Cooking shows may be dime a dozen these days, but BBC America’s hoping that it’s stumbled across the right blend of ingredients to make “No Kitchen Required” stand out from the pack – it’s a little bit “Survivor,” with a dash of “Bizarre Foods,” a smidge of “Iron Chef” and a hint of “A Cook’s Tour.”
The series, beginning tomorrow at 10 p.m. (on BBC America), drops it’s three chefs into exotic and remote environs around the world, and forces them to do what the locals do to track down ingredients that they’ll then turn into locally-inspired meals. The twist here is that the judges are taken from the week’s host community, not some fancy-schmancy celebrity/expert panel.
To promote the show, “No Kitchen Required” had a little live cookoff right in the middle of Madison Square Park, using “native” Big Apple ingredients – squirrel, crow and hare. The chefs had 30 minutes to prep their foods, before serving them to the New York Giants’ David Diehl, co-founder of “Foodspotting” Soroya Darabi and InStyle magazine’s fashion director, Hal Rubenstein. Here’s what happened, in a minute and a half nutshell:
“No Kitchen Required” stars Michelin-starred restaurateur Michael Psilakis, “Chopped” grand champion Madison Cowan and New Zealand chef Kayne Raymond. It’s hosted by British presenter Dr. Shini Somara.