Cooking Show Competitions

I admit, I’m addicted to cooking show competitions. Very strange since:

A – I don’t like to cook.

B – I’m nearly always on a diet and rarely get to eat anything that doesn’t taste like cardboard.

C – I can’t imagine any reason to make a meal of ingredients like black chicken, day-old anchovies, quince paste and leftover root beer.

D – Even the best prepared meals are followed by “doing the dishes.”

My favorite cook -starring show is Top Chef. I truly wish I could explain the appeal. If you haven’t seen the show, snooty chefs compete to make dishes analyzed by even snootier judges. At least one contestant is eliminated every week until only one (the Top Chef) remains. The producers often make these poor chefs perform in extreme conditions. On one episode, contestants had to catch the fish before they could make the meal. My ex was an excellent fisherman. You think I want to eat his food or Bobby Flay’s?
Choppedis a close-second on fav’s list. You have to admit, the producers of this show must be geniuses. Either that, or there’s some type of subliminal mind control occurring. Why else would we watch a show that requires contestants to combine four ingredients we’d never eat and finish a dish in less time than it takes to cook a microwaved baked potato? 

On one episode, contestants had to create an entrée from cactus pear, squab, frozen lima beans, and far far (Yes, far far is an actual food—an Indian snack made from potato starch and tinted sago. Don’t ask me what sago is). If that wasn’t bad enough, the dessert round ingredients included corn flakes, chili sauce, golden raspberries and labne (some kind of Greek yogurt—probably high on the gross factor).

Iron Chef is also a fav. I’m not sure why. Maybe because Bobby Flay frequently makes an appearance on the show. At least the food looks like it might actually taste good.

What about you? Are you hooked too?