As a vegan Top Chef watcher I often feel conflicted – inspired by the artistry, but grossed out by just about everything else. So you can imagine how excited I was when I heard that Natalie Portman would be appearing on the show with a super special vegetarian challenge.

Well, the episode premiered last night and I was must say…I was totally disappointed. Portman (who is currently vegan) was vegetarian when the episode was taped and had one simple request: make a delicious herbivore meal.

While some chefs moaned and groaned, others seemed excited for the challenge and left me curiously awaiting their plant-based masterpieces.

As the chefs prepped their entrées, I noticed the kitchen was void of any familiar vegetarian proteins: no tofu, seitan or tempeh anywhere to be seen. WTF? But I hadn’t given up yet — VEG cuisine uses an array of complex ingredients and proteins.

When the meals were finally completed, I shook my head with frustration. Each dish appeared more like an uninspired vegetable medley than a fine dining entrée. Vegan cuisine is dynamic and bold, not soggy and simple.

As the episode came to a close, I couldn’t help but feel as though vegetarian cuisine had been totally cheated. It’s 2010 and that’s the kind of food you’re going to serve?!  BOO!!

What did you think about the episode? Were you happy with the meals? Chime in and share your review!

As previously reported, Natalie Portman recently shifted to a vegan diet after reading an advanced copy of Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book Eating Animals. Now, the 28-year-old has written a review of the work as well.

In an article for the Huffington Post, Portman says that Eating Animals reminds her that “some things are just wrong.”

“Perhaps others disagree with me that animals have personalities,” she continues. “But the highly documented torture of animals is unacceptable, and the human cost Foer describes in his book, of which I was previously unaware, is universally compelling.”

The human cost that Portman discusses includes the current H1N1 outbreak, human respiratory ailments (as a result of pig shit being sprayed into the air), and other new bacterial strains. “Factory farming of animals will be one of the things we look back on as a relic of a less-evolved age,” she writes.

In it’s Fall Reading Guide, Oprah Magazine praises Foer’s book saying, “What makes Eating Animals so unusual is vegetarian Foer’s empathy for human meat eaters, his willingness to let both factory farmers and food reform activists speak for themselves, and his talent for using humor to sweeten a sour argument.”

This conclusion is something Portman reaches as well saying that “Foer makes his most impactful gesture as a peacemaker,” uniting “the two sides of the animal eating debate in their reasoning.” However, while we may think along the same line, she remarks, it’s how we define ourselves that makes all the difference.

Check out her full review here.

Portman has been a vegetarian since childhood and has an on and off again relationship with veganism (it’s currently on). She certainly wouldn’t allow any meat at her table!

In the preview below, Natalie breaks the news to the chefs and you can tell they’re definitely panicking. So are you going to be watching Portman on Top Chef next week? Chime in and let us know!

Is she vegetarian? Is she vegan? Get ready for some more “What’s Natalie Portman eating?!” news!

The LA Times recently interviewed the 28-year-old actress in a vegan restaurant in downtown Manhattan, (nibbling on a soy-cheese sandwich no less) and got the scoop that Natalie is once more vegan. There had been doubts this was the case in a recent interview she gave with Jake Gyllenhaal, but that’s all cast aside now, and we have author Jonathan Safran Foer to thank for it. Portman scored an early release of his upcoming non-fiction work Eating Animals and switched from vegetarian to vegan immediately after reading it. Here’s a brief description of the book:

Brilliantly synthesizing philosophy, literature, science, memoir and his own detective work, Eating Animals explores the many fictions we use to justify our eating habits-from folklore to pop culture to family traditions and national myth-and how such tales can lull us into a brutal forgetting.

You might remember Safran Foer for his incredible book (which was made into a movie starring Elijah Wood) titled Everything Is Illuminated.

Anyways, Portman reveals that as a result of the book, she plans on becoming much more involved with animal rights. “There are certain things you can have different opinions on, but then other things, like torturing animals, [are] just wrong,” she said.

We couldn’t have said it better. Check out the rest of the interview here or preorder “Eating Animals” here.

Please say this isn’t true. Please say this isn’t true. Please say this isn’t true.

One of my all time favorite vegans, Natalie Portman, recently sat down with Jake Gyllenhaal for a chat in Interview Magazine. Half way through the piece, Gyllenhaal asks Portman about her favorite foods. Here’s how it went down:

GYLLENHAAL: Okay. What’s your favorite food?

PORTMAN: Well, I don’t think you can really improve upon Carvel ice cream cake.

GYLLENHAAL: I’m more Baskin-Robbins style myself.

PORTMAN: Oh really? I am so Carvel. Did I just bring us back to 1985 Long Island?

Now don’t freak yet! Natalie is a fairly new vegan and just because she likes Carvel, that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s still eating it.

What do you think? Is Natalie done with the vegan thing? Put on your detective hat and tell us what you think!

You can read the whole interview at InterviewMagazine.com.

While I’m still ril, ril angry with Padma “Sell Out” Lakshmi for doing those atrocious Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. commercials, I still got super excited when Top Chef Season 6 was announced this morning.

True, I can’t eat a damn thing they make (and I’m pretty much morally against it all), but I still find myself glued to the tube envisioning how I will veganize each and every creation. But wait! Will they veganize it for me this year?

While scrolling through the exciting list of guests, I couldn’t help but notice the name “Natalie Portman.”

As many know, Natalie is a long-time veggie and went fully vegan last year. Although Portman doesn’t talk about her veganism to any great extent, she once owned a vegan shoe line and judged the eco competition on Project Runway.

So will the chefs have to cook vegan for (my future wife) Natalie? I’m betting YES, YES, YES!

The new season begins August 26th at 9 p.m. Visit BravoTV.com to learn more!

(Oh yea, and this is NSFW for language only…)