Food Network star and host of the popular show “Restaurant: Impossible” Robert Irvine is back with a new show that highlights ingredients from all over the world.
“The Globe” is a true one-of-a-kind cooking competition. Streaming exclusively on discovery+, the five-episode series features chefs going head-to-head in a tournament that puts their knowledge of international ingredients to the test.
“I wanted to immerse people into the world and culture through food,” said Irvine. “I wanted viewers to get a bird’s eye view and slide into a market and see how that would look in Mumbai, Kyoto or any city. Then it became a competition across three rounds where you have no idea where it’s going to be based off of.”
In each episode, four chefs will compete across three rounds and are virtually transported to some of the greatest food destinations without leaving the studio through LED screen backdrops. After the city is revealed, competitors are limited to the local ingredients that would be found in that city while they prepare an inventive dish.
A chef will be eliminated after each round, with the last competitor standing winning a trip to one of the destinations featured in the episode. The winners of the four preliminary heats will head to the finale for a shot at winning $25,000.
The chefs will be judged by resident judge and award-winning chef Daniela Soto-Innes, and each episode will also feature a special guest judge who is knowledgeable in the cuisine featured in that episode, and they might not even be a chef at all.
“From Beijing to Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Lima, and so many more, there are all these places that we see snippets of but ‘The Globe’ is really delving into the culture and ingredients of these places. These are chefs that have no knowledge of what they are doing and the timeline that they have to do it,” said Irvine. “I’m not judging, but we have different guest judges on each episode, and some of them may not be a chef. It could be a housewife that lives in the country. That’s the coolest part, we always think that chefs know everything, but we don’t. I get to be educated along with the viewer from the guest judge.”
Guest judges that will be featured on the show include Eric Adjepong, Einat Admony, Shirley Chung, Chef Masaharu Morimoto, Tenagne Belachew, Gabriele Bertaccini, Rupam Bhagat, Edgar Chase, Dominique Crenn, Robert Johnson, Bricia Lopez, Esdras Ochoa, Sheldon Simeon, Jazz Singsanong and Ricardo Zarate.
For Irvine, part of the fun of working on “The Globe” was watching the chefs be challenged with the international ingredients that they have never worked with before.
“I think that all of these pro chefs are challenged to do these dishes or use unique equipment. They’ve never used them before, but they have the talent of the basics of cooking, like roasting, frying, sauteeing, and adapting them to the uniqueness of the food,” said Irvine. “Normally in other shows we say, ‘Reproduce this dish.’ It’s a different format because we’re taking authentic ingredients that we don’t get in this country and we see how they manipulate that.”
Irvine hopes that those who tune in not only enjoy the show but get to learn a thing or two about international cuisine.
“I hope that viewers learn about the food and culture and know that they have the opportunity to visit these places,” said Irvine. “COVID-19 put that on people, no one traveled. Now we have an understanding of cultures and cuisines. I always say that if we could put every head of state across the globe at a table, put out their national dish, have everyone take a bite and pass it around, people would understand cultures and each other better. Food is a great equalizer.”
“The Globe” will premiere on discovery+ on July 17.
