The online vegetarian community has been buzzing for the past few weeks over the news of Oprah's 21-day vegan cleanse. Yes, it was only meant to be temporary cleanse, and not a permanent lifestyle change. However, it was bringing some ok attention to the reality that vegan food can be nutritious and tasty (and if any of her loyal followers were going along with her on this cleanse, it also meant that for 21 days, there'd be a little less animal consumption going on in the world). My biggest eye-rolling over the whole thing had to do with the fact that Oprah had her own personal chef preparing all of her dishes. Hey, I'd be a more-than-happy vegan too if I had someone preparing all of my meals, even (as per Oprah's blog) fed-exing them when I was traveling... So? I think there may be trouble in Oprah-land.
Oprah's last blog post on Saturday reported that her personal chef left. Her reaction: "Tal left…the void is immense. I'm in New York trying to make do."
That's the last time she posted about her cleanse, after posting daily since its beginning. I don't watch the show, so I dunno if she's commented on it on television at this point. Anyone? I'm thinking that it shouldn't be all that hard for someone that rich and connected to find another spectacular vegan-friendly chef to step up and fill Tal's shoes (heck -- I'd go cook for her myself for a fraction of what Tal must have cost, except that I somehow suspect that my ordinary old lentil chilli or chickpea salad wraps probably wouldn't impress her all that much), but the lack of further blog posts leads me to suspect that the 21-day cleanse may very well be on the skids. Which of course, would send out this big old message to her legions that following a vegan diet is just too hard for regular folks. And for this reason alone, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Oprah's lack of blogging has more to do with her busy schedule than it does her abandoning her project.
Wow. For the first time in my life, I'm sending supportive vibes out to Oprah. Kinda leaves me feeling a little warm and fuzzy inside.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Oprah? Are you falling off your temporary vegan wagon?
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2 comments:
I hope she stays on the bandwagon too. I mean, part of me thinks about how ridiculous this is, we are perfectly happy and healthy 'plant eaters', and I can say for certain about myself, but also assume that you do not bring down Oprah's paycheck, and we do fine without Tal's. Can't she find plenty of vegan restaurants where she lives?
I agree with you, I'm afraid this will reinforce the idea that eating a plant based diet is rocket science and involves giving up everything good about food and reserving yourself to a life of limp lettuce and carrots.
Sorry, getting off the soapbox now. :-)
I wonder if she's ever actually cooked a meal by herself since becoming the big "O".
I think she mentioned going to a restaurant in one of her blog posts, and that it wasn't really good.
Seems to me, though, that vegan chef in North America would go nuts for the publicity involved in being able to replace her personal chef right now. Can you imagine what a career booster it would be?
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