Cooking shows are a dime a dozen. There are so many of them that it is difficult for anyone to come up with anything new that can be done. There is an entire network dedicated to food shows. I haven't actually seen a cooking show that was worth watching for very long other than the widely popular Hell's Kitchen. That was, until I saw Hyper Hardboiled Gourmet Report.
"Gourmet Reports" are a regular feature on Japanese TV, some celebrity chef will get together normally with other famous people or even just some commoners to have some food and discuss not just the quality, texture, flavors, and what not,; but the also discuss the feelings the food gives them - which I think is weird but whatever... watch what you like!
Hyper Hardboiled Gourmet Report does something that I can't even imagine someone having the guts to do: They go to parts of the world where the worst, or most dangerous and unapproachable people reside, meet them and find out what they eat, where, and how.
I have only watched a few episodes but this already might be my favorite food-oriented show of all time. It could give Gordon Ramsay's attitude a run for the money that is for sure.
So far I have witnessed dining with ex Liberian Resistance Fighters who are now homeless crack-addicts who live and sleep in cemeteries (while not these specific people, this group were proven cannibals), Mob bosses in Taiwan (they eat slightly fancier food than the homeless crackhead cannibals), and members of the Crips and Florantine 13 gangs of Los Angeles.
I don't know how they gain access to these people but I suspect it has at least a little to do with the fact that they are Japanese and at least for me, the Japanese are so polite that I think they can approach anyone without them feeling threatened. It doesn't mean the situations are not dangerous though, the rendezvous with the ex Liberian Resistance fighters was actually quite nerve-wracking to even watch.
After seeing how that situation went down, the Taiwanese mob bosses and L.A. gangsters seemed almost welcoming and kind.
The show is in Japanese as the footage is being presented to a famous Japanese person (At least I presume he is famous, I don't know who he is) and the shock and awe that he experiences is probably quite similar to what you are going to feel.
This is a very unusual concept for a show and it certainly takes a high level of courage for the team to film it as they are threatened, assaulted, and robbed all in the first episode. I like unusual ideas that for one reason or another, just work and therefore this gets the good stamp from me.
