`Top Chef’ Features Tofu for the First Time … But Flavors it with Cow Fat
Top Chef had me on an veg*n emotional roller coaster last night!
After praising the Bravo! TV cooking contest for having a winning vegan dish a few weeks back, and pointing out that there has never been even a mention of tofu, I stand to edit my statement.
The newest episode, which aired April 23, had a tofu challenge.
Contestants were given their assignments based upon an audience participation portion of an improv show at Second City. Each pair of chefs was given a color, an ingredient, and an emotion.
Dale (who made the aforementioned vegan dish) and Richard were given the challenge of making a dish that represented “green,” “perplexed,” and … “TOFU!”
I was ecstatic; I sang: “They’re gonna cook me some tofu, they’re gonna cook me some tofu …”
First step of this - which would become the winner - dish? Render cow fat on a grill so that when the tofu is grilled it picks up the cow fat’s flavor.
Stunned. Frozen, then, as Gossip Girl would say: “OMFG!”
The judges praised their ingenuity. They worshiped the tofu for it’s beef-like flavor. They awarded this dish the winner, because they “would have been so angry” if they had had to cook tofu in a challenge like this.
I wanted to barf. I wanted to swear at the TV: “No sh*t it tastes like a steak, you freakin’ all but sewed it to a strip of animal fat!”
But, alas, Top Chef did finally have tofu on it. They gave me what I asked for … unfortunately, it came with a side of rendered cow fat.
I would now like to direct Dale, Richard, and all Top Chef people to Tofu Today, an entire site dedicated to loving tofu with recipes, history, how to make your own, tofu references in the news (including this episode of Top Chef), and so much more …. because (are you listening Tom Colicchio?) there are infinite numbers of people who do not cry when they are “forced” to cook with tofu.
July 5th, 2008 at 11:22 am
That episode really made me very angry on multiple levels.
First, the assumption that there isn’t a meal unless there’s dead animal really bothers me. They act as though food is purely for taste and that there are no other considerations at all - not nutrition, not sustenance, not ethics… This attitude that the human tastebud ought to rule the world with its silly whims drives me crazy.
Second, imbue tofu with another flavor is ‘thinking outside the box’?!?! What!?!? Clearly these chefs and judges have never spent much time outside their own little dead animal culinary schools, because that’s basically what tofu is about. Most people don’t eat tofu just plain, they usually add some spices, sauce, or other flavoring.
Third, making tofu taste like beef makes the tofu “perplexed”? Oh really? Because I thought tofu was just another food, like green peppers, bananas, or rice. And I thought combining flavors of food is, uh, cooking! There’s nothing about tofu that means it’s meant purely for vegetarian and vegan cuisine, just like rice isn’t only for vegans!
Argh!