I know you've all been waiting with baited breath for the return of Iron Chef Japan. Well here it is! It's not going to be on Food Network anymore though. Nope, now you'll be able to catch it on the Fine Living channel.
Starting on May 5, you can watch all of the amazing craziness of Iron Chef Japan every week night at 11pm. In the meantime, you can indulge your Iron Chef craving by watching some video clips, you know, just to tide you over til next week.
Even though I really love Iron chef America, I'm glad that the original is coming back on the air. There really is not much on TV like it, unless you know where to catch Most Extreme Elimination challenge. You can't beat the secret ingredients, the sweat, the dubbing and ,of course, the original Chairman!
Though I know for sure I don't have what it takes to be a Top Chef (heck, I doubt I have what it takes to be just any chef), there might be some of you out there who have the endurance, the stamina, a thick enough skin to take words from Tom Colicchio and cold stares from Padma Lakshmi, and of course the talent.
If so, get yourself to an open call for the next season (wow, they're already on Season 5!) of Top Chef. New Orleans and San Francisco already happened, but there are calls scheduled in May for Vegas, New York, LA, Denver, and Chicago. If you can't make it to one of those cities, you can also "apply" by sending in a video.
Have a bizarre or touching food-related story to tell? Tell Uncle Al all about it.
Al Roker and the Food Network are compilling a collection of stories about how food changed people's lives (or...something) that they can fit into a yet-unnamed new show.
The press release that Phoodie posted listed the examples: going from homeless to being a restaurant-owner, only eating one food, or making art from food.
If you want to be casted, e-mail a brief description of your story with contact info and a photo of yourself to michaelraptis@alroker.com, or call (646) 732-9848 to be considered.
Apparently, even if Rachael's show were actually getting cancelled (it's not), she won't go down without a fight. The TV chef is working on an animated series that stars herself as a young chef. The show is being produced by Oprah's company, Harpo Productions (naturally) and is scheduled for debut in January 2009.
Now, I'm not sure how I feel about this one, but to be quite honest, an animated version of Rachael might be easier on the eyes. Then again, it'll still be her voice.
Unfortunately, it's only her syndicated daytime show on ABC, not all 9,832 of Rachael Ray's other shows on the Food Network. According to an "impeccable" source to New York Post's Page Six, "They are seriously talking about taking her off the air."
Is her grin too scary? Too much Yum-o? Apparently, it's her ratings, which was a meager 2.2 when the show debuted two years ago, and has dropped down to a measly 2.0. Yikes.
Did you catch the guy eating toasted cicadas on The Colbert Report last night? David Gracer, a Rhode Island writing teacher, is on a quest to convince chefs to cook with insects, claiming that bugs offer more edible protein per pound than beef cattle.
Lots of cultures eat insects. I've enjoyed tiny grasshoppers, known as chapulines, in Oaxaca, Mexico. Slathered in guacamole and rolled in a tortilla, they were salty and undistinguished-tasting. Toasted and tossed with salt and chili powder, they were like corn nuts with legs. Cicadas, earthworms, crickets - bring 'em on.
Colbert was not convinced though. "I might ask one of my writers to eat a bug," he said. "Let me check their contract."
These and other equally pressing questions were answered recently when Cookie Monster (and Cheryl Henson, Muppet creator Jim Hensen's daughter) were interviewed for NPR as part of the station's "In Character" series. Henson revealed that Cookie Monster's large black mouth is actually a hole in the puppet costume, where most of the food is deposited (directly on top of the puppeteer's head). The rest is mashed into crumbs and flies around his head during his frenzied eating.
Cookie was asked several questions similar to the format adapted by Inside the Actors' Studio host James Lipton. We've summarized them here for you, using actual quotes from Cookie himself, to reveal just a little bit more about what goes on inside that big furry blue head of his.
Favorite word: COOKIE! Ahahaha....What did you expect? Least favorite word: "OUT OF COOKIES! Does that count? Okay...how about pusillanimous?" What sound/noise do you love: "Anumumumum!" (the noise that he makes as he's devouring cookies) What sound/noise do you hate: Snoring. Favorite curse word: "Well, me have favorite dirty word: Oscar the Grouch! That is one dirty word." Who would you like to see on a new bank note? "Bert. Me think he'd look really nice there, just the shape of Bert's head would fit nicely in the center of the bill." What profession would you least like to try? Ophthalmology If you were reincarnated as another animal, what would you like it to be? A Snuffulupagus. If heaven exists, what you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? "COWABUNGA!"
