is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme ingredient. The series ended on September 24, 1999, although four occasional specials were produced from January 5, 2000 to January 2, 2002. The series aired 309 episodes. Repeats are regularly aired on the Food Network in Canada, the Cooking Channel in the United States, and on Special Broadcasting Service in Australia. There are 5 spinoffs, the latest being Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend. Fuji TV aired a new version of the show, titled , starting on October 26, 2012. Features The host of the show was the flamboyant Takeshi Kaga, known on the show as the aristocrat . He began most episodes with his signature words, taken from Arthur Rimbaud, "If memory serves me right...「私の記憶が確かならば…」"(Jadis) si je me souviens bien..." and started the cooking time with the phrase "Allez Cuisine!". The show had two regular commentators, Kenji Fukui, who narrated the action on the floor, and Yukio Hattori, a food scholar and founder of the Hattori Nutrition College. A floor reporter, Shinichiro Ohta, reported to Fukui on what the challengers and Iron Chefs were preparing, their strategy, and their comments, breaking Fukui's train of commentary with a polite "Fukui-san?". One or two guest commentators (who also served as judges) also made frequent appearances. The commentary covered ingredients, history of contenders, and other background information to give viewers context for what was happening in the kitchen. Story The kayfabe "story" behind Iron Chef is recounted at the beginning of every episode. A title card, with a quote from famed French food author Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin first appeared: "Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you what you are." Then, it was said that Kaga "realized his dream in a form never seen before" and specially constructed a cooking arena called "Kitchen Stadium". There, visiting chefs from "around the world" would compete against his Gourmet Academy, led by his three (later four) Iron Chefs. Chairman Kaga himself was a showpiece, dressed in outlandish examples of men's formal attire. The English name Iron Chef comes from the show itself: Kaga would use this translation of the Japanese title when summoning his chefs at the beginning of the