Lauren recently talked about an “Iron Chef style” Battle that occurred at her house. It sent me into a reminiscent state over the original Japanese Iron Chef tv show.
Sometimes, I miss the original Iron Chef show. Of course, you can still see it airing in reruns, but you can only watch the same episode so many times. The thing I did not like about it is their regard for eating the unthikable bits of popular food items and the way they treated seafood on the show. I just don’t understand that part of Japanese cuisine culture.
The part that has not been able to be duplicated by the American version is the perhaps unintentional camp element, including the ability of the chefs to walk around in outfits that were a cross between pajamas and superhero costumes. The other thing that the American show misses is Kazuko Hosoki.
Who is that, you say?
She was the frequent visitor to the Iron Chef “tasting and judgement” panel who was introduced as “The Fortune Teller” during the “Tasting and Judgement” portion of the show. She sat next to countless starlets who noted how the food “tasted in their mouth.” If they were the ‘tasting’ part, she was most definitely the ‘judgement’. The chefs would politely nod while she completely contradicted herself sometimes, but more often than not, uttered the oft used, “I would not serve this!”
Some of her commentary was so off putting that it was laughable. It made one wonder “where the heck did they get this lady,” and of course, what qualified her to sit there unless it was just for entertainment purposes? Come to find out, that she actually was a chef herself and owned a restaurant at one point. It was something that never came to light in the show. Perhaps she was introduced as a Fortune Teller because it was much more sensational than another chef on a show about chefs. They wanted us to have the impression that she was a little “out there,” almost to excuse her behavior.
There is always at least one person on a reality show, that is there for the sole purpose of stirring things up. While she didn’t exactly throw the whole show on its ear, I am convinced that she’s a ringer.
If she was highly critical of world class chefs, I can only imagine what she would say about me. I sometimes underbake my cookies because I am so afraid of burning them. I’ll just present them as peanut butter cookie dough sushi. Afterall, even if its risky to undercook or underback something with eggs in it, that would be child’s play to people who eat blowfish.
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