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October 23rd 2008

So Wait, Gordon Ramsay Doesn’t Have A Beef With Vegetarians?

Filed under: film-tv, food & drink, television — michael @ 11:52 am

Tomorrow evening, Gordon Ramsay will be back doing a live cook-along with UK viewers and showing those at home how to whip up a tasty three-course meal in real time. Of course, the famous chef won’t offering up anything remotely vegetarian — but in this cryptic response, he says that he doesn’t necessarily have anything against them either. Really?

Meh? Isn’t this the guy that humorously quipped he would “electrocute” his kids if they ever came home and announced they were vegetarian? Is it all part of a television meat-eating character image? Puzzling.

October 20th 2008

Gordon Ramsay Wants Daughters Only To Date Meat-Eating Boys!

Filed under: food & drink, not green — parrish @ 10:46 am

Give me my sword…it’s time for a knighting. By the power vested in me, I now knight Gordon Ramsay: Commander of Anti-Vegetarian Snarky Comments! Seriously, this dude just can’t stop blasting herbivores!

In a recent interview, Gordon said that he wouldn’t be domineering when his daughters begin dating, admitting: “I won’t mind my little girls dating boys as long as they don’t bring back a vegetarian.”

It’s safe to say that Gordon has a slight obsession with the prospect of a meat-eating son-in-law. Earlier this year, Ecorazzi reported that Paul McCartney and Gordon Ramsay weren’t playing nice after Gordon declared: ‘If my daughter ever grew up and married a vegetarian, I’d never forgive her.’ This of course was just prior to him ripping out the heart of a puffin and eating it raw. OMG!

What do you think about all this veggie-hating, Ecorazzi readers? Are Gordon’s comments justified? Chime in and tell us what you think!!!!

October 7th 2008

Chef Gordon Ramsay Calls Organic Food ‘Over-Priced And Boring’

Filed under: food & drink, not green — parrish @ 2:17 pm

Chef Gordon Ramsay quickly went from being an Ecorazzi Superstar to an Ecorazzi Bad Boy after a series of nasty events left us pretty offended. Well it looks like Gordon is once again picking a food fight, but this time with the Prince of Wales over his organic food brand.

Gordon claims that the brand is “over-priced and boring”, and told the Daily Telegraph: “I am upset with him. When I looked at his Duchy food I was gob-smacked, amazed and dumbfounded at what I discovered. Why would anyone pay that much money for one of his pies? I tried them. Just because it has a stamp and his royal crest everyone thinks it is fine, but the number of sodium’s, and the sugar content, is embarrassing.” He later adds that while he supports the profits going to charity, processed meats should not be used.

Right, so even though we’re definitely not on Team Gordon, we’d totally agree with him over the processed meat thing…IF it were true. However, Andrew Baker, CEO of Duchy Foods, has a different claim.

Baker states: “We use Soil Association specified organic ingredients as the norm and only natural flavours and colours. We never use artificial fertilisers or pesticides and our products do not contain hydrogenated fat.” Andrew later adds, “We never seek to extend the shelf life of our products by over-processing. A large percentage of our products, including our sausages, bacon and baked desserts, are delivered fresh to store on a daily basis.”

So what’s the deal here? Is Gordon just being a jerk or is Baker not telling the whole truth? Leave and comment tell us what you think!

via: digitalspy.com

September 17th 2008

Chef Gordon Ramsay In Trouble After Puffin Hunting Scandal?

Filed under: animals, food & drink, not green — parrish @ 11:14 am

I think it’s fair to say that Gordon Ramsay loves meat with the same amount of gusto that he hates vegetarians. In case you’ve forgotten, Gordon angered Paul McCartney after making several off color remarks about the vegetarian lifestyle that were just plain dumb. Obviously this very, VERY pro-meat chef might upset the meat-free, but is he now even starting to piss off his own fans too? YEP!

