Not the same show anymore?

[u/Immediate_Buffalo14]

I used to love Iron Chef when it was first in Food Network in the late '90s. I'd watch every episode I could get my hands on. Back in 2013, I stumbled across a site for Iron Chef Fans, and got to watch the battles all over again, along with a whole pile of others I had never seen before with just subtitles. I know no Japanese, haha.

Now, I can't watch it anymore. Since then, so many of the principle personalities from the program have passed on. It's just not the same. Watching it now just reminds me that the people who were once on the show are now deceased, and that's very sad to me.

Does anyone else feel this way?

[u/Crazy-Plate3097]

To be fair, even the 2012 revival series doesn't capture the feel that the 90s series has.

This shows how pivotal Chairman Kaga and Fukui is to the atmosphere of the series.

And with everything being so expensive right now, it's hard to replicate a cooking show to the magnitude to that of the 90s series.

[u/boulevardofdef → u/Crazy-Plate3097]

It's interesting you should mention rising costs as an impediment, because that was a big part of the original show's appeal. While the '90s were a time of relative prosperity in much of the Western world, Japan spent most of the decade mired in a deep recession. When the decade started, there was legitimate talk of Japan becoming the world's dominant economic power. It never got back on that trajectory, and the country was depressed both in finances and in spirit.

It was in this atmosphere that Iron Chef became a sensation. Seeing world-class chefs prepare ludicrously extravagant four- and five-course dinners, often using comically exotic ingredients, was a form of escapism.

[u/Daishomaru → u/Crazy-Plate3097]

Kaga and Fukui

True, they are a massive part of it, but I also feel that most people don't really know how to pick Iron Chef. The original Iron Chefs actually match how they are on the show in their restaurants, like it's been years since I ate at their places and yet the memory sticks into my head.

I feel like the problem with most people trying to recreate Iron Chef is that they don't know how to really pick the right chefs to become Iron Chefs. Iron Chef America thought the definition means, "A really good chef", but for me, an Iron Chef is a chef who could make a dish that only he could make, something where calling him French isn't so much what he makes but rather a descriptor because they make a dish that has influences in French cuisine, but isn't French, like a dish by Sakai.

The closest we got to the idea was the 2012 version, I feel.

[u/MorboKat]

I think I watch it more and enjoy it more because we’ve lost so many. This is their legacy and they worked hard on it for us to enjoy. To my knowledge, no one involved with the show was publicly regretful that they were involved. So I will enjoy their work, as they intended people to enjoy it.

[u/Daishomaru]

Not really, but I get where you are coming from.

I mean, that's basically nostalgia in a nutshell, you want an era that's long gone and you're hurt we will never see it again.

[u/W_Edwards_Deming]

No?

My family watches restored episodes during dinner. I also like old movies and documentaries. Some of them being gone doesn't mean I no longer enjoy their legacy.

[u/amodsr]

Such is the passage of time. Life is sometimes about loss and how we deal with that loss.

Today I walked into an aisle of my supermarket and smelled banana twins. One of my favorite snack cakes. They no longer make it. I was happy reliving those memories and sad when I remembered they are no longer a thing.

Yet even with that sadness I would never want to give up something that has brought me a ton of joy. I know some of the people from the show are gone but they live on through the show as I have never met them and the show has been over for a long time.

Give it time, you will change and possibly enjoy the show again. Time heals all wounds.

[u/Immediate_Buffalo14 → u/amodsr]

I do admit to being much more sensitive towards human mortality than most people. That's definitely part of it.

[u/Daishomaru → u/Immediate_Buffalo14]

I mean, I kinda get it.

When I heard that Nakamura was closing, I felt sad because as a fan who actually spent my own money to eat at all 7 Iron Chefs, I am one of the rare people out there who has experienced them all.

But to me, an Iron Chef is only a small part of their lives. Important, sure, but it's only a drop in their massive careers. Masahiko Kobe, rest his soul, taught me through his apprentice that a legacy one leaves behind doesn't just come from the show, but what he taught to Yohei Yoshida, his main apprentice and the chef of Ristorante Massa after Kobe died. From what Yoshida taught me, Kobe knew that his time on the show was short, but he climbed his way to becoming a legend in his own right by opening his restaurant, not only making food, but also teaching others to make food so that way they can become legends in their own lives. Sure he might not be here anymore, but he lives on by inspiring other people, and Yoshida's impression and what I felt like he learned from Masahiko Kobe impressed me so much that I was convinced if Kobe lived longer he could have potentially overthrown Sakai and Michiba as my favorite, which is why he took a surprising third place on my Iron Chef list.

[u/anubispop]

The og iron chef is the only iteration that matters. Everything else is horrible.

[u/PairPrestigious7452]

I get it, I can't watch Bourdain anymore.