Ageless childhood icon, Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster, recently visited the Washington Post, where journalist Bonnie S. Benwick says “[h]e came, he saw, he conquered,” regarding a vegan cookie recipe concocted and sampled by the furry, blue Muppet himself.
The recipe comes from Cookie Monster’s new cookbook: “The Joy of Cookies: Cookie Monster’s Guide to Life,” by Sesame Street Imprint. Being the non-confrontational, inclusivity-promoting Muppet he is, Cookie Monster’s recipe dubbed “Every-Monster Cookies” are free of animal products, as well as being gluten-free and nut-free (and and therefore lactose-free and cholesterol-free).
“The only thing better than eating cookies is sharing cookies,” Cookie Monster said. “Me want to share cookies with all Me friends – even vegan and gluten-free monsters – so Me found perfect recipe that everyone can share.”
Despite being 49, in human years that is, this was the first publishing endeavor of the cookie-gobbling icon’s doing, which he accredits to: “over the years Me has had many profound thoughts about cookies. Big, important, delicious thoughts. Me could not just keep them to meself forever!” Cookie Monster adds that his affinity for cookies as a primary component of his diet began “back when Me was cute little baby monster. One bite, and Me knew.”
Cookie Monster’s tell-cookie-all interview with Benwick proceeds to discuss his overall diet, outside of all those cookies — which he’s taken some flack for in recent years as efforts to combat childhood obesity and diabetes have been on the upswing. “Me enjoy a well-balanced diet. Cookies, meat, fish, fruit, veg-e-ta-bles, cookies … canoe, truck, bicycle … corners of very tasty book … did Me say cookies?”
While a well-balanced diet is critical to growing monsters, Cookie Monster, and his human friends, don’t need meat or fish for health. Now that the market for vegan and plant-based meat, milk, cheese, and, yes, cookies, has gone mainstream, there are delicious offerings suitable for any Monster. Cookie Monster could still enjoy eating meat and fish as a vegan or vegetarian. And adhering to such a healthy diet could even afford him an extra cookie or two now-and-then as well.
Image Credit: Sesame Street | Sarah L. Voisin for Washington Post | Wikimedia Commons