Earlier this summer Ecorazzi reported that Ramsay spent time in Poland hunting puffins. You see in Britain, where Ramsay regularly records, puffins are endangered and therefore protected by law. However, Gordon took the special trip to Poland so he might get the chance to hunt the otherwise endangered bird. As if that wasn’t enough, after shooting the puffin he proceeded to rip out its heart and eat it raw.

Shortly after the episode the bosses at his network were inundated with complaints over the vulgar action and many suspected that Ramsay might be in some real trouble with the law. But the watchdog group Ofcom has just concluded that since the bird is not protected in Iceland, Gordon broke no rules.

Will Gordon Ramsay see a backlash from his beastly ways? I certainly hope so!

September 12th 2008

Victoria Beckham And Gordon Ramsay To Open Very Non-Vegetarian Restaurant

Filed under: food & drink, not green — parrish @ 10:07 am

I always think it’s rather strange when an outspoken vegetarian displays continuous non-vegetarian decision making skills. For example: the Green Quote from yesterday was from Diane Keaton who spoke about her wonderful choice to go veg. While I was pleased to report the news, what I didn’t include was that when Diane was asked if she had raised her children vegetarian she said: “No, no. I’m not doing that to them. I’m sure, once they grow up, they’ll be going, ‘What an eccentric human being, this mother of ours.†Eccentric? Really?

In another case of Veggie WTF, Victoria Beckham (who loves cooking mince meat for her family even though she’s meat-free) is planning on opening a new restaurant in LA with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

Now of course you can automatically assume the restaurant will be far from veg since Gordon himself once said: “If my daughter ever grew up and married a vegetarian, I’d never forgive her.†Ramsay recently confirmed his and Victoria’s non-veg establishment, saying: “Yes, it is true that Victoria and I are setting up a restaurant in LA. together. I’m really excited. She’s really keen to focus on a traditional English-style menu, like bangers and mash, fish and chips and such like.”

Bangers and mash? Fish and chips? Part of being vegetarian is not only eating in a responsible way, but showing the world that it’s basically the most awesome thing ever! Normally my philosophy is that whatever small change a person can make in their diet to lead a more green, less cruel life is totally rad! HOWEVER, Victoria is a big star and it’s important she set a clear and positive example for the world to follow. What do you think? Is it cool that Veggie Vicky is opening a restaurant with a meat-infested menu? Speak now or forever hold your peace!

September 2nd 2008

Gordon Ramsay Threatens Kids with Electrocution if They Go Veg

Filed under: green and famous — michael @ 11:41 am

Parrish posted a quote from Paul McCartney last weekend that came in response to something utterly stupid that TV Chef Gordon Ramsay said recently. I didn’t really think anything of it until I read the full statement given during an interview with the UK Daily Mirror:

Really? That’s your biggest nightmare?

We all know that Ramsay is a pretty giant tool, but his latest stunt on his show The F Word, was really low. On it, he persuaded 50 vegetarians to sample veal and told Girls Aloud’s Cheryl Cole “vegetarians aren’t welcome here”.

All-in-all, his reputation as an insensitive ass clown continues to grow.

July 29th 2008

Chef Gordon Ramsay Almost Drowns While Hunting Birds

Karma is trying to tell you something...

Filed under: animals, food & drink — michael @ 11:14 pm

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is no stranger to animal controversy. PETA has slammed the guy repeatedly for encouraging Brits to consume more horse meat — and he caused a storm of outrage when he taunted Victoria Beckham over the impending death of some lambs he was allowed to let graze on her property. Lately, however, he’s been on the other side of the fence — receiving praise for his work to encourage the purchase of organic, free range chickens and local produce.

Every now and again, however, the old Gordon resurfaces. In this case, literally.

While recently filming a scene in Iceland for the BBC’s cooking show The F Word, Ramsay lost his footing scampering down a 280ft. cliff and plunged into the freezing water. The chef credits himself as an “extremely good swimmer”, but panicked when he realized his waterproof boots were dragging him down. From the article,

“‘I was panicking and my lungs were filling with water. When I got to the top after getting my boots off I was dazed and my head was totally numb.’”

