SPOILER ALERT!!

The 6th season of Top Chef began last night and already we’re kind of bummed.

For the elimination challenge the chefs were asked to make a dish based on one of their vices. While many chose something related to alcohol or cigarettes, Jen went with her hot temper.

To help demonstrate this vice, Jen decided to make a chile relleno stuffed with seitan. Yep…SEITAN!!! (I couldn’t see how the dish was made, so I’m not sure if the entire thing was VEG, but just using a vegetarian protein is a pretty big deal for a show like Top Chef.)

Of  course the other contestants scoffed at the young chef and the judges weren’t too happy either. At one point Head Judge Tom Colicchio commented that he didn’t care if the protein was seitan or chicken or beef…he just wanted it cooked well.

At the end of the day Jen was asked to pack her knives and go and Team Veg lost a point. Crap!

Check out a recap from the episode below.

Russell Simmons’

The benefit party is one of the most anticipated events of the year and helps raise money for Simmons’ Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation — an organization started by Simmons to connect disadvantaged youth with art programs.

The online auction includes a slew of extra special experiences, including a chance to join an intimate (vegan) dinner with Bill Clinton at Simmons’ private residence in New York on July 20. Other items include the chance to meet Deepak Chopra and Ice T, yoga lessons with Simmons, meet-and-greets with Third Eye Blind and Fall Out Boy, exclusive tickets to Coldplay, and much more.

The Art For Life Garden Benefit Party will be held on July 18th and will feature an extraordinary vegan dinner prepared by world famous chef Tom Colicchio. 

To learn more about this amazing event visit RushPhilanthropic.org!  To take part in the online auction, stop by ArtForLifeHamptons.com!

Cameron Diaz — along with other celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Colicchio and Salman Rushdie — has designed a lunch box to help benefit hunger relief. Called “The Lunchbox Auction”, all proceeds raised through sales of the creative designs will benefit the Food Bank for New York City and The Lunchbox Fund — which provides lunch to impoverished school children in South Africa.

Not surprisingly, Diaz’s creation is green-themed. One side depicts remnants of an environmental friendly lunch of whole foods and a metal fork. The other side shows a wasteful lunch: paper, plastic fork and cup, and a juice box. Actress Ellen Page, of Juno fame, took an entirely different route and created a lobster trap box, complete with stuffed lobster. Looks like a real bummer of a lunch box to me!

The auction will go until next Thursday — starting bids are at $100. Click here to learn more!

I know it’s strange that I’m vegan and my very, very favorite show in the history of the world is Top Chef, but what are you gonna do? True, I squirm a little every time someone says veal demi glace or uses foie gras, but my love of cooking and the chefs creativity keeps me glued each and every week. In fact, (and I’m a little embarrassed to admit this) Top Chef is the only show in my 25 years of living that I’ve watched every single episode of for all four seasons. So you can imagine how starstruck I was when I heard that head judge Tom Colicchio took part in Taste of the Nation Atalanta to help raise money for Share Our Strengths.

Share Our Strengths is an organization that weaves together community groups, activists and food programs to reduce the hunger amongst children in need and provide them with nutritious meals.

The event was held at the Georgia Aquarium and featured gourmet food from 50 of Atlanta’s best restaurants. There was also a live auction that offered a top prize of dinner for 11 at the winner’s home. Rumor has it the bidding got so high that midway through the chefs changed the number from 11 to 14 and Ted Turner, honorary chairperson for the event, offered to match the top bid. By the end, the dinner ended up going for 17,000 dollars which went straight to Share Our Strengths.

Now I know that the evening was full of foods that many of us would consider “not very green”, and yeah, I wish the mainstream culinary world would recognize vegetarian cooking a little more, but the point is that a group of chefs donated their time to help raise money for a bunch of people who really need it. And we can’t forget that animal rights includes all animals…including humans. So comment if you will with threats of vegetarian treason, but like the contestants on Top Chef who stand by their dish, this guy stands by his post.