Aside from an occasional Egg McMuffin hangover cure from McDonald's, or perhaps a very rare moment of utter stress-peration (stressed-out desperation) that drives me to Jack in the Box for two tacos for ninety-nine cents, I don't pay much attention to fast food chains.
Yikes! Take a look at Wendy's Baconator - the name alone "Bacon Terminator?" - is meant to strike fear into the hearts of every cardiologist, and from the picture, why wouldn't it? It has two burgers, two slices of cheese, and six, yes six, slices of bacon.
The scariest part of the Baconator, however, is not the burger itself. It's the commercial. It's just so wrong.
No matter how irritating it is to have your favorite TV show interrupted with commercial breaks, the fact of the matter is that companies usually put a lot of effort into their advertisements and that some of them turn out quite well. Unlike ads with the King, or any of the other creepy fast food mascots, there will always be a handful that are actually enjoyable. Neatorama has a list of their top ten picks for the best cereal commercials of all time that list a couple of these types of commercials. Most of them seem to be from the early 1990s or before (which could be taken as a sign that breakfast cereal commercials are going downhill) and two of the top ten use the word "indubitably" somewhere in their descriptions of the food.
Number one is the Star Wars-themed C3PO cereal shown in the video above. Two more of the top ten (including the "indubitably delicious" Crispy Critters cereal clip) are after the jump.
Kid's television shows may be cheesy, but if one group has their way, the ads will be cheese-free from now on. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has requested that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ban cheese and cheese-related advertising from airing during children's TV programs. The Committee feels that cheese, as it is very high in fat, is "is not an acceptable food to be promoted to kids during the obesity epidemic." This means that cheese in any form - grilled cheese, string cheese, Laughing Cow cheese snacks and pizza, to name just a few - would be off limits.
Believe it or not, there is precedence to back up their request. The ban on junk food advertising during children's TV programs in the UK, which has been in place for several months now, includes cheese.
Despite a high fat content, cheese should not be made a villain. Cheese is high in protein, vitamins, and minerals like calcium, phosphorus and zinc. Eating cheese can also help prevent tooth decay - and let's not forget that there are plenty of low and reduced fat cheeses out there, including cream cheese, cottage cheese and sliced sandwich cheeses. The FTC is under no obligation to honor the PCRM's request, so we will just have to wait and see how things turn out.
Professional football players have heavily regulated diets, but regardless of what they're eating when they're off the field, they're clearly working off those pounds when they play. The same cannot be said for the rest of us. During the Super Bowl, it is estimated that 30 million pounds of food, of which 4 million is fat, will be consumed across the country. Chips are the most popular snack, with 11.2 million pounds of potato chips sold for the game. Other snacks put up impressive numbers, as well: 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips, 4.3 million pounds of pretzels, 3.8 million pounds of popcorn and 2.5 million pounds of nuts. And it doesn't look as though they counted calories from beer, sodas and other drinks in these numbers.
To avoid packing on the pounds during the game, there are a few simple things you can do:
Eat breakfast or lunch before the party, so you won't be as hungry and as likely to binge.
Try and go for a walk/run in the morning before the game and burn off a few extra calories.
Try drinking diet soda or water to avoid the hundreds of calories that come from drinks alone.
When it comes to snacks, make a low fat/low calorie dip to bring to the party, such as salsa, a bean-based dip or a yogurt dip made with nonfat yogurt.
Limit your chip consumption by sticking to veggies or lower fat crackers for dipping - especially if you're planning on chowing down on pizza or buffalo wings.
One last suggestion? Stand up and cheer for your team when they get a first down and do your own little touchdown dance when they score. Taking the opportunity to burn off a couple of extra calories never hurt.
We had a bit of a debate over whether the McDonald's ad that flashed on screen during an episode of Iron Chef America was the Food Network's attempt at subliminal advertising or simply a very poorly edited piece of filming. It turns out, according to a statement released by the network, that it was just a glitch.
A network spokesman said, "It was a technical error on our part and not a subliminal message as suggested by a Web site running the slow-motion playback. It has been corrected for all future airings [of that episode]." A McDonald's spokesman said, "We don't do subliminal advertising."
