Cooking as a giving, communal activity exists only in Olive Garden commercials and the segments of Martha Stewart Living in which Martha is off-camera. In actuality it has morphed into a brutal sport, with celebrity chefs jockeying for high Zagat ratings, cookware deals and TV contracts. Add to that the Japanese shame of losing face, and you've got a game show that makes Survivor seem like Hollywood Squares.
On Iron Chef, the Japanese TV show that has become a hit for the Food Network, a challenger is sent into a Thunderdome-esque "kitchen stadium," where he or she competes against one...
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