Professional basketball player DeAndre Jordan—who plays center on NBA team Brooklyn Nets—is the host of new vegan cooking show Cooking Clean which debuts on May 30. The eight-episode show will air on PlayersTV as the first vegan cooking show on the athlete-owned network. An extension of the vegan athlete’s Mindful Life brand, Jordan will demonstrate his vegan culinary skills on each 30-minute episode of Cooking Clean, which is made in partnership with paper towel brand Bounty, and plant-based brands Beyond Meat and Eat Just (maker of mung bean-based JUST Egg).
“Living a mindful life is transformative for your mind, body, spirit, and it’s much simpler than people think,” Jordan said. “I launched Mindful Life last year with PlayersTV to invite audiences to join me on my wellness journey as I explore the many ways to practice mindfulness in our everyday lives. Cooking Clean is one part of that journey, since what you put in your body affects your overall well-being. My hope is that Cooking Clean provides helpful insight into the life-changing benefits of plant-based foods and inspires audiences to embrace a more sustainable diet. It’s been a dream of mine to share my passion for food while having some fun in the kitchen.”
Plant-based cooking for athletes
Cooking Clean will highlight guest chefs and restaurateurs who, together with Jordan, will discuss the benefits of plant-based eating while preparing unique vegan recipes. All of the recipes featured on the show will be released as part of a Mindful Life e-cookbook at the end of each episode to give viewers additional resources to try plant-based cooking.
“Now more than ever, athletes are focusing on healthy eating and mindful living, and DeAndre played a major role in championing this movement,” PlayersTV Co-founder Deron Guidrey said. “He’s brought much needed awareness to the nutritional benefits of a plant-based lifestyle, and we’re excited to launch the first ever athlete-led plant-based cooking show. The series is representative of our larger mission of giving fans unprecedented access to their favorite athletes, while offering players a platform and resources to storytell around the topics and issues that matter most to them. We are also providing brands an opportunity to authentically integrate into unique programming and are excited to have Bounty, Beyond Meat, and JUST Egg on board as brand partners to bring this show to life.”
Plant-based NBA stars
Jordan is part of a group of 14 professional athletes who invested in Beyond Meat in 2019, which also included NBA icon Shaquille O’Neal, current NBA stars (and vegans) Chris Paul, JaVale McGee, and Kyrie Irving, and famous other athletes such as snowboarding legend Shaun White. The athletes are part of Beyond Meat’s “Go Beyond” campaign, which promotes plant-based foods to athletes and sports fans through various efforts.
Since then, Jordan—who is also an Olympic gold medalist—has helped promote plant-based meat to his fans, including by making a personal appearance at a New York location of Dunkin’ to promote the limited launch of the Beyond Breakfast Sausage Sandwich in 2019. Since then, Dunkin’ has expanded the meatless sandwich—ordered vegan by omitting eggs and cheese—to its more than 1,900 locations nationwide and added vegan oat milk to its national menu.
This week, Jordan and fellow NBA star Jrue Holiday—who plays point-gaurd for the Milwakee Bucks—also became the first plant-based athlete brand ambassadors for Eat Just. The brand’s JUST Egg will appear on two episodes of Cooking Clean as part of an omelete prepared by Brooklyn-based Chef Latisha Daring and a kimchi fried rice dish made by plant-based influencer and blogger Joanne Molinaro, known as “The Korean Vegan.” Both Jordan and Holiday will promote JUST Egg throughout the 2021-2022 basketball season.
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