Natalie Portman Brings Vegetarianism to Top Chef

Jewish vegan icon Natalie Portman appeared on the episode of Top Chef that aired a couple hours ago. Portman explained to the reality show's chefs that she is adventurous with types of cuisines and flavors but that they had to make her a vegetarian meal. Reactions varied greatly. "I have never been a vegetarian, and I never, ever will be," said Jennifer.

Kevin won the competition with a dish featuring a "mushroom duo" and kale. Portman said she loved kale and that "people rarely do it well," and she called Kevin's hearty creation "a manly vegetarian meal." Kevin had been less than enthusiastic about cooking vegetarian. Although he said he goes vegetarian for Lent each year, he thinks of meat as essential to a complete meal. "Cooking meat is me in my element," he said.

Mike was eliminated from Top Chef after preparing a leek dish that wasn't cooked fully because of a technical error and that lacked a significant source of protein. I believe it was Mike who said earlier that his mother was vegan when he was growing up and that more than 20 of the 60 dishes on his restaurant's menu are vegetarian. "I should've done a lot better than everyone else because this is more my background," he said at the at the end of the show.

After describing herself as a vegetarian, Portman ate one dish with creamed lentils and another with butter. Following rumors that she had stopped being vegan, Portman affirmed on Tuesday that she recently went vegan after reading Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals. I'll discuss what else she had to say about the book in an upcoming post.