Believe me I understand the need for easy and speedy. After a 12-hour day of shooting 'Chopped ' say I'm talking stir-fry spaghetti heck peanut-butter sandwiches. But that's not about the joy of food. That's survival.
I've always hoped 'Chopped' would telegraph our enormous affection and love and admiration for chefs and food but at the same time we are inflicting extraordinary cruelty on them.
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I think what I do differently from a lot of TV chefs is that I break down barriers and make fine food more accessible to the regular person who might be intimidated. I try hard particularly with wine to make it not intimidating. It's sort of a teaching job.