Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Battle of the Chefs: Eco Challenge; Sponsored by Soyjoy

4-22-09

Wonderful Jo invited me along to this event with her friend Wendy.  The three of us girls entered the event just as cute little Amy Smart came in with her manager.  Other celebrities included Reid Scott from the TBS show My Boys and Adam Gertler (The Next Food Network Star, Will Work For Food).  Not to mention, the celebrity judges which included the gorgeous Julianne Moore, Chef Joann Weir, and Chef Akasha Richmond of Akasha in Culver City.  But how could I forget?  The primary reason I wanted to go to the event- Chef Dave Lieberman (Good Deal with Dave Lieberman) was emcee-ing.

It was Soyjoy mania- Soyjoy pillows, Soyjoy shirts, tall glass cylinders filled with Soyjoy bars and plastic fruit like the ones in the bars.  Boulevard 3 was set up like a mini Iron Chef episode- three cooking stations set up for the three chefs to compete in three rounds with the secret ingredient of soy.  The event was a competition to see which of the three chefs made the best cocktail, entree, and dessert from soy.  Upon entering, we each received a magnet with  soy plant on it.  Allegedly, we were all supposed to get mini samples of the drinks and dishes, and then put our magnet into the box for the chef we liked the best.  Unfortunately, I could not in good conscience place my vote since I did not get to try ANYTHING!  We were on the second floor to get a better view, and although the box carrying Soyjoy spokespeople came up to collect our magnets, the waitresses with the samples did not.  I spoke to many Soyjoy employees, and they all said, "oh they're coming", but they didn't.

Finally, we went downstairs and got one sample for the three of us.  It was of some pork and soybean dish.  But the waiter dropped the fork so we really couldn't eat it.

But, how can we complain?  The drinks were free, bottles of smart water aplenty, and free Soyjoy bars for miles.  And the goody bag?  Well, as you could expect, it was one of those recyclable reusable bags that everyone and their mother is giving away.  When I was a kid, the big thing was water bottles.  Everywhere you went, every business, every event, you got one of those tall plastic water bottles.  We had about fifty in the cabinet above the pantry in my house.  The re-usable grocery bag is the new plastic water bottle.  What I did find amusing however, was that the bag contained more Soyjoy bars and a box with bamboo (sustainable) utensils and some irrelevant tissue paper.  It's not very green to waste tissue paper and have the bamboo wrapped up so much.  All the dishes they went through and needed to use water to clean probably wasn't very earth friendly either, but I digress....


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