The
premise of the show is that four chefs compete using groceries bought
at the grocery store. The twist is, the chefs have to buy the groceries
from people coming out of the grocery store - the competitors don't go
into the store themselves to shop.
After
the chef buys the groceries they have to use the ingredients of the
groceries that they bought to create a dish that matches whatever
challenge they've been given. An example of a challenge given is
"handheld" meaning whatever they created had to be able to be eaten
without utensils, just using their hands.
In
the first round they buy all of someone's groceries without knowing
what the shopper has bought. If it turns out they don't have the
ingredients to make whatever would fit their challenge, they can go back
and buy more groceries - still not knowing what they're buying.
In
the second round, they can paw through the shopper's baskets before
buying but they can only buy from one person who hopefully have enough
ingredients to make the challenged dish.
The
third, and final, round allows the remaining contestants to shop from
as many people as they want but they can only buy five ingredients. The
contestants start with $500 to spend on groceries and it has to last
for all three rounds.
The one who makes the best final dish (of the remaining two), wins $10,000.
That's
how the competition works. I only recently started watching it but I
do enjoy it. It's only been on a few seasons and I wondered if they'd
be able to continue, considering the pandemic and all. Well, it turns
out they are continuing the show.
Now,
when they shop, they wear masks. Except when they're "shopping" (from
actual grocery store customers), they are maskless. Which brings me to
the whole point of this post.
I
went to the grocery store shortly before the world shut down last
March. My last time in the store, I wore a mask and gloves and I was
the only one with any "protective" gear on. When the world shut down, I
started having groceries delivered to my house so that I didn't have to
go into the grocery store. I was paying roughly $12 per delivery for
that convenience and it was totally worth it to me. Then I reached a
point where I mainly needed cleaning supplies - which were impossible to
get - and I didn't want to pay $12 for an empty grocery bag so I
scheduled a curbside pick up. It was so easy I've been doing that ever
since.
So, with the
exception of the weekend after Thanksgiving, I have not stepped foot
inside a grocery store in more than ten months. Which makes me think,
if I broke down and went to the grocery store to do my own shopping,
there's no way in the world I would even consider selling my groceries
to someone, causing me to need to go back into the store and shop some
more. At least not during a time when the risk of exposure to covid is
so great. As I said, the contestants only have $500 to spend I don't
think if they pooled all their resources together to buy my groceries it
would be enough to persuade me to consider selling them if it meant I
had to go back into a place I've avoided for almost a year now.
Bottom
line, I enjoy the show but am surprised, and a bit disappointed, that
they would be filming it during a global pandemic with infection rates
as high as they are.
Question
is, is it just me that feels this way or would you consider selling
your groceries to the competitors? Inquiring minds want to know.
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