anyway here are my thoughts on the final table after finishing it the other day
I’m not the first person to point this out but the fact that the show boasted about being a “global” competition but focused heavily on western cuisines was kinda annoying. And on top of that the final four ended up being 4 white men. It’s just like..... ok den. It is what it is but I just wish the show hadn’t gone on and on about how “global” it was when it really wasn’t *that* different from many other cooking shows in terms of cuisines shown lol
also that almost the majority of the last half of the show had no women in it...... I know the culinary world is still very sexist so I guess it’s not all on the show in terms of gender disparities but also considering that there were tons of arguments between the men on the show that never got shown but the one time there was tension between the only female team they gave it lots of airtime and played it up leads me to believe the show may have also had a misogyny problem 🤷🏿♀️
the judging on the show seemed so weird and inconsistent to me. Sometimes being traditional was a good thing that was praised, other times it was critiqued. Sometimes going outside the box and not being traditional was praised, sometimes it was critiqued. It just seemed like there weren’t consistent standards between the sets of judges (or even within a single episode!). I guess u could say it reflects real life or whatever bc every person who sits at ur restaurant is going to have different standards or ideas for what the meal should be but idk man.... there was just no standardization or consistent set of criteria which made it feel like u never knew what the judges were going to want or like or dislike
also the celeb “ambassador” judges thing was kinda iffy to me. Like, no disrespect to hasan minhaj or dax shepard or whoever but what the fuck do these people know about fine cuisine that I, as a professional chef on this show with possibly decades of experience, have to listen to your opinion 💀
but I guess u could argue the celeb’s provided an Everyman™️ perspective on it, as in how would the average person feel and react to the dishes the chefs were making because maybe the perspectives and thoughts and comments of a professional chef or food critic might not be super relatable to the average person so that’s what the celebs are for? Idk I’m of 2 minds on this
also speaking of inconsistent judging, when the French chef taste-tested Rafa and esdras’ food, she said she found it spicy, but then during the judging the reason she gave for eliminating them was that the food wasn’t spicy enough???????? My brother was so pissed about this lol
also the fact that the reason Shin and Ronald left was because the British chef didn’t like their presentation...... I get that all the dishes were good enough that nitty gritty details start to matter and someone had to go home, but come on bro 😭 was it really bad enough to justify kicking them off the show? Especially since the presentation that she didn’t like/get was them using a Japanese technique/style
in general with the judging being the way it was I always felt really bad when a team went home because it usually just felt like it was out of their hands bc it came down to whatever the judges felt like doing basically lol
also the way they decided who the winner was was so weird to me. They all talked about how Timothy doing a dish that he was familiar with and had done multiple times put him at a disadvantage but then the American chef just went “but is that a disadvantage tho???????? 🤔🤔🤔” and because they didn’t show the conversation that happened after that or how they came to a consensus in the end it just seemed like they all just went along with the American chef??? And we also didn’t hear enough from all of the chefs either. Idk the discussion was cut so short and was so rushed which is annoying and doesn’t make sense bc the whole season was leading to that moment.... they could’ve afforded to have a slightly longer episode (literally just an extra minute or two) if it meant giving us more of the decision making process.
it was an enjoyable watch but I found it to so be garish and melodramatic and over the top lol... also again going on about being a “global” competition while still being quite euro/western-centric was just.... the show came across as being a bit more proud of itself than it really deserved to be
i cannot BELIEVE those chefs were cooking in front of a live audience omg I would’ve been so nervous
I liked Darren but the amount of times he went on and on about “I’m a white guy making Japanese food, I had to fight to prove myself” was just..... it’s clear he had a lot of love and respect for the cuisine and acknowledged that he was just a student of it and didn’t delude himself into thinking he was doing something new or reinventing the wheel or whatever which was nice but just the amount of times he went on about the whole “I’m a white guy” thing was a bit much lol. it might’ve been the editing tho so idk
I know Charles and Rodrigo are probably a bit too pretentious for some people but I loved them sm 😭 I was so sad when they left
I also loved the Australian chefs so much 😭
hey Alex i am free on Thursday if you want to hang out please call me about hanging out on Thursday which is when I am free
In general I loved all the chefs tbh, the highlight of the show is getting attached to each contestant. I was always genuinely sad for each team that left
If they ever do any more seasons I will watch but it’s really not as groundbreaking or original or as fresh as they really tried to play it up as. It was definitely a bigger scale which was interesting to watch I guess but that’s really it lol
