Brazilian Chef Rejects Prince William’s Vegan Banquet: “It’s Like Asking Iron Maiden to Play Jazz”
In the International Business Times, Annalyn Zoglmann reports that a Brazilian chef has said “thanks, but no thanks” to cooking for Prince William after being told his Earthshot banquet had to be vegan. Here’s an excerpt:
When Brazilian chef Saulo Jennings received an invitation to cook for an heir to the British throne, he imagined serving dishes that reflected the heart of his homeland.
Jennings, known for his deep respect for Amazonian ingredients and sustainable cooking, had one clear vision: to present the pirarucu, a massive river fish that has become a symbol of ecological recovery in the Amazon.
But when organisers of the Earthshot Prize told him the menu for the November 5th awards ceremony in Rio de Janeiro had to be entirely vegan, Jennings balked. What began as a dream opportunity quickly turned into a cultural standoff over what sustainability really means.
“It’s like asking Iron Maiden to play jazz,” Jennings told the New York Times. “It was a lack of respect for our culinary traditions and for the Amazon itself.”
Founded by Prince William in 2020, the Earthshot Prize honours innovation in environmental protection. This year’s event, held at Rio’s futuristic Museum of Tomorrow, will host about 700 guests, including heads of state, scientists and climate advocates.
For Jennings, being chosen as caterer was both an honour and a chance to show that sustainability is more complex than simply removing animal products from a menu.
He said he initially thought there had been a misunderstanding. He offered to include vegan options but explained that excluding fish altogether would erase a central part of Amazonian identity.
When organisers confirmed the vegan requirement, he began developing plant-based dishes inspired by local produce such as cassava root, jambu leaf and Brazil nuts. By then, however, negotiations had broken down and he was replaced as caterer. …
Jennings’s frustration stems from more than pride. For years, he has joined community-led efforts proving that sustainability and tradition can coexist. The pirarucu, once endangered by overfishing, has rebounded thanks to conservation programmes that regulate when and how it is caught. The fish now sustains entire river communities and offers an alternative to deforestation.
Worth reading in full.
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If fish were good enough for Christ then William shouldn’t only want to eat the vegan loaves.
So much for diversity. Or respect for culture. Or statesmanship. Or good manners. I’m certain Queen Elizabeth would have achieved a different, less embarrassing outcome. The monarchy has run its course.
The Brazilians had the right approach to monarchy
Seriously, is this snoozefest what passes for ‘news’ these days? So a disgruntled chef didn’t want to cook the required menu, then the organisers of the event went ahead and found a chef who would cook a vegan banquet. The End.😴
Maybe not ‘news’ but I find it immensely cheering when someone tells ultra-woke Wills to get stuffed.
Did you have a particular stuffing in mind for Woke Will? Sage and onion is plant-based, but I’d have thought a Royal feast deserves a foie gras stuffing…
And…Sage and onion are not plant-based – they ARE plants. In the old days they were called vegetables and herbs and that seemed to be sufficient.
Yes, the arrogance of him.
Well done to that Brazilian chef for having the courage to resist the Globalist Vegan agenda, even at the risk of losing his dream career opportunity! Let us remember his name: Saulo Jennings, Brazilian Patriot, Defender of his Brazilian People, their culture, and their fish! Speaking of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, rewarding innovation in environmental protection, imagine what would happen to native wildlife if 500,000 huge Brazilian Pirarucu fish, up to ten feet long and weighing 550 pounds each, were brought to Britain and released into British rivers. Well, that’s what has already happened with 500,000 = HALF A MILLION Alien Giant Redwood trees brought as CLONES to Britain and planted all over the place. There are only 80,000 Giant Redwoods in their own natural habitat of America’s west coast, where they are kept in check by the natural dryness of the climate in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This is going to be a much more dangerous invasive species than Leylandii, or Mink, or Japanese Knotweed, Bamboo, Grey Squirrels and countless other environmental disasters that have already happened. One researcher at University College London admitted that there have been no studies on the effects of Alien Giant Redwood trees on… Read more »
For example:
“A prominent 22-meter tall landmark in Epping, known as the Giant Redwood, is causing damage to nearby properties by drawing excessive moisture from the soil, leading to subsidence and cracks in buildings. An application has been filed to remove this landmark, which has a preservation order, along with other nearby trees recommended for removal or height reduction. Alternatives such as root barriers are being considered but require further evaluation by the Epping Forest District Council.”
Protected Giant Redwood tree in Epping could be cut down because its damaging houses – Redwood Trees
Giant redwoods: World’s largest trees ‘thriving in UK’ – BBC News
Upticks often don’t work on DS.
An earlier application to chop it down was about to be approved when a public petition organised by The Epping Society (full disclosure, I’m a former Chairman) gained enough votes to make councillors refuse.
The redwood was there long before the flats. Underpinning is a well known technology.
How utterly ridiculous, it is not a native species and should be removed.
Yes, the sale and planting of Alien Giant Redwoods, and Leylandii, should be completely banned in the UK, and existing trees cut down.
Underpinning is only a temporary solution for low branches, which just keep growing. Once the monster’s bare trunk is soaring high above, as one American who mistakenly built a large log cabin surrounded by Giant Redwood trees pointed out,
“That thing drops a branch and your house is gone!”
A couple of years ago, the Irish government was seriously considering banning the sale, planting and importation of Leylandii trees, but nothing came of it.
