oie gras, double-smoked Berkshire bacon, and chevre; imagine being forced to eat these delicacies while 400 people watched with anticipation and jealously. Though arguably not as daunting as being a judge on Iron Chef America, being a judge at the Iron Chef Competition at Harbourfront's Hot and Spicy Festival this past weekend remained a challenging task. But the thought of combining two of my talents, being judgmental and eating, was just too good to turn down.

In its fifth year, this is the first time the competition has been exclusively international- competitors hail from New Mexico, Canada, Mexico, and Jamaica. My fellow judges included Elizabeth Baird of Canadian Living Magazine; Melanie Fernandez, Director, Community and Education Programmes at Harbourfront; and for the final competition, Toronto Chef Greg Couillard, whose latest venture is The Spice Room. Each round was MC'd by Chrstian Pritchard, who has done several food series for Rogers Cable and is a consultant for Loblaw's.

In the first round, Chef Fernando J. Olea Caballero of Bert's Restaurant in Santa Fe, faced off against Toronto's own Chris Brown of Perigee, in Battle Foie Gras. Chef Caballero created a mole -a Mexican sauce based on chocolate and chilies he had smuggled into the country- of 26 items. This was pretty impressive considering the battle only lasted 30 minutes. Chef Caballero seared his foie gras and placed it on top of a pool of the mole on one end of the plate, as well as a slice of chicken breast (which had momentarily run away), on another pool of mole at the other end. He parted the pools with a refreshing mixed greens salad. Chef Caballero may be the "Big Guy" equivalent of cuisine in New Mexico, but he had a tough time competing with Toronto favourite Chris Brown. Using zucchini flowers he had picked from his own backyard, Chef Brown stuffed the delicate blossoms with foie gras and chevre, then deep-fried them in a tempura batter. Chef Brown plated his dish on a bed of risotto which had been mixed with the fat from the duck liver and dotted with reduced balsamic; then topped it off with a scoop of cucumber foam. Though certain judges may not have favoured the texture of his risotto, he prevailed and won the competition.