A TV Host Forgot Ghee Is Butter and Served It to a Vegan

Most of last Sunday’s episode of Sunday Brunch went exactly how you’d expect it to go. There was some light, mostly innocuous banter from co-hosts Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer and their guests, and there were some gently awkward moments during the cooking portions of the Channel 4 program.

Lovejoy and Rimmer welcomed English singer Jessie Ware to the show, and she brought her favorite meatball recipe with her—a recipe that Rimmer, a former chef, suggested that she might’ve borrowed from him. “Your meatball recipe is almost exactly the same as mine,” he said. “No, in a good way […] The thing is, with meatballs, quite often people make meatballs and they’re just like round burgers.”

Then Lovejoy made a comment about “the balls” and about trying not to squeeze them too tightly, and everyone laughed and laughed because BALLS. During the same episode, chef and restaurateur Asma Khan appeared to prepare masoor dal and prawns cooked in ghee which, fine, so far, so good.

She then served her meal to the hosts and their guests, including English comic Jon Richardson and his sitcom cohost-slash-wife Lucy Beaumont. Richardson is vegan, so he swerved the prawns, but did eat a spoonful of the dal.

The show went to commercial, and when it returned, Rimmer had to give an impromptu on-air apology to Richardson for accidentally serving him butter. “Earlier on in the previous cooking item, I may have informed guests that the dhal was in fact vegan,” he said. “It was, of course, ghee used in the recipe, which isn’t vegan. I allowed Jon Richardson, who is indeed a vegan, to eat some of it.” (Ghee, a clarified butter, is made with cow’s milk, so it’s vegetarian friendly but decidedly not vegan.)

“On behalf of myself and the Sunday Brunch team, I would like to sincerely apologize and hope I haven’t offended you and spoiled your life,” Rimmer said.

Richardson seemed mostly OK with it, joking that Rimmer would have to “take responsibility” if he got sick during his on-camera interview. He also said that there was “no reason” why it couldn’t have been made with some kind of vegan spread instead of any animal products.

Beaumont also sold him out a bit, reminding him that he’d recently had a halloumi burger. “Let’s move on,” Richardson said, and everyone laughed and laughed.

So, just to recap, butter made from cow’s milk isn’t vegan, everyone laughs at the word “balls,” and the best part about “Sunday Brunch” is that it airs on a British television network that has nothing to do with Piers Morgan.