Hooray for Cooking Shows (Vegan Ones!)

I'm a Dexter fan, and while I look at the clock a dozen times on Sunday night in anticipation of 9 o'clock, when I plop down on the couch,  I can never remember what channel Showtime is. Is it 736 or 543 or 536 or 576...and it's inevitably a couple of minutes past 9 by the time I find it, just when he's slapping the mosquito on his arm in the fabulous open. But Food Network and Cooking Channel - I can't get those numbers out of my head. I know exactly what they are (747 and 182), and I don't skip a beat going back and forth at commercial breaks.
     Now, I'm talking actual cooking shows, not food shows or competitions like Iron Chef, Chopped or Restaurant Impossible. Rachel Ray, Bobby Flay, Down Home with the McNeelys -- just real cooking. Not that I like what they cook -- usually slabs of some poor animal -- but the successful cooking show hosts all seem to be having fun in the kitchen. This is one reason a year ago I started Miyoko's Kitchen. Produced for local cable, the show aims to make vegan cooking fun and accessible for mainstream audiences by taking the fear out of kale and tofu. It's a small production made by a wonderful group of volunteers at the local community access station, but of course, I'd like to reach a bigger audience.
      Then recently, an opportunity arose for me to be part of a show for Delicious TV. Vegan Mash-up is the name of the  new show designed for public television, and is the brainchild of Betsy Carson, the producer of Delicious TV.  What's unique about this show is that it features not just one, but three chefs on a regular basis, plus  a guest chef each week as well. The three regulars? Real stars: Terry Hope Romero of Post-Punk Kitchen fame, Toni Fiore, star of Totally Vegetarian, which has been on PBS for years, and me. Each of us will be cooking in our own kitchens in different parts of the country, but putting together a cohesive meal. And to really make things sizzle, a guest chef on each episode will add some action.
       This is the kind of creative programming we need to get folks excited about switching to a plant-based diet. Delicious TV is starting with a six-episode series, and needs your support to get this project launched. Please take a moment to check out the trailer (http://www.indiegogo.com/Delicious-TVs-Vegan-Mashup) and then share it, tweet it, email it, spread the word, and if possible, support it. With your help, the show will grace television sets from Tennessee to Maine to Montana to California and reach out to a broad audience that will learn the benefits of vegan cuisine.
       And one of these days before next season, I'm going to learn what channel Dexter is on.