How green is my plate?

Today Hollywood, Bollywood and all the rest of the celeb world celebrates World Vegetarian Day. As you might expect, it's not without the odd catfight.

Presents a reality TV show? Check. Is a practising Buddhist? Check. Hangs out with Tom Cruise? Check. If there is one A-lister who has mastered the art of latching onto trends just before they become fads, it must be Victoria Beckham.

It is not too hard, therefore, to understand the slight malaise that made its way through the herbivore community when Posh Spice announced a while ago that she is saying no to meat.

Your run-of-the-mill carnivore might wonder what all this has to do with the price of spinach, but those who follow the inside politics of the global vegetarianism noticed a flurry of activity among those who wanted to prove that Beckham is, in fact, a faux vegetarian.

She eats fish, quite a few blogs pointed out. Technically that makes her a piscetarian, rather than a vegetarian. Could Piscetarian Spice be claiming the credentials of vegetarianism just because of the (understandable) un-poshness of reading that horrid sounding title in OK! or Hello?

Other critics pointed to an interview in which she had admitted that she loves cooking mince meat for husband David and the boys – a sure indication, some believed, that her choice to go green has more to do with her hips than her heart.

And then everything came to a head last year when Victoria and David allowed celebrity chef friend Gordon Ramsay (the bane of all vegetarians) to let some of his lambs graze on their country estate. What did the Beckhams think, that he was breeding them for the wool?

"She was more than happy to let the sheep roam around her grounds," a spokesperson of Beckham said in a statement about the controversy. "But as devout vegetarian, she will be distraught to learn that they're going to be killed."

Such are the pressures of going green.

Fangs

It is often thought that vegetarians should be bunny huggers, all peace and love like angel faced Alicia Silverstone when she recently posed nude for Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

But as Posh's failed attempt to gain entry into the halls of herbivore stardom showed, vegetarians can have fangs that would put carnivores to shame.

A while ago Pamela Anderson, one of Peta's most renowned spokespeople, went on Australian radio to denounce starlet Jessica Simpson as a "b**** and a w****" because Simpson had worn a T-shirt saying "Real Girls Eat Meat". Anderson even accused Simpson of sexual perversity.

So strong are Anderson's veggie convictions that she convinced husband Tommy Lee to give up meat. Whether this was heartfelt or whether it was a case of Anderson's domestic dictatorship is unsure – a few months ago, Lee admitted that breaking up with meat was harder than any of his break-ups with his buxom ex. "There's been two times now, where I've driven by In-N-Out [a burger chain] and I'm like ‘Pull the car over, I need a triple-triple burger, dude'," he was widely quoted as saying.

Vegetarians, it seems, are willing to pull all the stops when they fight for what they believe in.

A-herbivores

The number of A-listers who swear by a veggie diet is almost endless. Alyssa Milano, Amitabh Bachchan, Alicia Silverstone, Anna Paquin, Anne Hathaway, Andy Serkis, Ariana Huffington, Ashley Judd, Avril Lavigne — and that's just the list that literally starts with an A.

"There is a galaxy of vegetarian stars," Ashley Fruno, senior campaign manager of Peta Asia-Pacifid told tabloid!. "Hollywood heart throbs Tobey Maguire, Josh Hartnett, Kristen Bell, Russell Brand, Milo Ventimiglia, Casey Affleck, and Hayden Panettiere. Natalie Portman, Pam Anderson, Joaquin Phoenix and Alicia Silverstone, in addition to being vegan, refuse to wear animal skins, or buy anything tested on animals or containing animal ingredients. Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, John Abraham and Kareena Kapoor are just a few more stars who've given up meat."

Vegetarianism is going mainstream, says Fruno, but meat-eating (as well as other forms of animal abuse) in the entertainment industry, especially in movies, remains a problem.

"Meat-eating has a recurring role in many movies. Whether it's [an animal] on a plate, or an ape in a tutu, we condemn any and all animal abuse in films.

"No other single lifestyle change will make you feel better, reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and several types of cancer, and help save thousands of animals."

So for her own sake, here's hoping Posh really buys into all of that.

Do veggies in Dubai

Why not mark World Vegetarian Day by trying the vegetarian options at these eateries:

• Magnolia, Madinat Jumeirah
• Sai Dham, Oud Metha
• Kamat, Karama
• Lime Tree Cafe, Jumeirah
• Organic Foods and Cafe, Satwa

Movies that will make you order a vegetarian platter:

CHICKEN RUN
Even Gordon Ramsay probably pecks a secret tear when he watches this one. The most hardened connoisseurs of veal calf and foie gras will get a lump in their throat when they see this bunch of roosters finally clear the fence of their feeding lot and permanently escape the danger of becoming Mrs Tweedy's Homemade Chicken Pies. It's escape from the gulag, only with chickens.

WRONG TURN
A long-legged doe-eyed beauty runs through the forest, pursued by salivating hunters who want to shoot her down and feast on her tender flesh. Bambi's mother? No, it's Wrong Turn, one of a slew of movies in which a group of hot pant clad college students get lost in the West Virginia forests, only to stumble upon a lair of inbreds cooking eyeball stew.

One look at what is stuffed in the fridge of this movie's bad guys, and you'll lose much more than your desire for meat.

There's a long tradition of chillers putting viewers off their carnivorous tastes. In their promotional literature, Peta quotes hip-hop mogul Russel Simmons who called cannibal screamer Texas Chainsaw Massacre a "vegetarian movie". "The way that woman was screaming ‘Aaaahhh,' and she's running away – that's how every animal you eat is running for his or her life."

SUPER SIZE ME
It's designed to put you off all fast food, but Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary, in which he spent a month living only on MacDonald's (fries, soda and burgers), forever changed the associations of the phrase "Big Mac Attack". The movie shows Spurlock waking up at night from (admittedly somewhat histrionic) heart palpitations. Now there's something a nice plate of carrots and broccoli will never do to you.

SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON OF FLEET STREET
Why the pale faces? Been eating too much meat? In this movie, Johnny Depp plays a mean barber who murders his customers and has his misnamed friend Mrs Lovett (played by Helena Bonham Carter) turn them into meat pies. Yuck.

FAST FOOD NATION
Names like Bruce Willis, Kris Kristofferson, Ethan Hawke and Greg Kinnear pop up in this movie about a the hidden content of your meat. But is it all true? And is it all just about meat? About a scene shot in a real-life abattoir, the New York Times wrote: "The movie does not neglect the mute, helpless suffering of the cows, but it also acknowledges the status anxiety of the managerial class, the aspirations of the working poor (legal and otherwise) and the frustrations of the dreaming young. It's a mirror and a portrait, and a movie as necessary and nourishing as your next meal."