Iron Chef America

Disclaimer: I love the Food Network.
I've watched a few episodes here and there of the original Iron Chef from Japan. It's fun and entertaining, especially if you find yourself needing to finish some homework in the wee hours of the night. The show was comprised of an Iron Chef battling a lesser known, yet quoted to be good, local chef from somewhere in the Orient. It was a timed cook-off in which a secret ingredient was revealed just moments before the clocks began to tick down. There was this crazy emcee, three somewhat famous Japanese pop-icons, a few other floor commentators, and lots of energy. The show was brought to America on the Food Network complete with voice-overs and sometimes really funny, and bad translations.

Now, we have our very own Iron Chef America complete with some of the most beloved FoodTv male stars. In recent weeks, they have even added women chefs into the high-energy mix, in further attempts to really branch out this old Japanese favorite.

Last night as I watched an episode and heard the comments from the food critiques I was amazed at the differences between the original and the new American version. The Japanese pop-icons really acted as though they were really honored to be a part of Kitchen Stadium on the original Iron Chef. Yet as I watched last night, the little known American foodies were terse and tactless in their critiques of the food. The energy seemed to be lost as it all came down to a few unimportant people talking about how they couldn't get over the originality of a dish long enough to really try it for flavor, and made comments about the food that really didn't help any of us either in Kitchen Stadium or at home on the couch.

I'll have to keep watching to see if this was just a factor contingent upon the guest tasters ICA has appear, or if the American version has become a haughty, honorless undertaking in which the Americans always win, the chefs' talents are always overlooked (both the famous and the not-so famous), and unknowledgable people always get the spotlight in which to say tasteless, meaningless things for all watching Americans to bear.

So far the saving grace for the American version is the main commentator Alton Brown, who lets few outstanding moments go unnoticed on both sides of the challenge. His knowledge of the culinary arts and the science of food really helped me to overlook the food-tasters. He seemed to be able to talk equally with both challengers, even though he has an obvious friendship with the Iron Chef competing last night.