Iron Chef America Rant!

First and foremost, it’s important to understand that I LOVE Iron Chef America. While the program is laregely recipe-free, it does showcase some incredible food creativity and never fails to generate ideas for me to try in my own kitchen. Overall it far superior to its predecessor, the original Iron Chef from Japan.

A friend of mine was recently a judge on ICA which I wrote about on Vegas Wineaux. This was a party, and we had a great time.

With that being said, I have to say that this year, the Food Network has added a couple of elements that I find incredibly annoying. Irritating, even.

Whose idea was it to have the 70s-bad-kung fu-movie sound effects attached to the “Chairman” every time he moves a body part? It wasn’t like that before, and the addition of the noise this year adds nothing but ickiness. Did someone actually think that this was a good idea?!?

The other addition this year is the extended hangtime between “in the words of my uncle,” and “Allez Cuisine!” Once again, that extra time adds nothing to the show. It appears to have been added so that when the Chairman looks at the contestants, it’s a way to showcase the whooshing sounds his head makes as he looks back and forth.

I just don’t get it. They finally got it right - great chefs, incredible competition, amazing production values and attention to detail. Then someone with a Bruce Lee fetish added the sound effects. Maybe somebody in the know can tell me why it was oh so important to add this element of tackiness this year.

But don’t take my word for it; mosey on over to YouTube, do a search on Iron Chef America, and look at last year’s episodes and compare them to the current crop.

My opinion - for what it’s worth - is a single world. Ew.

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