Iron Chef

'The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs' Where: Food When: 9 p.m. Sunday Rating: TV-G (suitable for all ages)

They're the food world's equivalent of "made" men and women — instantly recognizable chefs who have their own cooking shows, cookbooks, brands and fan following. Names like Napa Valley's Michael Chiarello. New York City's Marcus Samuelsson and Alex Guarnaschelli. So why they are willing to put it all on the line to compete in Season 4 of "The Next Iron Chef," which debuts Sunday on Food Network? It's a question that confounds even the host, Alton Brown. "These chefs have more to lose than they actually have to gain," Brown said Friday during a telephone interview.

Food-truck battles and cupcake wars; little people crafting chocolate confections and five-star chefs forging masterpieces with ingredients from a vending machine; molecular gastronomists making scientific ideas edible and D-list celebs opening a restaurant. Full yet? To begin with, food shows were once largely limited to quiet PBS instructional fare -- like how to calmly make a cheese souffle under Julia Child's tutelage. While there are still plenty of series teaching viewers how to cook (there are now two channels devoted to food with the recent launch of the Cooking Channel, an edgy spinoff of the Food Network)

Iron Chef Michael Symon has a new place to cook: a two-story loft in the Dogtown Station mixed-use development in Venice. The 1,850-square-foot town house he bought has floor-to-ceiling windows, a patio and a fireplace. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit was listed at $1.1 million. The sales price was not available. Symon, 41, will be using the space as his Los Angeles residence while filming "The Next Iron Chef," on which he is a judge, and his new show, "Food Feuds. " He is a Cleveland restaurateur and the author of "Michael Symon's Live to Cook: Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen.

White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford knows about all about cooking under pressure. After all, she cooks for the leader of the free world. (First under George W. Bush, now under Barack Obama.) So she said she wasn't all that unnerved by entering Kitchen Stadium for a special two-hour episode of the Food Network's cooking competition "Iron Chef America," which will air at 8 p.m. Sunday. "Kitchen Stadium and the White House, they're both immensely intense in terms of pressure," Comerford said.

Eric Greenspan, chef-owner of the Foundry on Melrose who was a competitor on the Food Network's "The Next Iron Chef," says he's in the process of purchasing the space next door to the Foundry for his new restaurant, Greenspan's Grilled Cheese. Greenspan's signature sandwich of short rib, Taleggio and apricot-caper purée, which won the Grilled Cheese Invitational (thus now named the Champ), will be available along with others. Greenspan also will be serving old-school seltzer drinks such as lime rickeys and chocolate egg creams, plus latkes, tater tots and a variety of soups -- available in cup, bowl or "dip" size.

Grasshoppers? Grasshoppers?? Eric Greenspan, the chef-owner of the Foundry on Melrose, has cooked a lot of unusual fare in his day, but there he was, looking down at a platter piled high with this Asian delicacy. With the clock ticking, he needed to figure out not one, but two dishes in which to feature the crunchy little critters. What better way to judge whether Greenspan has what it takes to become "The Next Iron Chef"? Season 2 of the popular Food Network competition kicks off Sunday night and takes place in L.A., making the most of the city's international culinary reach.

The gig: Celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality known for his fresh take on traditional Italian fare and his penchant for wearing orange Crocs. Mario Batali co-owns 15 restaurants in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York, including L.A. hot spots Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza, which he opened with business partners Nancy Silverton and Joe Bastianich. The ponytailed chef, who can be seen on the Food Network's "Iron Chef America" and other television programs, also touts a line of products including cookbooks and kitchenware.

It's a funny thing about food, which only does its job when it's in your mouth, that we derive so much pleasure from watching it on television. "That looks good," we say. But we don't really know. We could be wrong. Of course, there is more to most shows about food than the food itself. There is talking about food, which helps us imagine the taste of what we aren't tasting. And there is, in its preparation, the display of expertise that helps us believe we might get a handle on our own life, in or out of the kitchen.

This weekend, the best thing you could talk about is: "Ponyo." Behind the films "Spirited Away" and "Howl's Moving Castle," Hayao Miyazaki might be the only person with a track record in animation as consistent and beloved as Pixar's. The Japanese director-illustrator's latest is "Ponyo," the story of a young fish who wants to become human. Along the way she'll befriend a 5-year-old named Sosuke. A bit like "The Little Mermaid"? Yes, but quirky in the best way.