it would be possible to fix anything vegetarian. He went to ask the chef and came back after a little while:
"Our chef says you can either get a crop of lettuce or a peanut butter sandwich.'

The six people I was with, even though none of them were vegetarians, thought that was so insulting that they unanimously decided to leave right away. And coincidentally, the place went out of business a month after that.

Justice!  

[BlueMeanie]

Ramsey is only saying what most other chefs privately think. Very few people in the catering industry have much that is nice to say about vegetarianism. Personally I'm tired of having vegetarianism rammed down my throat for the last 25 years, so it's nice to see the tables turned. Nobody complains when a veggie goes public and says that it's bad to eat meat!

[Geoff]

"Our chef says you can either get a crop of lettuce or a peanut butter sandwich.'

You should have told him that a peanut butter sandwich isn't vegetarian; you might have gotten your own Gordon Ramsey moment out of the chef.  

[Joost]

Personally I'm tired of having vegetarianism rammed down my throat for the last 25 years

Care to explain? I've been a meat eater for the first 24 years of my life, but I've never once had the feeling that vegetarianism was in any way 'rammed down my throat'...

Nobody complains when a veggie goes public and says that it's bad to eat meat!

Believe me, I constantly get sh*t for being a vegetarian. And I never even attacked or judged anyone for eating meat. I don't care... Nobody ever gave me absolute knowledge, I'm just doing what I think is best and you should do what you think is best. Simple as that. But somehow some people just automatically feel threatened by the presence of a vegetarian.

"Oh, so you're a vegetarian?"
"Yeah."
"May I ask why?"
"Because I started feeling guilty everytime I ate meat."
"Oh, so you think I'm a killer? You think I should feel guilty? You probably even believe I'm going to hell for eating meat, don't you?"
"Ehm... No."

Seriously, you won't believe how often I've had situations like that. And I'm just like, hey, wait... I became a vegetarian because I wanted to take the 'live and let live' principle one step further, that's all. How exactly did that make me some kind of nazi?

If you don't believe me, try to google some forums about vegetarianism. I can assure you that on pretty much every one of those forums, at least 25% of the messages are provocations and insults by meat eaters. "Only girl privates don't eat meat!". "I'll just eat an extra steak today to make up for you not eating meat, OK?". "You're all a bunch of hippies!". "You guys just don't know what you're missing, just try it!". "Haven't you idiots ever heard of the food chain?". "Hitler was a vegetarian!". You constantly get crap like that.

[tkitna]

Ramsey is only saying what most other chefs privately think. Very few people in the catering industry have much that is nice to say about vegetarianism. Personally I'm tired of having vegetarianism rammed down my throat for the last 25 years, so it's nice to see the tables turned. Nobody complains when a veggie goes public and says that it's bad to eat meat!

This is all true.

Gordon has worked at Vegetarian restaurants before (on his own show once) and he didnt have anything bad to say about it. He also knows how to cook vegetarian, but the guy was raised eating and cooking meat. People eat meat, thats just how it is. Vegetarians are a minority and theres absolutley nothing wrong with that, but to preach that eating meat is bad for you,,,,that I take issue with.

[tkitna]

"Oh, so you're a vegetarian?"
"Yeah."
"May I ask why?"
"Because I started feeling guilty everytime I ate meat."
"Oh, so you think I'm a killer? You think I should feel guilty? You probably even believe I'm going to hell for eating meat, don't you?"
"Ehm... No."

This interests me though. Your choice for becoming a vegetarian was through guilt where most of the people that have come on strong towards me are all about health benefits. See, theres no right or wrong. Its just a choice, but other people shouldnt have to be swayed.

Some people dont even like the Beatles.

[Joost]

but to preach that eating meat is bad for you,,,,that I take issue with.

Like I said, I didn't become a vegetarian for health reasons and I'm not out to preach or to 'convert' anyone, but most (what could be considered to be) neutral sources seem to agree that not eating meat actually is more healthy. Just FYI, this is what (for instance) Wikipedia has to say about it:

Vegetarianism is considered a healthy, viable diet. The American Dietetic Association and the Dietitians of Canada have found a properly-planned vegetarian diet to satisfy the nutritional needs for all stages of life, and large-scale studies have shown vegetarianism to significantly lower risks of cancer, ischemic heart disease, and other fatal diseases.[10][11][35] Necessary nutrients, proteins, and amino acids for the body's sustenance can be found in green leafy vegetables, grains, nuts, and fortified juices or soymilk.[36]

Vegetarian diets can aid in keeping body weight under control[37][38] and substantially reduce risks of heart disease and osteoporosis.[39][40][39][40] Non-lean red meat, in particular, has been found to be directly associated with dramatically increased risk of cancers of the lung, esophagus, liver, and colon.[13][41] Other studies have shown that there were no significant differences between vegetarians and nonvegetarians in mortality from cerebrovascular disease, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, or prostate cancer.[42]

The American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada have stated: "Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals."[43] Vegetarians tend to have lower body mass index, lower levels of cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and less incidence of heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, renal disease, osteoporosis, dementias such as Alzheimer

[tkitna]

I'm not getting into the whole nutritional debate as I just dont have the energy. All I know is that humans have been eating meat since the dawn of time and unless becoming a vegetarian can increase my lifespan an additional 100 years or so, I aint changing. I dont feel an ounce of guilt when I cut into a steak.

[Joost]

Once again, I'm not out to 'convert' anyone here... Just responding to the comments that are being made (as this is a discussion forum)... If you don't feel like discussing this any further, that's fine.

All I know is that humans have been eating meat since the dawn of time

1. Not nearly on the same scale as right now. Example: the population of the UK ate 25 times (!) as much chicken in 2001 as in 1946.
2. There are a whole lot of things that humans have been doing 'since the dawn of time' that aren't necessarily right.

I dont feel an ounce of guilt when I cut into a steak.

I do and you don't. And that's fine. No argument here.

[Kevin]

Have to agree with Joost that for most people on this planet meat is a luxury food. Even in my childhood meat was something we had on Sunday (unless you count the odd plate of offal.)
I'm no doctor, but I have read/heard that our bodies aren't designed for the level of meat consumption most of us westerners manage, and it is causing major health problems.
Funny how this can be quite a contentious issue.

[Joost]

I'm no doctor, but I have read/heard that our bodies aren't designed for the level of meat consumption most of us westerners manage, and it is causing major health problems.

The thing is, and this is a fact, that the human body has way more herbivore than omnivore characteristics.



Apparently the main problem is that our digestive system works much slower than that of an omnivore or a carnivore. Therefor the meat already starts to rot inside our bodies before it's fully digested, which obviously isn't very healthy.

[BlueMeanie]

1. Not nearly on the same scale as right now. Example: the population of the UK ate 25 times (!) as much chicken in 2001 as in 1946.

The Chicken stat comes from the fact that red meat such as Beef was far cheaper at that time. I remember having beef at least once a week when I was growing up. Now families can't afford it. Chicken by comparison is cheap. And the nations favourite dish is Chicken Tikka Masala!

[Joost]

Part 2: