Honouring a vegan vow

As The AM Show enters its fifth year on screen, Mark Richardson (below left) is making his co-host Duncan Garner (right) play with a straight bat over his no-meat election pledge. Sarah Nealon reports.

Duncan Garner is not afraid to make bold statements on The AM Show.

And his spur-of-the-moment pre-election pledge to become vegan for a year should one political party be able to govern alone has come back to bite him. When Labour won outright, The AM Show co-host was reminded of his on-screen promise.

“I think someone might have mentioned to him, ‘Oh you need to go vegan now don’t you?’,” says Garner’s co-host Mark Richardson recalling the Monday morning after the election. “Duncan sort of went, ‘Oh yeah’. But then it dawned on him that he had to. Later on in the morning I think the reality of it started to settle in.” When the TV Guide spoke with Garner he was a couple of months into his 12-month vegan diet stint. “I knew nothing about it when I made the promise,” says Garner. “What an

idiot. But the flavours pop once you’re a vegan and you’re looking for wholesome flavours.

“I haven’t had meat for two months and I’ve got all these police officers keeping an eye on me, like my son. They keep offering me different bits of meat but it’s, ‘No I can’t have that’. They are just trying to test me.”

While his diet may be plant based, Garner isn’t about to give up pursuits like hunting and fishing – activities he continues to enjoy with his son, Buster.

“We were away camping with some friends for a weekend,” says Garner. “I caught a snapper and I had to cut its guts out and then put it on the barbecue and watch the others eat it while I had these plant-based sausages.

“They were loving it. They were giving me everything. It’s going to be a long year.”

Richardson believes Garner has the willpower and determination to stay on track with his vegan commitment. However, existing on a plant-based diet does have its challenges. For starters, Garner still has to make meat dishes for

Buster.

He recalls when he was sent two eye fillets at work and then taking them home to cook up for Buster.

“He just devoured the steak slowly in front of my eyes,” says Garner. “I did think when I was cooking it up for him, ‘Hmm that’s quite nice’.”

Garner doesn’t expect to continue with a vegan diet once his year is up, but he suspects he will eat less meat.

“I think I’ll probably be a flexitarian,” says Garner. “I might have two or three plant-based meals a week.”

Richardson reckons Garner is doing well with his new diet, but it does mean that going out for meals can be tricky.

When the pair went to a restaurant together, Richardson had a fish dish followed by steak while Garner was presented with a fern frond on a bed of rice.

Richardson says he doesn’t feel sorry for Garner.

“He’s doing this as a punishment,” he says of his colleague’s diet. “He’s not doing this for the betterment of it.”

Richardson says if Garner visits him this summer he won’t be barbecuing him vegan sausages.

“I refuse to barbecue anything that doesn’t sizzle,” says Richardson.

“Vegan sausages don’t sizzle when you put them on a barbecue. He’s welcome to bring his own. I am a DIY barbecue restaurant but the restaurant doesn’t specifically cater for vegans.”

The AM Show presenters both like cooking on the barbecue, but Richardson believes his barbecue skills are superior to Garner’s.

“I think Duncan will back me up

“I knew nothing about it (being vegan) when I made the promise. What an idiot. But the flavours pop once you’re a vegan and you’re looking for wholesome flavours.” – Duncan Garner

on this,” he says. “He was mighty impressed with my offerings at Christmas time a couple of years back when he came over.”

Garner agrees Richardson is superior at outdoor cooking.

“Mark will claim this,” says Garner.

“But he is so indecisive about barbecues that he has to put two on. One is a gas one and one is with charcoal. You have to guess which (meat) is done on charcoal and which is done on the gas barbecue.

“Last time I was there the gas was second place to the charcoal. If you want to know about Mark’s barbecuing, he’s become a reverse searer.

“He will cook the meat and then sear it at the end rather than sear it at the beginning.

“He thinks he’s come across some amazingly masterful design way to cook meat. But it’s been going for a long time.”

Richardson and Garner, who host The AM Show with Amanda Gillies, like to joke around but also share a mutual respect for each other. “I find him quite a mentor especially on the political topics,” says Richardson of Garner. “He’s got so much experience but also, when the cameras aren’t rolling, he really does skill you up on the political landscape and how everything works and why people may have said X, Y and Z.” Garner says the first time he met Richardson was when Three approached the former Black Cap and The Crowd Goes Wild presenter to be part of The AM Show. “He was quite straight and serious,” says Garner. “But once I got to know him – and it didn’t take long – he’s a great guy. I think he’s very misunderstood actually. People who desperately don’t want to like him, end up liking him because he’s his own man. He is what he is.”

“I refuse to barbecue anything that doesn’t sizzle. Vegan sausages don’t sizzle when you put them on a barbecue.” – Mark Richardson