Gordon Ramsay — king of beef Wellington and teaser of plant-eaters — is going vegan. Rather, the chef's "going to give this #vegan thing a try." Ramsay nonchalantly threw that line in the caption of his recent Instagram post featuring a photo of a cheese-less pizza from his just-opened Street Pizza restaurant in London.
Ramsay isn't the first big-name chef to make the switch from carnivore to herbivore — Food Network star Marcela Valladolid recently tried it, too — but he might be the most unlikely. Vegans and vegetarians are regular targets of his insults; he's even tweeted that he's allergic to them. When British singer Cheryl Cole appeared on The F Word in 2007, Ramsay mocked her vegetarian diet. That same year, he jokingly stated this in an interview with the Daily Mirror: "My biggest nightmare would be if the kids ever came up to me and said 'Dad, I'm a vegetarian.' Then I would sit them on the fence and electrocute them."
He's managed to offend PETA on multiple occasions, too. Just two months ago, Ramsay tweeted, "I'm a member of PETA! People eating tasty animals ...", to which the animal rights group responded: "Oh, dear, Gordon. We've heard that old line before. While you're spending time mocking the future #vegan we're betting you one day become, most chefs are exploring healthy, animal- & environment-friendly #PlantBased dishes." Um, did PETA just predict the future?
Only time will tell whether Ramsay meant he's simply trying some vegan foods — on the menus in his restaurants, during meals here and there — or if he's actually planning to stick to the diet. The chef's made a number of healthy lifestyle changes recently, including dropping more than 50 pounds. Maybe this is what's next.
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