Congratulations, America, you have a new Iron Chef. He’s a boisterous Italian-American chef from New York. No, not Mario Batali…it’s Chef Marc Forgione (of the restaurant Marc Forgione). He defeated fellow finalist Marco Canora in a battle to create a reinvented thanksgiving dinner. Forgione’s caul-fat wrapped venison solidified his immortality in kitchen stadium, as Canora presented a very similar, but much weaker dish. The venison serves as a metaphor for this final battle—two very similar chefs (their names are Marc and Marco), with two similar cooking styles, from the same city. Though Canora was the frontrunner throughout the season, Frogione managed to take the title, even without using turkey in his thanksgiving feast.
The addition of this Iron Chef may seem redundant to those who remember the Japanese version, in which each chef was stereotyped into his culinary style. Now, our Iron Chefs may not want to be pigeonholed in such a trite way, but all the Food Network does is stereotype based on culinary style; Paula Deen does Southern, The Neelies do barbeque, Guy Fieri does drunken bar food, etc… In this case, America does not need two Italian Iron Chefs.
We also don’t need seven Iron Chefs total, since we Americans have three more chefs than our Japanese predecessors. But in this case, more is not necessarily better. Because of the massive number of Iron Chefs, each one only gets to compete in about four episodes per season. Further, this decrease means that each chef doesn’t get to build an intimidating record. For instance, last year’s Next Iron Chef winner, Jose Garces, currently has five battles under his belt, and already we’re shipping in a new one.
So which chef(s) should be kicked out of kitchen stadium? Cat Cora has the worst record (and no personality), but as she’s the only female in the bunch, she’s not going anywhere. Morimoto’s record is also lacking, but he’s the only semblance of the original version, even if he is aging, and the producers really feel the need to give him subtitles when he speaks English. Not cool, Food Network. Then there’s the orange-Croc wearing Batali. His show, “Molto Mario” was canceled years ago, and with this new Iron Chef taking his genre, I think it’s his time to go.
But the preponderance of cooks is not the only problem in Iron Chef America. I am of course talking about The Chairman, or at least, the phony Dancing with the Stars contestant that we were given as a replacement for the majestic Japanese original. In my opinion, the Food Network should not only get rid of one or two Iron Chefs (I’m looking at you, Cat Cora!), they should also nix the staged mugging of the chairman with the well-respected Alton Brown (who already does a great Chairman impression).
WHOA!!!! Forgione takes it!!!!!
Congratulations, Marc!
I followed the whole competition from the beginning.
Actually I would have bet Canora would have won because of
his progress throughout.
By the way, I wasn’t able to contact Alton.
But what I’ve been trying to remind him of
is simply this:
Mr. Brown, you are a genius.
Forgione was a much more creative chef than was Canora, who always took the simpler approach. Canora was also a bit too full of himself. Forgione honored the orignal Thanksgiving exactly correctly. Today’s turkey is not what they had at that original feast. I’m so glad Forgione won!
Batali is already off the show. His last appearance was in early 2008. His contract ended and the rumor is that he does not want to do any more shows. If you notice he does not appear in the credits as an iron chef any longer.
I would not be surprised if Flay or Symon take a hiatus for a while. They both have 1 or 2 other shows to occupy their time.