"food tv" news and stories

The Korean Peninsula has gained a certain reputation for firepower, whether in the form of mortar shells from the North or the mouth-searing, "dare-you-to-eat-it" offerings at most Korean take-out places. But a couple of recent video and TV offerings are inviting us to get to know the other side of Korea, the fun-food side.

Marja Vongerichten, the wife of international super-chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, is entering the spotlight in her own right as the star of an upcoming 13-part series on PBS. The Kimchi Chronicles documents Marja's culinary travels through her native homeland, which, according to The New York Times, she left at the age of three to be adopted by a couple in Virginia.

Here she is sampling four-year-old kimchi, or diving for crabs, or touring what appears to be a veritable island of green tea. Her husband is often at her side, and in the preview clip, it's funny to see the head of an international restaurant empire relegated to the role of awkward diplomat, quizzically listening for the translator's cues and, in one scene, committing the faux pas of sipping the green tea before properly appreciating its aroma.

Top Chef, how can you do this to us? Watching All Stars, the latest addition to the rapidly multiplying franchise, is like being forced to get back together with an old flame -- or, rather, all your old flames -- against your better judgment.

In one fell swoop, all of the thrills, the regret, the frustration are back. Maybe your flame was a crazed, bipolar egotist -- spicy, saucy and dripping with self-conscious sex appeal, but impossible to live with for more than a weekend (with a name like Spike, Fabio, Angelo... we could go on). Maybe the breakup was for the best.

Or maybe he or she was really, really nice but dreadfully bland. Someone to take home to your parents. Someone to watch Law and Order reruns while you both munch on plain popcorn -- you know, to watch your cholesterol and all (Elia, Stephen). But no matter how comfortable the relationship, your tastes have matured -- you're ready for something more.

No doubt there are plenty of chewed-out former contenders from Hell's Kitchen that would like nothing better than to send Gordon Ramsay swimming with the fishes. Well, Britain's Channel 4 is going one better: They're sending the famously ill-tempered chef to swim with the sharks.

And not just any sharks -- bull sharks, perhaps the most aggressive species of shark, prone to unprovoked attacks on humans. (Hey Gordon, sound familiar?)

What might otherwise seem a desperate publicity stunt designed to showcase another side of an overexposed celebrity (presumably Ramsay won't be able to launch into an expletive-laden tirade underwater) is ostensibly for a good cause: It's part of Channel 4's series of programs called "The Big Fish Fight," aimed at educating viewers about the impact of overfishing.

According to The Guardian, Ramsay's dramatic contribution will be part of a larger investigation into the controversy over shark-fin soup, which leads to the killing of nearly 100 million sharks per year and had caused significant declines in the population of the ocean-going predator.

It came down to Marc Forgione and Marco Canora duking it out for the privilege of joining one of the most coveted cooking fraternities in television, that of the Iron Chef. The final contest on The Next Iron Chef -- "Battle Honor" or "Battle Thanksgiving" -- was held in the famed Kitchen Stadium. The task at hand, to create a five-course Thanksgiving meal. Chef Forgione took that idea of honor and brushed aside the traditional turkey-and-dressing component in favor of stuffed venison. The son of "the godfather of American cuisine," Larry Forgione, Marc Forgione stated from the outset that he wanted to be known for his own work, not merely as his father's son. We're confident that being an Iron Chef will put any feelings of dwelling in the shadows to rest.

This Sunday, chef Forgione steps into Kitchen Stadium for the first time as an Iron Chef, where he faces Washington D.C.'s R.J. Cooper.

Slashfood spoke with chef Forgione about his nerves going into "Battle Honor,' his inspiration behind his Thanksgiving course and which Iron Chef dishes are in store for patrons of his Manhattan hot spot, Restaurant Marc Forgione.

As an Iron Chef, are you supposed to introduce yourself as a doctor does?

MF: [laughs]. I don't know. I guess so, right? Like I should put an "I.C." at the end of my name.

In the final episode, "Battle Honor," were you nervous going in?

MF: At that point I wasn't nervous anymore. It was more ... I can't even describe the adrenaline, the anxiety ... I felt like I was fighting for my life, literally. When you're standing there and he's about to pull that curtain down, if you didn't see your face, you might as well have been told you were going to jail for the rest of your life. It was that intense, at least for me.

In a continuing effort to make us all feel better about our own kitchen skills, the Food Network's Worst Cooks in America is set to return this winter. Premiering January 2, Season 1's winning chef-coach Anne Burrell will return to defend her title against Dinner: Impossible's chef Robert Irvine.

Contestants on the show have been nominated by their friends and family for generally being recognized by anyone remotely near their culinary creations as perpetually terrible. At the beginning of the season, the12 contestants will be divided into two teams: Anne's red team and Robert's blue team. From there, the chefs teach the contestants valuable cooking skills, with the "worst" being eliminated at the end of each episode.