America has borrowed some of its best features from Japan: sushi, big televisions, fuel-efficient cars and very weird cartoons. Their greatest contribution, however, continues to be the popular Food Network show "Iron Chef America."
While it certainly has its fair share of kitsch, Iron Chef's simple premise is compelling: an "Iron Chef," a master chef, challenges a guest chef to a cook-off. Each episode features a "secret" ingredient that must be utilized in all dishes, from the mundane (chicken) to the bizarre (sea urchin).
The Iron Chef is characterized as the paragon of his craft. If judged by face recognition and financial success, this may be correct; the original Iron Chefs Bobby Flay, Mario Batali and Masaharu Morimoto are all extremely successful. All have appeared on several other Food Network shows, in addition to owning several restaurants and marketing their own culinary brands. If the Food Network had celebrities, they would be the Iron Chefs.
The success of "Iron Chef America" gave way to the reality series "The Next Iron Chef," scheduled to begin its third season on Oct. 3. The show as its name suggests determines the next chef to join the Iron Chef pantheon. Now entering its third season, "The Next Iron Chef" has proven to Food Network execs that reality game shows are a simple, cheap way to earn a dollar.
While the show is ostensibly premised on discovering the next great chef, it is a better place to see economics in action than genuine talent in the kitchen "The Next Iron Chef" has cheapened the previously grand title that is "Iron Chef." The number of Iron Chefs has now reached six, with another on the way. While "Iron Chef America" originally allowed unknown but talented chefs to challenge the greats of their craft, the show has transformed into a sink for Food Network's reality TV celebrities. Seeing a talented chef from an unknown restaurant in Chicago challenge Bobby Flay to a cook off is television. Who cares when that same chef challenges Jose Garces, the winner of season two of "The Next Iron Chef"?
Although "American Idol" and "Survivor" remain popular primetime anchors, their brands were compromised in much the same way that "Iron Chef" will be on its current course. While both shows continue to be watched by millions of people, their winners are instantly forgettable. Who remembers, save the diehard fan, the winner of last season's "American Idol"? Season five? Seven? "American Idol" has become such a mainstay of network television every fall that the winner matters less than the drama that leads up to the finale. While there have not been nearly as many seasons of "Next Iron Chef" as "American Idol" or "Survivor," the result will undoubtedly be the same.
