THE MOVIE
Darren Aronofsky's
Noah
has weathered some controversy since its release earlier this month, with its $125 million budget, its self-professed atheist director and its bombastic portrayal of familiar biblical themes facing the wrath of critics, bloggers and film censors alike. You could say that the complaints have been flooding in but we would never use such a silly pun here at
The Ticket
. Noah way.
THE SCENE
Our own Donald Clarke pondered whether
Noah
is the "most expensive animal rights movie ever made" in his review a fortnight ago. It has been argued that Noah is portrayed in the film as a vegan environmentalist, and Aronofsky (who is vegan) has himself described Noah as the first environmentalist.
Christian vegetarianism (which is totally a thing) rests on a reading of the Bible that suggests humans were only given permission to eat meat after the flood – and even then there were rules: “The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.” (Genesis 9:2-4)
THE FOOD
We've gone vegan-friendly with this month's recipe, but feel free to add a crumbling of feta or a few slices of grilled halloumi. "Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains." (Romans 14:1-3)
INGREDIENTS
12 cherry tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
150g of couscous
150ml of vegetable stock, boiling hot
½ lemon
1 red onion, finely sliced
½ red chilli, finely sliced
Handful of fresh mint, finely chopped
METHOD
Heat oven to 200c/180c fan/Gas Mark 6. Putcherry tomatoes into a roasting dish, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 12 to 15 minutes, until the skins start to burst. Meanwhile, put your couscous in a large mixing bowl and pour the boiling hot stock over it. Mix with a fork and leave, covered, for 10 minutes or until the water is fully absorbed. Use a fork to fluff up the couscous before adding a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and pepper and the juice of half a lemon. Mix the sliced red onion into the couscous, followed by the roasted tomatoes and the sliced chillis. Finish with a generous sprinkling of fresh mint.
Noah
is on general release