Those excuses are both weak. Every product placement in a movie or TV show is certainly near enough to subliminal advertising (a McD's cup in the hand of a background extra, etc) that denying it seems ridiculous. And for the Network to have aired a split-second clip in the middle of footage from another show is so unlikely that it is far easier to believe the network intended it to air. It's also possible that they just have a poorly trained staff, but an actual technical glitch? Probably not.
There are only four chefs left in this season's Top Chef competition and all will be participating in the Hawaii finale. The decision of the judges as to who will win the title of Top Chef will be decided based on their performance throughout the competition and on their dishes in the finale. As viewers, we have seen a little more of their personalities and interactions, but let's take a look at the backgrounds of the final four, as well:
Marcel Vigneron - Marcel, 26, lives in Las Vegas, NV where he is a Master Cook at Joel Robuchon at the Mansion. He attended the Culinary Institute of America, where his strongest subjects with butchery and, of course, molecular gastronomy. He prides himself on his creativity and skill in the kitchen and, as those are what landed him his job at Joel Robuchon, he is certainly right to do so.
Sam Talbot - Sam, 28, is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina and currently works as executive chef of Punch Restaurant in New York City. He attended Johnson and Wales University, but has been involved in food since his first job as a production chef at Dean & Deluca in NC when he was just 16 years old.
These days, advertising tends to be on a very obvious (superliminal) level. By this, I mean that most broadcasters make no effort to conceal the fact that they're being paid (or compensated in some way) to promote a product. The show Top Chef, for example, frequently refers to the "Kenmore kitchen" provided by its sponsors and repeatedly uses brand names from other companies. This type of advertising really gets a brand name out into the public arena, but some still believe that sneakier tactics are in order to get the public to try their products and would prefer to use subliminal advertising than superliminal, believing that the subconscious mind has a greater impact on human behavior.
This YouTube video clip reveals an example of subliminal advertising that a viewer found on the Food Network during a broadcast of Iron Chef America. The ad, which is for McDonald's, is only about one frame of film long, but is still noticeable to the conscious mind as a red flash on the screen.
Of course, it could have been a broadcasting glitch and not a purposefully placed advertisement. But that might just be what they want you to think....
American Idol fans -- or ice cream fans, for that matter -- may want to take note of the new flavors available from Dreyer's that tie in to the popular realty show. Dreyer's/Edy's is the newest partner for American Idol, joining one of the most lucrative media franchises in history, and has five new Idol-themed flavors for fans to choose from. Each is presented on the Dreyer's website with a profile listing its "hometown," "slogan," and other information in the style of the stat given for a real contestant. Tasters can sample the flavors, which will be released to stores on or around Feb. 1, and then vote for their favorite flavor online. Voters will then have a chance to win tickets to the American Idol season finale.
If you're not interested in the show, at least you'll still get to enjoy some new Slow-Churned flavors as long as you can get past the Idol propaganda on the containers: Take The Cake (yellow cake flavor with blue frosting and sprinkles), Choc 'N Roll Caramel (caramel swirls and mini caramel chocolate cups), Hollywood Cheesecake (cheesecake ice cream with graham and strawberry swirls), Soulful Sundae Cone (vanilla, chocolate ice creams with chocolate peanuts and ice cream cone bits) and Triple Talent (triple chocolate).
I know you've all been waiting with baited breath for the return of Iron Chef Japan. Well here it is! It's not going to be on Food Network anymore though. Nope, now you'll be able to catch it on the Fine Living channel.
Though I know for sure I don't have what it takes to be a Top Chef (heck, I doubt I have what it takes to be just any chef), there might be some of you out there who have the endurance, the stamina, a thick enough skin to take words from Tom Colicchio and cold stares from Padma Lakshmi, and of course the talent. 
How did we miss this?!?!
Unfortunately, it's only her syndicated daytime show on ABC, not all 9,832 of Rachael Ray's other shows on the Food Network. According to an "impeccable" source to 
Kid's television shows may be cheesy, but if one group has their way, the ads will be cheese-free from now on. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has requested that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 
Professional football players have 
We had a bit of a 
May is National BBQ Month and National Hamburger Month
Cupcakes, not for dessert (unless beef is your idea of a treat)
Because eating French Fries in the car is so tough
