Just how sexy is vegetarianism?

FORMER Bolton School pupil Sir Ian McKellen has been nominated for yet another award - World's Sexiest Vegetarian. As Gordon Ramsay refuses to serve vegetarian Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole, in his restaurant, we ask: how sexy is vegetarianism? Meat-free Andrew Mosley and steak-loving Kat Dibbits thrash it out.

The Case For: Andrew Mosley

Research has shown that vegetarians are generally more intelligent

IS vegetarianism sexy? Of course it is. Vegetarians looking good include Girls Aloud's Cheryl Tweedy and Morrissey, who despite being an NHS bespectacled poetic sort, managed to send thousands of teens into uncontrollable rapture simply by walking on stage.

The meat-eater in the sexiest list? Gordon Ramsay, whose poor skin attests to a life of scoffing the flesh of dead animals.

Basically, eat too much meat and you'll have heart problems or look like former Coronation Street butcher Fred Elliott. Not good.

Those who think being vegetarian involves a diet of lentils only need to look at the fact that Greens in West Didsbury won the Manchester restaurant of the year 2005 - against competition from all those meat-serving establishments in the city.

The tired argument about lack of vitamins and protein doesn't hold water anymore as vegetarian products these days are packed full of nutrients and have literally brought the leaps and bounds back into a meat-free life, without the fat, sluggish feeling you're left with after munching on a gut-busting mixed grill for instance.

Meat eating damages the environment and health and, contributes to global hunger. Oh, and slaughter is not sexy, unless you're some kind of sadist.

Foie-gras, for instance - force feeding geese and ducks vast quantities of food so that their livers swell up to 10 times their natural size - is not sexy.

Being veggie cuts your chances of contracting cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. And, research has proved, it gives you more energy. It also improves your skin - though obviously not if you replace meat with crisps and chips.

Being vegetarian used to be difficult and generally involved quiche, lasagne or some rubbery meat substitute. Now, as more people realise not eating meat helps the environment and the developing world, as well as their own bodies, it's becoming a lifestyle choice for many, so the big companies have responded by cramming their shelves with the likes of cranberry and brie roasts, aubergine and halloumi bakes and meat-free sausages that don't taste that much different from the "real" thing.

Carrots, lettuce and vegetable tarts do not feature much these days. Choice in restaurants isn't a problem either as, with the number of young vegetarians on the increase, owners have realised where future cash will come from.

Research has shown that vegetarians are generally more intelligent, though this is because the more sensitive types are likely to leave meat alone just as they are more likely to listen to The Smiths than a bonehead metal band.

Finally, a couple of years back, in the interests of a health feature, I underwent sessions of colonic irrigation and through the tube came lots of pieces of stringy meat - the vegetables had been digested properly, you see - more than 17 years after I last ate any. Meat eating, sexy. I don't think so.

The Case Against: Kat Dibbits

Eating meat . . . puts us in touch with the animal inside us

CARROTS? Lettuce? You call that sexy? Ok, so that's a stereotype, but it's not that far from the truth, either. Face it boys, women like their men to be men, and that's not likely to be the impression they get if their bloke would rather pick vegetable tart than rare steak in a fancy restaurant.

Gordon Ramsay (who featured in last year's New Woman 100 sexiest men list, so he should know) certainly thinks it's the case - he refuses to serve vegetarian meals in his restaurant, and admonished Girls Aloud's Cheryl Cole out for requesting a meat-free option.

And Gordon, as I'm sure his wife Tana will tell you, is All Man. Especially when compared to Coldplay's Chris Martin and the incredibly irritating actor Tobey Maguire, both previous winners of the Sexiest Vegetarian award.

Most women seem to be turning to vegetarianism to lose weight (and a glance at the list suggests a preponderance of jutting collarbones, a la Popworld's Alexa Chung and actress-type Summer Phoenix), and looking like a boy isn't sexy at all. They've got no meat on them - literally. Or they're the oh-so-worthy type (Heather Mills is nominated - puh-lease) who frankly would bore you to death before you even started to wonder what they looked like in their scanties.

Now, I'm pretty sure that my colleague on the other side of this page will tell you a gruesome story about colonic irrigation, and use it as proof that we shouldn't be munching on the poor fluffy animals. Well maybe he should chew his food better. I mean, if we're getting medical here, scientists have shown that vegetarian women are more likely to have irregular periods and lack of vitamin D can cause rickets. Lovely. And yes, they might well live longer. While I'm sure that there are people who enjoy a full and active sex life at the age of 120, I can't help but suspect that that's the exception, not the rule.

And, I'm sorry if this offends the people who believe that meat comes pre-packaged in the supermarket and has nothing to do with actual animals, but there's something primal about a piece of fillet that's barely been introduced to a frying pan. If sexiness is about sensual pleasures, then that has to be right up there. It puts us in touch, quite literally, with the animal inside us, and you shouldn't expect your inner lion to choose the tofu option?

I'd probably go so far as to say that if a man told me he was vegetarian, it would put me off dating him (luckily, not a problem). Who wants to deal with the sighing over the lack of choice in restaurants? Who wants to have to cook special meals' when want you really fancy is lamb in Shrewsbury sauce? Not me. I want a man who can sweep me off my feet and - to steal an old joke - I'm not sure a vegetarian would have the energy. Can you imagine James Bond as a vegetarian? Didn't think so.

If further proof were needed that turning vegetarian actually impairs your ability to judge the attractiveness of the opposite sex, just look at last year's winner - Prince. Talented, yes. But the pint sized pop star certainly wouldn't be my number one choice of date.

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