Allez Cuisine!
Allez Cuisine! Cooking Men of Iron Take U.S. by Storm
8.29 a.m. ET (1329 GMT) November 12, 1999
| By Tracey Middlekauff |  |
NEW YORK —
“Five years ago, a man’s fantasy became a reality …”
So begins Iron Chef, one of the most bizarre and wonderful shows ever to pop out of the oven.
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Filmed in Japan, Iron Chef is a cross between game show, cooking show and Monday Night Football. The premise is that a mysterious and eccentric gourmand, played by Kaga Takeshi — aka Chairman Kaga — lives in his palatial mansion with his stable of four Iron Chefs. These chefs represent the best the world has to offer in four cuisines: Chinese, Japanese, French, and Italian.
In the beginning of each episode, Kaga reflects upon a worthy challenger for one of his Iron Chefs. The chosen will then do battle in a giant arena, known as Kitchen Stadium. Before the cooking begins, Kaga, usually dressed in ruffles and sequins, unveils the day’s theme ingredient in a whirl of dry ice and smoke. The games begin with Kaga intoning “Allez cuisine!” (start cooking), accompanied by the Gong of Fate.
Challenger and Iron Chef then have one hour to create a multi-course meal that best embodies the theme ingredient. Past cooking battles have included Battle Abalone, Battle Lettuce, Battle Potato and Battle Frogfish, to name just a few. During the cooking battle, announcer Ota Shinichiro delivers a blow-by-blow account from the trenches, occasionally interrupting announcers Hattori Yukio and Fukui Kenji to deliver his tidbits of insider information with a machine-gun staccato.
Once cooking ends, the food is tasted by a panel of four judges, two males and two females. The judging panel consists of some combination of a Japanese politician (identified as a lower house member), a food critic, a fortuneteller, a photographer, an actor and/or an actress. The winner is announced with a great deal of ceremony — for as the show’s opening voiceover informs the viewer, “If ever a challenger defeats an Iron Chef, he will win the acclaim of the people for all time.”
The best part of all this is, except for the voice of Chairman Kaga, which is subtitled, the show is dubbed. Very dubbed. Combine the surreal effect of the dubbing (announcer Ota sounds as if he has a Chicago accent) with the theme music — from Glory and Backdraft — and you’ve got the makings of one of the hottest cult hits around.
The show, produced by Fuji International TV, began airing in Japan in 1993; the Food Network acquired the rights to broadcast it this past July. And although the last episode (barring specials) was filmed in Japan in September, American audiences can still look forward to many never-before-seen cooking battles.
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Matthew Stillman, manager of program development at the Food Network, says he was aware of the show’s cult following in New York and L.A., when it was broadcast on the International Channel, before the Food Network purchased the rights. “There was also a big Internet cult following,” he says. In fact, Food Network gets more feedback about Iron Chef than about any other show, according to Stillman.
When asked to explain the show’s appeal, Stillman says, “I think people like the thumbprints of Japan.”
Or maybe its those nutty chefs. There’s Chin Kinichi, Iron Chef Chinese, generally regarded as the sweetest chef. Kirsten Lawton, a huge fan of the show, says “He is such a teddy bear. He’s a cartoon puppy dog.” Then there’s Iron Chef French, Sakai Hiroyuki, whom Kirsten describes as the one “with the best hair.” Iron Chef Italian, Kobe Masahiko, can get a little — saucy. In Battle Mango, Kobe fought against a challenger who was an expert in Mexican cuisine. The two Japanese chefs engaged in a heated debate about the various cultural merits of Italy versus Mexico.
And then there’s Iron Chef Japanese, Masaharu Morimoto, the newest of the Iron Chefs. Morimoto, who is the third Iron Chef Japanese, has a reputation as the renegade, the bad-boy Iron Chef.
Part of this reputation is because Morimoto does not make traditional Japanese cuisine, but rather what he calls Japanese fusion. Morimoto, the executive chef at New York’s famed Nobu, wears a silver uniform festooned with American flags on the show, and the judges often do not appreciate his lack of adherence to traditional Japanese cooking.
It also doesn’t help that, in one battle, he stole all the good asparagus from the challenger as soon as the Gong of Fate sounded.
But the real problem may be the guy who dubs his voice. He comes off as cocky, even a touch arrogant.
But in person, the real Iron Chef Japanese is sweet as can be.
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He came to be on Iron Chef, he says in his heavily accented English, because he once cooked in Japan for Hattori Yukio and the show’s producer, who was searching for the third Iron Chef Japanese at the time. The rest is Iron Chefhistory.
“The first battle, I never forget,” Morimoto says. “Red snapper. … I don’t know what (I’m doing) yet. I’m in the same condition as the challenger.” Nonetheless, Morimoto won his first battle in Kitchen Stadium.
And being on the show consistently brought its share of stress, Morimoto confides. “I couldn’t eat. But I could drink. I gained weight. After I finish, I take stress off: more fat. I gained 15 pounds.”
As to his feelings regarding the judges’ occasional dissing of his non-traditional food, Morimoto is unruffled. “I’m a professional cook, they’re not professional judges. I’m a Japanese Iron Chef, I don’t mind. … This is not traditional cuisine. If they don’t understand, OK. If they understand, OK. My food is my food. But the judging is always very close. They like both.”
Morimoto uses Battle Bell Pepper (which he lost) to explain his theory of what the dishes should be about.
“The challenger made dishes using bell pepper. I made bell pepper dishes,” he says.
Although the show has ended, Morimoto says he will be returning to Japan in December to film an Iron Chef special. About? “No one knows,” he says. And, he admits, “I do miss it. But mostly I feel like I did it.”
And if the renowned Iron Chef Japanese had to do battle and could only have three utensils, what would they be?
“Only knife,” he responds emphatically. After a moment, he adds, “And arms.”
Finally, Morimoto hits his chest, smiles, and says, “And strong spirit.”
