Finally, Gordon Ramsay Is Impressed With A Vegan Recipe
The Cinderella search is over, everyone. When Gordon Ramsay issued an edict to the TikTok kingdom on May 10 in search of a vegan recipe that the famed carnivore might fall in love with, tensions were high and expectations were low. TikTokkers scoured the land, eager to impress the chef with a meatless, plant-based recipe that might win over the man who, as reported by Metro, once said his "biggest nightmare" would be finding out one of his children decided to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. Ramsay has made great strides in the eyes of vegans since those dark days. In March 2021, he even went so far as to make a vegan "steak" entirely out of eggplant; the creation took the TikTok world by storm, according to Insider, and Ramsay announced that he was officially "going vegan."
Of course, he was only joking. The video of Ramsay's sumptuous vegan steak ended with a key message that came only after the ellipses: "I'm going vegan...for lunch." The chef clearly had no intention of overhauling hi entire lifestyle, let alone the menus at each of his successful restaurants around the world. But now, Ramsay is doubling down on his vegan-for-lunch trick, by announcing his intention to turn "slightly" vegan for the week, as part of the BBC's #FutureFoodStars TikTok challenge (via The Beet). In his earlier video, Ramsay challenged TikTokkers to "float [his] boat" with an impressive vegan recipe. But which one will fit the glass slipper?
Putting the 'raw' (veggies) in ramen
There was no shortage of suitors for Gordon Ramsay's TikTok challenge, with home cooks around the world proposing vegan alternatives to classic recipes. In one reaction video, Ramsay declares a vegan beef Wellington "inedible," renaming the dish "Turd Wellington." Then there was the misguided chef who attempted to veganize mozzarella, resulting in a video Ramsay labeled "Vegan Cheese Tragedy." In one submission after another, Ramsay agonizes his way through plant-based recipes that, at best, pale in comparison to their meaty counterparts, and at worst are downright affronts to food (we're looking at you, vegan English breakfast burrito beef Wellington nonsense). But, as we all know, you have to kiss a few frogs to find your vegan prince, and royalty arrived on May 19 in the form of a ramen dish to die for.
"Sometimes I can be nice to #Vegan," Ramsay wrote in the caption that accompanies his reaction video. The chef follows along and even oohs, ahhs, and "wunderbar!"s along, as @bakinghermann shows Ramsay his vegan ramen, made with shiitake mushrooms, tahini, and white miso. "This [...] tahini and miso ramen converts any meat-eater," the TikTokker claims at the top of the video, and Ramsay's approval certainly made a believer out of us. "Omg Gordon was happy with the result for once," one fan commented, while another wrote, "First time seeing Gordon talking nice about somebody's cooking skills." Has Ramsay really found his vegan Prince Charming? If anything can do it, ramen can.