The Green Screen - Top Chef Airs Eco-friendly Television
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As part of our continuing series reviewing eco-friendly television and film, The Green Screen takes a look at Bravo’s popular reality TV show Top Chef. Yes, even reality TV can be eco-friendly and I wanted to give a shout out to one of my personal favorites.
Top Chef features host and head judge Tom Colicchio as an intimidating yet charismatic mentor. Along with co-host Padma Lakshmi and my other favorite judge, Gail Simmons, Top Chef fascinates you with culinary skill and lures you in with food you can only look at and not taste. The show’s format involves chefs from around the world competing to become Top Chef with an contestant eliminated each episode if their food doesn’t make the grade. And even though you can’t taste the food, it’s clear from Judges feedback that these Chefs are talented.
So how are they eco-friendly? Well, Top Chef contestants often cook with sustainable foods and always shop with reusable bags. Viewers of the show know the format - they cook in a mini-challenge and then head to the elimination challenge where they are given a budget to shop for ingredients. Every time they shop for food, they fill up their groceries in reusable bags. After their food has been prepared, tasted and evaluated, the Chefs head to judges table to determine who will be eliminated. Unlike most reality TV, Top Chef is not a popularity contest, they are assessed based on cooking skills only, not personality. If you haven’t seen it, you really should tune in - it’s reality TV at its finest.
Top Chef takes it a step further since contestants often cook with sustainable foods from a sustainable farm. Sustainable food choices take planetary health into consideration. Sustainable Agriculture/farming refers to the ability of a farm to produce fertile soil for crops and produce along with livestock and fish from managed ponds, without causing severe or irreversible damage to ecosystem health according to Wikipedia. Basically, it limits the use of non-renewable energy sources.
Big kudos to Top Chef for being eco-friendly television and compelling entertainment. I look forward to the next season and the inevitable culinary masterpieces.
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