Ryôri no tetsujin

A fantastic cooking show, designed to push chefs to their creative limits. Especially if you take it light-heartedly, you can really enjoy the format of the show as well as enjoy watching the Iron Chefs and the challengers prepare their dishes, all of which must utilize the theme ingredient. While it is dubbed from Japanese into English, the dubbed voices are rather funny and make for a laugh. And even if you think the show is somewhat of a joke, all the chefs are truly amazing in their cooking abilities and in making unique dishes in less than an hour. I highly recommend Iron Chef as an alternative to cable television prime time programming. An American version is in the works!

This show is my favorite. Finally a cooking show that's not a boring "how to" session, it is not at all the intention of this show to teach you how to cook. You just sit back and watch these guys use the theme ingredient to prepare a gourmet meal in an hour, and you ooh and ahh.

It's no surprise to me that the challengers take the contest so seriously. Cooking is their art, and the challengers are very respected among the culinary world, owning only the classiest restaurants. This is a true test of their mettle, and they have something to prove. The other great thing is that this isn't a petty game show where some obscene amount of money is at stake. According to the show's intro, all the challenger gets if he/she (yes, I have seen a female competitor on the show) wins is "The peoples' ovation and fame forever". Okay, that sounds a bit silly, but seriously, all they win is the honor of beating an Iron Chef. The only material prize is an indirect one, since the winner's restaurant can now boast an Iron Chef victory and will definitely gain a lot of new customers.

I think that the Food Network did a great job converting the show for an English speaking audience. First off, congrats for not dubbing Kaga. His "If my memory serves me right..." monologue is my favorite part of the show, and I like to listen to how he speaks the Japanese language, even though I don't speak a word of it myself. Second, congrats on dubbing everyone else. Reading subtitles for the whole show would get very tiresome. Some of the dubbed voices sound downright silly (especially Chen Kenichi and Hiroyuki Sakai), but that's ok. I think that it adds an element of humor (intentional or not) without making the whole show seem like a big joke. And finally, they did a good job budgeting time. You don't see the whole hour of cooking, but you see enough of it to know what's going on, and there's still time for the intros and the judging. My only complaint it that there is a TON of commercials.

And one more thing - I like Ota! Everyone seems annoyed by him, but how can you have an episode without him? His "Fukui-san!" comments are the only thing that explains what the chefs are doing, and since they are doing so much so fast, Ota has a lot to tell Fukui-san and the audience. It is amazing to me how he memorizes every ingredient that goes into the pans.

I am surprised that more people haven't written about this show. It has caused a cultural revolution, and has made such an impact that SNL even bothered to mimic the show. It is supposed to be melodramatic, and I love the dubbed voices. Almost every one I know who knows of this show loves it, and is addicted. Even though I would not want to eat some of the dishes at times, watching them put those dishes being put together is always interesting. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night I tape The Iron Chef. Its one of the best shows on television.

If you like cooking shows, then you have to watch Iron Chef...forget the dubbing..it's not annoying, it's funny,like GODZILLA..it's camp, but it's good...and though corny, the cooking is amazing..you can learn so much...but have a fun time doing it...culinary contests fascinate me, and Iron Chef is why. One hour isn't very long, and when you don't know what your theme is..it makes for improv, although it is rooted in fundamentals, and it's true..dishes never before seen.

I love Iron Chef. What an idea for a show!! I love the premise of bringing renowned chefs from all over Japan and the world to challenge Chairman Kaga's Iron Chefs, and to have them create dishes on the spot using the theme ingredient announced at the beginning. It's also fun to listen to the play-by-play announcing; you'd think this was a sports events.

The fact that these chefs can prepare 4-6 dishes on the spot in one hour attests to their amazing skills and imagination, especially when an Iron Chef of one cooking style is confronted with a theme ingredient they normally don't use. I wish I was there to taste some of their amazing creations.

What astounds me about the show is how seriously some challengers take this, like the Italian expatriate chefs and their battles against Iron Chef Italian Masahiko Kobe, and the Ohta Factions' (a society of Japanese chefs who are staunchly traditional in their cooking techniques) war against Iron Chef Japanese Masaharu Morimoto.

I can't wait for IC3 next month. My local cable company just recently added the Food Network, so I didn't see the original Bobby Flay/Morimoto contest. After watching what Morimoto has done in previous episodes, I really can't see Flay winning. I've also thought about whether Emeril would someday appear on Iron Chef, but I think he's a bit too laidback for something as tense and fast-paced as this.