OMFG this is the best tv show EVER.

Yeah, weve had it for a while in australia, just wanted to see what you ppl here thought about it.

from the http://www.ironfans.com/ FAQ:

Nearly a decade ago, a man's fantasy became reality in a form never seen before, Kitchen Stadium, a giant cooking arena. The motivation for spending his fortune to create kitchen stadium was to encounter new, original cuisine, which could be called true, artistic creations. To realize his dream, he started choosing the top chefs of various styles of cooking, and he named his men the Iron Chefs, the invincible men of culinary skill. Iron Chef Japanese is Masaharu Morimoto, Iron Chef French is Hiroyuki Sakai, Iron Chef Chinese is Chen Kenichi, and Masahiko Kobe is Iron Chef Italian. Kitchen stadium is the arena where Iron Chefs await the challenges of master chefs from all over the world. Both the Iron Chef and challenger have one hour to tackle the theme ingredient of the day. Using all their senses, skills, creativity, they're to prepare artistic dishes never tasted before. And if ever a challenger wins over the Iron Chefs, He or she will gain the people's ovation, and fame forever. Every battle, reputations are on the line in Kitchen Stadium, where master chefs pit their artistic creations against each other. What inspiration will today's challenger bring, and how will the Iron Chefs fight back? The heat will be on!

I watch it all the time on Food Network (yes, Americans have a network dedicated to food, imagine that ) and I love it. The whole presentation and stuff just really has a certain charm that I can't resist. If none of you have ever seen it, you're really missing out on something. It really makes cooking a lot more exciting.

Basically, there's 3 Iron Chefs that dominate in certain cuisines (Japanese, Chinese, and French) and other chefs from around the world come and challenge them in Kitchen Stadium. They have 1 hour to work with a randomly selected theme ingredient (ranges from tuna, to rice, to potatoes, to carrots, etc.) and they do some really remarkable things (one guy carved a pagoda out of a carrot). Then their dishes go on a taste-test with Japanese celebrities and they comment on the food and rate it. Then someone is crowned the champion! Watch it! Love it!