Food Network serves a ‘Dinner Impossible’
Winston Crisp loves the Food Network. A hardcore fan, he
eschews the copycat “Iron Chef America,” for example, in favor of the
inscrutable Japanese version.
“I’m a purist about its pageantry, its drama and the
different style of food,” he said. “It’s almost like a Godzilla movie was
crossed with ‘The Galloping Gourmet.’”
When the Food Network’s “Dinner: Impossible” asked to film
an episode at Carolina just before Homecoming weekend, Crisp, assistant vice
chancellor for student affairs, was therefore delighted to be asked to take
part as one of the show’s guest chefs, along with Patti Thorp and Anoop Desai.
Thorp is the wife of Chancellor Holden Thorp. Desai is the
bluesy alumnus who competed on “American Idol” and was in town to perform at
the Homecoming concert.
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Robert Irvine’s sous chef George Galati (left) gives instructions to Winston
Crisp and Anoop Desai during filming. (All photos by Melissa Sowry.) |
The premise of the show is that the irascible English chef
Robert Irvine arrives at a mystery location and is assigned to prepare a meal
that includes multiple challenges. He is typically given inexperienced helpers,
sketchy ingredients and a major time crunch, and he is famous for creating an
atmosphere of tension as he does his best to complete his assignment on time.



(Top) Irvine makes a point for the
benefit of the camera. (Middle) Irvine shares a relaxed moment with Jasmin
Jones. (Bottom) Patti Thorp, center, works on food prep with student
volunteers.
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The crew arrived on campus Nov. 4 and set up in the
courtyard area of the Student Academic Services Building (SASB). The actual taping
began on Nov. 5 when Student Body President Jasmin Jones and Doug Dibbert,
president of the General Alumni Association, issued Irvine his challenge at the
Old Well.
Irvine’s mission was to create a meal for 100 “homesick”
first-year students using ingredients gathered by raiding their living
quarters.
Crisp and Thorp had about 90 minutes with little to do while
Desai and Jones “rushed the dorms” with Irvine. But Thorp and Jones then staged
a raid of their own on the Alpha Chi Omega house when they were shy of some
much-needed ingredients. “Chef, you’re going to love us,” Thorp announced when
they returned with baskets full of food.
“Once the supplies showed up,” Crisp said, “and we started
building the menu, we were nonstop and it was frenzied from then on.”
From that point, there was little interaction among chefs
because they were so intent on their assigned tasks.
At Crisp’s station, for example, “There were a
ton-and-a-half of ramen noodles, bags of Cheetos and Vienna sausages,” he said.
“I was looking at the stuff when they came back and wondering, what in the
world!”
Once the cooking began, Crisp said, “We pulverized the
Cheetos and used that as a breading for the Vienna sausages, which we fried.”
As unlikely as that sounds, he said, the students loved it. Plus, he added, “It
showed Irvine’s creativity and his ability to be nonplussed.”
When asked if the mood around SASB was as tense as the show
portrays, Crisp said it was more of a “fun mad dash to get the meal done.”
There was an initial encounter with Irvine, though, in which
he asked Crisp, “What do you cook?” Crisp answered back, “Stuff.” Irvine said,
“What stuff?” and Crisp replied, “A lot of stuff.” “I can see that,” Irvine
snapped.
Look for the Tar Heel episode of “Dinner Impossible” to air
tentatively in March. |