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The best way to describe Iron Chef is something like Monday Night Football meets Julia Child. The show centers around a battle between two prominent chefs, one being an Iron Chef (who represents the finest of a specific cuisine such as French, Japanese, et cetera) and one being a challenger, usually an executive chef of high prestige in a hotel or restaurant. After seeing their "theme" ingredient, they have 1 hour to whip up a multi-course menu that utilizes the theme ingredient. A group of judges (three in the old days, four now), taste the dishes and offer their commentary on them before a vote is cast. The Monday Night Football aspect of the show comes from the commentators that discuss the dishes being made during the hour. There are usually three or four commentators in the box, watching, but there's also a sidelines reporter named Ota Shinichiro, interviewing the chefs in the Kitchen Stadium, instant replays of cool culinary maneuvers and even statistics for the last 5 battles the Iron Chefs have fought. The two main commentators are Fukui Kenji who does the majority of the talking and introductions and then Hattori Yukio who is quite well educated in the culinary world and provides insight into the battle. The other two guest judges and commentators are usually celebrity figures which have ranged from singers to sumo wrestlers to retired sports figures and more often than not have a limited culinary background. Iron Chef can be viewed in Victoria, British Columbia on Friday and Saturday evenings at either 7 or 10 p.m. on channel 43 (Food TV.) |
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