Just 3 weeks ago, I dined (shockingly for the very first time) at Dirt Candy – a NYC vegetarian hotspot. My meal was, well, for lack of better words…insanely delicious! If I had known then that owner Amanda Cohen was about to be a reality show rockstar, I would have insisted on an interview over my order of spicy hushpuppies.

Just today, I learned that Iron Chef America is having their first ever vegetarian battle and that Cohen will be facing off against Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto.

“Masaharu Morimoto is the only Iron Chef to make it from the Japanese version of Iron Chef (which I love) to the American version and so I jumped at the chance to go up against him,” said Amanda in an interview with Happy Healthy Life.

Was she discriminated for her veg background? Discriminated is probably the wrong word.

“I wouldn’t say I was discriminated against,” Cohen said. “But my brand of vegetable cooking is full fat, and it’s fun and colorful and plays a lot of games and I’m not scared of using butter or frying food. This ran against some prejudices and assumptions the judges had about what they considered ‘proper’ vegetarian cooking.”

The all-veg episode airs on Sunday, August 29th at 10:00 ET/PT, and we can’t wait to see what Amanda prepares! Check out the entire interview at KBlog.Lunchbox.com.