What was Ramsay doing in Iceland? Hunting cute little puffins along the cliff side. “We had a license to cull 1,000,” he said. For the record, one puffin did manage to bite the chef on the nose — but the rest appear to have ended up on dinner plates. Guess Mother Nature’s warning wasn’t harsh enough.

Next time, send sharks. With laser beams.

via the sun

June 18th 2008

Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall Lobbies Against Tesco’s Cruelty

Filed under: animals, campaigns, food & drink, shopping — parrish @ 1:39 pm

For the past year or so Ecorazzi has kept you abreast on the food reform initiative that’s taking place in the UK. Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have all been deeply involved with raising the bar on animal welfare.

A couple months ago Ecorazzi reported news that Jamie Oliver had convinced Tesco (a popular Brittish supermarket) to double their order of premium chickens, bringing the proportion of higher welfare chickens to about 30 percent of total poultry sales-an increase of 70 percent from this time last year. However, Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall doesn’t think that’s enough and claims that Tesco is serverely lagging in animal welfare issues. Wittingstall is urging Tesco to adopt the RSPCA’s higher standards on chicken or drop its claims that it fulfils the government’s aspirations on animal welfare. And this chef ain’t just whistling dixie!

Wittingstall has received official support from the PIRC, the corporate governance adviser, and will be recommending its members to vote in favor of his special resolution at Tesco’s annual meeting next week. For all you Ecorazzi readers that live abroad, you have the chance to watch Hugh tonight on Channel 4’s River Cottage Spring program as he speaks about the benefit of using free range and organic chickens.

I think it’s safe to say that whatever your dietary choice might be, everyone would agree that no animal deserves to be the subject of cruelty and torture. So if you do choose to eat meat, spend the extra buck or two and purchase the more humanely treated variety — it’s healthier, happier and all around more environmentally sound. Don’t believe me? Just ask Hugh.

via: business.timesonline.co.uk

June 2nd 2008

The Green Quote: Tana Ramsay On Green Youth

Filed under: campaigns — parrish @ 12:05 pm

 

“Teaching children how to be eco-friendly at preschool age is just so obvious and so fantastic. It creates habits that they get into for a lifetime and then they put pressure on their parents.”

- Tana Ramsay on teaching children how to be green. Tana is chef Gordon Ramsay’s wife and the ambassador for the inaugural Playing for the Planet Awards — a campaign for preschoolers to enter competitions that teach what they can do to be greener.

via: timesonline.co.uk

May 12th 2008

Chef Gordon Ramsay Puts Up A Fight For Local Produce

Filed under: campaigns, food & drink — parrish @ 2:01 pm

Chef Gordon Ramsay, most commonly known as the face of Hell’s Kitchen, is getting all local up on your ass! For the past few years Ramsay has been quite outspoken on the importance of using locally grown fruits and veggies, but now he’s taken it a step further by suggesting that restaurants be charged a fine for using out-of-season produce.

Ramsay told the BBC News: ” I don’t want to see asparagus on in the middle of December. I don’t want to see strawberries from Kenya in the middle of March. I want to see it home grown.”  However, a surge of bloggers have begun to attack Ramsay’s own restaurants (he has 20 in the UK) for menu items like “tropical fruit desserts” and “ravioli of Italian winter squash.”

In response, Ramsay’s people say (and remember they’re British so ignore the strange spellings): “Gordon Ramsay Holdings recognises the importance of sourcing ingredients which are both local and within season. Nevertheless, the overriding concern for all our chefs is they use the highest quality produce, and therefore in some cases, they source ingredients from further afield.”

This whole local food thing brings up a pretty interesting predicament. Is it ALWAYS better to buy local? Should we consider farmers in indigenous countries who rely on our moola to make a living? Is local more important than organic? I agree with Gordon that buying local is the way to go, but also think that enforcing a fine is just…well stupid. What do you think bloggers? Local or not? Speak now or forever hold your peace.

via: lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk