IT WAS CR@P.
No, seriously! It was literal cr@p.
Bobby Flay and Michael Symon, famous Iron Chefs, Amber--ah dangit, I misprounced her name again--I mean, Anne Burrel(who Jillian, host of Food Network Humor seems to loathe) and Alex LastnameIcannotspellifmylifedependedonit all got together and were challenged to take food that was in trash cans around the world and produce which was doomed to be tossed due to imperfections and cook with it to make an appetizer, two main dishes, and a dessert.
At first I was put off - I am not courageous enough to think about rooting in my group home's trash cans to fish out despoiled fruits and tossed meats and USE them - but these four put on a brave face and their latex gloves(well, Anne did - she actually dumpster dived with some guy[who wasn't destitute, shock and awe] who saves money by fishing out ingredients for his meals instead of buying them from a store like normal folk, he was invited and attended the banquet at the end) and hit the stores and farms and offered to take off of the people's hands all the product that would have otherwise gone to landfills.
I think the only part that put me off was Anne Burrel dumpster diving. As I said before, I wouldn't be brave enough to fish around in my trash and cook with trash-covered food, but Anne found some gems that she washed up and cooked with.
Anyways, most of the refuse that was salvaged was actually surprising - I am not at all shocked that we Amercians toss half of our food each day, and the fact that most of the garbage is actually edible but slightly ugly tends to reflect on us personally. We people of the United States of America are perfectionists, sad but true. While Alton Brown has told me that you should be careful when buying your ingredients, I'm sure he would have approved of his fellows at FN doing this. After all, to quote him, "It's all going to be processed anyways." Just because a chicken egg is huge and has three yolks in it due to some mutation of the egg-making the hen does in her body, or a tomato fell off the vine and got a bit bruised, it won't MATTER - they weren't making carpaccio or sushi or making fruit salad, it was ALL being cooked, so when it was done, it doesn't look, smell, or taste nasty.
Of course, trashed food may be legitimately tossed due to disease, so a food safety inspector had to come in and test the temperature and healthiness of the food before it was allowed to be cooked. All in all, everything passed inspection save a stump of preschuttio(spelling is wrong, I know it) which had been held at room temp for too long and was now in the danger zone, even though Anne furiously argued that it was salted. Yes, I agree that he should have taken that thermometer and stuck it up his, but he had his reasons and his criteria states that the unsmoked ham was not fit for edible consumption. At least Anne saved it by taking it home. Good for you, Anne! ^_^
The last scene of this special was just the chefs doing their voodoo and serving the results to a hungry crowd of tough critics. Three famous ICA judges(Jeffery, Karim, and Anatella) were eating too but they didn't vote. In the end, Bobby and Michael got the silver trash trophy.
In conclusion, watching that special made me realize that the reason Share Our Strength and other charities for world hunger exist is because of this garbage. I am reminded of one episode of the Smurfs where that chef Smurf(I forgot the names) worked with Handy Smurf to make a food processor machine that would make their lives easier and the chef Smurf was horrified when he saw his fellow Smurfs wasting food. In one scene, he saw a vain Smurf take a bite of a cake and throw the rest out of the window because it didn't match his clothes. I think we can all learn from this cartoon episode - we're just as guilty of throwing out food for not being beautiful and not giving it a chance, and that good food rots and is lost forever, when it could have fed the poor and hungry. Please, give blemished food a chance. <_>
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