MASTERCHEF: The Professionals viewers have slammed the popular cooking show for a “disappointing” problem with the dishes.
The knives are out for the BBC flagship show hosted by Gregg Wallace, Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing – and it doesn’t look good.
Some fans of the series have complained that the contestants serve up too many meat and fish dishes, and not enough vegetarian options
The programme-makers insist the recipes reflect "what is happening in professional kitchens up and down the country".
But it has been claimed that the show has featured meat and fish savoury dishes nine times more than vegetarian alternatives.
As a result, the Vegetarian Society said the focus on meat and seafood risks turning the show into a "dinosaur" that fails to reflect the public's change in tastes.
The society, which believes nearly one million people Brits are now vegan, has called for the programme to change direction to cast more vegetarian chefs.
On Thursday night, Dan Lee, 29, from Birmingham, was crowned champion of the latest series after knocking out a very non-veggie Singapore chilli crab followed by chicken rice in the final.
By the end of the semis, just ten out of 100 savoury dishes presented by contestants were vegetarian – only two of those were vegan.
Analysis revealed that 40 per cent of dishes featured seafood, 37 per cent red meat and 13 per cent poultry.
Vegetarian Society chief executive Richard McIlwain said he was "endlessly" frustrated at the amount of meat and fish dishes that are prepared.
He said: "Are these programmes turning into dinosaurs, not just because more people are turning vegetarian and vegan, but because many people are cutting out meat, particularly in terms of climate change?
"Where is that being reflected in the cookery shows?’"
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The criticism comes amid evidence restaurants are buying less meat – partly because profit margins are higher on vegetarian dishes but also due to shifting tastes.
A spokesman for MasterChef said: "There have been vegetarian and vegan dishes set as skills tests in every recent series and the judges have also set plant-based challenges.
"For the rest of the series the chefs choose their own dishes to best showcase their own unique skill set and in recent years we have seen an increase in plant-orientated food from contestants."
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