Underpinning is only a temporary solution for low branches, which just keep growing. Once the monster’s bare trunk is soaring high above, as one American who mistakenly built a large log cabin surrounded by Giant Redwood trees pointed out, “That thing drops a branch and your house is gone!” They also act like giant sponges, soaking up all the groundwater, and everyone who supports planting these monsters in the UK should be forced to take a trip to the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, walk through a Giant Redwood/ Sequoia forest, and see how dry and barren it is, bereft of wildlife. Nothing grows beneath them, because their roots don’t grow downwards like an oak, but laterally in all directions, forming a huge mat of twisted roots only a few meters below the surface, absorbing all the soil nutrients into themselves, ending up like an Enormous Fungus. We have all been deceived into Worshipping Trees, and we need to wake up to the fact that they are parasitic upon the earth, blocking out the Sun, soaking up the water, killing all other wildlife beneath them, and even resorbing all the oxygen they emit during the day back into themselves at… Read more »
Perhaps it could be felled in such a way that it landed in the bell hotel?
Good idea, but get the Indigenous staff out of there first!
Give it a hundred years and there’ll be no native species left.
Of trees OR people.
Yes, there is even a Giant Redwood in the Sierra Nevada Mountains that was cut down by lumberjacks a hundred years ago, which has now sprouted no less than TEN OTHER TREES growing in a circle out of its stump. The things are like Triffids!
Excellent point on grey squirrels who have decimated the UK’s native squirrel population which has fallen dramatically. Grey squirrels are bigger and more powerful and love acorn, the red squirrels main source of energy. The result is that weak reds have lost the ability to reproduce. If that’s not enough, the greys, immune to squirrelpox virus, transmit the deadly virus to the reds.
Next, they cause extensive damage to woodlands representing a major threat to the UK’s forestry.
Next, the imported greys are predators known to raid the nests of songbirds, consuming their eggs and chicks (my main reason for disliking them).
Last but not least, they destroy lawns, garden flowers and they often enter lofts, where they gnaw on woodwork, strip insulation from electrical wires, and contaminate water tanks with their droppings.
There are still red squirrels in Northumberland and on the Isle of Wight
I always find it amusing to see people feeding them in London parks. If they had a long thin tails, rather than a soft bushy one they’d run a mile.
Thanks for providing that important information. I thought that red squirrels didn’t strip the bark off woodland trees, but I discovered just now that they do. However, their numbers have always been small enough to allow the woodlands to recover from any damage. Grey squirrel population densities quickly grew so large that woodlands cannot recover from the widespread damage of bark-stripping.
Good for him.
Personally I find people that get excited by these awards and prizes a bit sad.
The whole dynamic is so childish. One group of people (the cool people who sit above others) give out prizes to social wannabes who by playing the game literally put themselves beneath the cool people.
I, Prince William, will award you a prize for doing good innovative things for the environment. Er… sorry William, what exactly have you done that puts you in a position to judge other people’s endeavours? Oh right, yeah, be born. Brilliant.
It’s all so pathetic.
And obviously this guy is legend for doing what everyone should do which is not give a toss about the silly little prize.
Indigenous traditions are all the rage but only for as long as they’re compatible with
Western dietary fads.
Spot on!
Shame the heir to the throne did not think he should engage a British chef or even a commonwealth one. I suppose Mandleson was the adviser?
it doesn’t look well for supporting UK farmers or the UK fishing industry when we get it back from France
The prize is being awarded in Rio, A Brazilian chef is clearly the right option.
So her didn’t reject anything?
“When organisers confirmed the vegan requirement, he began developing plant-based dishes inspired by local produce such as cassava root, jambu leaf and Brazil nuts. By then, however, negotiations had broken down and he was replaced as caterer. …”
Be honest in your article headlines please
Yes I clocked that too, but I wasn’t clear if the author meant *in addition* to or *instead of* his beloved fish. But either way, I really don’t understand how a chef turning down ( or being refused ) a job is remotely newsworthy. This piece is best consigned to the Round-Up: to be overlooked and unacknowledged. I maintain this is a nothing burger, and I believe they’re vegan-friendly.🍽🍔
In other words, ‘clickbait’
No! I thought this article was very interesting. It’s good to know what’s happening in other lands far from our own.
I’m always surprised when reading comments on American websites, when commenters complain about any articles dealing with foreign countries as “Not Relevant”.
He DID reject it at first!
“He offered to include vegan options but explained that excluding fish altogether would erase a central part of Amazonian identity.”
He only began developing alternatives because he was FORCED to do so.
As far as I’m aware Prince William is not vegan, so this is all just the sort of pathetic virtue signalling that we have come to expect.
I trust that the far from sustainable Royal will be attending on Teams, as should all the other delegates to this wokefest.
No that’s just for the little people – the big wigs get to burn some serious fuel…
Good grief. So when Charlie-Boy pops his £5000 clogs, we’re going to get another dose of the Windsor derangement from Williams.
Time to retire the Royals.
Good for him. Give him the earthshot prize and cancel the jamboree.
Good for Jennings for speaking out and refusing to take on the task! More fool Prince William for requesting a woke style meal, and not realising his insult to the chef.
William is as potty as his father…
According to the Telegraph, William hasn’t asked for the vegan menu, it’s the organisers. I’m not saying he isn’t woke, just it appears he’s not responsible for this.
And the chef is so bothered about respecting the Amazon that he’s cooking for COP30, which has just hacked a 6 lane highway out of the forest 🤔