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I heart my George Foreman®

Too often when I voice my unwavering love for this little grill do receive looks that seem to question my sanity, or worse, my taste. I myself used to think of the George Forman grill as a “as seen on T.V.” useless infomercial kitchen clutter, until one day, I was skooled.

A few years ago I worked in a vegan sandwich shop where I was introduced to an industrial sized George Foreman Grill. I was shocked, not only had I thought of it as some “as seen on T.V.” crap, but I had mistakenly identified it with only being able to grill up meaty hamburgers and other such ilk.

How wrong I was.

At this sandwich shop we would grill chopped up onions and peppers, sliced vegetarian field roast, veggie burgers, toss that stuff on some toasted bread… those were some good goddamn sandwiches. We found it much easier to clean, less messy, and exuded no greasy heat as compared to our industrial panini grill.

The George Foreman grill is a sort of clamshell with both the top and bottom acting as Teflon coated grilling surfaces. The bottom of the grill is slanted so the fat runs off of food, hence the “knock off the fat” tagline. Though Teflon isn’t the sort of chemical you want in your food a plastic spatula and oil catch tray are thoughtfully provided. The top and bottom grills are connected via a floating hinge of sorts that lets you grill big, hulking sandwiches or single burger patties.

In interviews George Foreman talks about growing up in poverty as one of seven children and about how their tenement housing rarely had kitchens or electricity. The popularity of this grill is in part thanks to this huge unvoiced population of low-income people trying to cook and eat healthfully.

Though I do, at this time, have a kitchen, I still end up using my “lean mean grilling machine”. I can’t be bothered to heat up the kitchen, cooking up a storm when it’s just for one or two people. When I want some veggies grilled up for some yaki soba, the ‘Foreman’ takes less time than the 5 minute noodles! Grilling tofu is made idiot-proof and frozen burgers go from solid to crispy and tasty in minutes.

Gourmet, classy and cool it may not be, but indispensable it is.


I heart my George Foreman grill.