As a Chinese person I kept screaming throughout it (there are sooooo many Chinese tofu dishes and all they mainly thought of was mapo tofu lmao). I was like hello stinky tofu???? (There's more but that's my fave tofu dish lol)

And then I was also screaming, someone turn it into a vegetarian thing!!! Make a vegetarian fake meat dish!! Someone turn it into a dessert!! And make tofu flavored ice cream!! (All things I've eaten in the US actually lol so these were immediate ideas that came to my mind). Also in Chinese food we have delicious tofu desserts, like Do Hua. Smh the "Chinese expert" chefs need to spend a little more time in China lolll

But, then Edward Lee did things along the lines I was thinking. When he cut the drumsticks I was like yes!!! Meat simulation!! And then for the last round I PRAYED someone would finally do a dessert- like seriously so much untapped potential in tofu desserts - and HE DID!!! He thought of a dessert!!!!

I felt so grateful for him in that moment to actually make things I was begging for them to make on screen lmao.

Also I never expected him to win. This show is about "class wars" and it's not a good look for a seasoned, more well off, famous chef to win AGAIN against a young new chef. It's basically scripted by the show title and host announcements unless Napoli somehow really fucked up.

Edward lee winning would have been strange to watch, let's be honest. You don't invite veterans to give them a medal against a young fighter. But I wanted to see him in the finale, and got that. That's all I wanted and expected. And he did exactly the right dishes to get there and served his purpose perfectly. I used to wonder why a dude from NY would choose kentucky of all godforsaken places to open his restaurants... but after this show idc. I respect him. I'm going to Kentucky just to eat his food. 😂

Edit: all the chefs here talking about how I dont know food is made and passive aggressively downvoting lmao. Are people who love food and just eat but don't cook not allowed to watch the show? And just have opinions and have fun thinking of tofu dishes they know? That was the point of my post. I wanted to share all the tofu dishes I was thinking of and what my CASUAL thought process was. Even if a specific dish is not realistic, I can still be excited about a challenge where I get to also challenge myself thinking of all the tofu dishes I know as a viewer🤷‍♀️ people out here acting like only chefs are allowed to watch cooking shows or smth lmao and getting butthurt that I'm suggesting unrealistic things. The point is that it's a show. I'm a casual viewer. I'm having fun thinking of tofu dishes. I don't expect them to do anything unrealistic or telepathically read my mind. Doesn't mean I can't imagine things and wonder out loud about the things I'm thinking of 🙄

Literally people took a silly post about being excited about chinese tofu dishes/vegan ideas and got wayyy too serious and technical about it. (And a post meant to thank Edward lee for being creative and doing things i wanted to see).

Tldr, Cool story, you guys cook. You rely on people like me as customers. I literally eat out daily and visit a new restaurant every time throughout LA. I do know a lot about global cuisines, flavor profiles, all kinds of ingredients and all kinds of dishes - just not how to cook it in detail or certain technical skills. Forgive me if I don't know shit about how "impossible" something is to cook when it's literally not supposed to be my expertise 🤷‍♀️