Cooking Channel special The Veg Edge shows vegetarians and vegans — food truck owners, chefs and restaurateurs — as adventurous, flavor-loving food people rather then the rabbit food-gnawing, red paint-on-fur-throwing, protein-deficient activists some people consider them to be.

When we first announced the show on  our Facebook page, a pretty healthy debate was sparked about the merits of a meat-free lifestyle (and a cooking show dedicated to it). Here are some highlights:

Jesse Lynne : I seriously can't wait, I'm going on 3 years of being a veg-head and i was wishing for a cooking show just for vegetarians! THANK YOU!!!!!

Nickolas A Gavalas II : Thus far the show has been very informative ... not that I would completely go to a vegetarian diet, but by just adding more vegetables and some vegetarian meals to my diet has helped with blood sugar control and maintaining a healthy weight. And that's good. 

Raymond Torres : What a waste. A whole series of shows revolving around a useless endeavor. Thank God for progressive chefs like Anthony Bourdain. 

Lisa Buenaventura Rice : It's about time! I am a big fan of the Food Network and now the Cooking Channel, but get SO frustrated that the vegan/vegetarian chefs are not represented at all. PLEASE ad some vegan cooking shows! There are so many great chefs out there!

So passionate are these veggie-lovers, that one viewer wrote an open letter to Cooking Channel asking for more meatless programming.

The special is re-airing tonight at 9pm ET/ 8pm CT, and again at 1am ET.

Where do you stand on the debate? Is vegetarianism a lifestyle you choose, or are you more of a Meatless Monday fan? What about veganism — the ultimate health choice or too extreme? Should there be more cooking shows dedicated to special diets? 

• Recipes from tonight's episode: The Veg Edge
• Cooking Channel's top vegetarian recipes
• Vegan Diet 101, from Food Network
• Meatless Mondays on Food2
• Food Network's best healthy vegetarian recipes
• National Meatless Monday campaign

• 101 Cookbooks: Heidi Swanson's blog focused on whole, always-vegetarian-sometimes-vegan foods
• Herbivoracious: Michael Natkin's vegetarian recipes
• Vegan Yum Yum: as implied, delish vegan vittles
• Bok Choy Bohemia: always vegetarian, always kosher, sometimes vegan
• Bitter Sweet: vegan recipes, mostly desserts
• Vegan Dad: father, blogger, vegan