As many of you know, I am a huge fan of much of the Food Network’s programming. I love to watch people cook. I love to listen to people talk about food. It relaxes me. Cooking shows are my therapy. Paula Deen, Ina Garten, and Giada DeLaurentiis are the goddesses I worship. Since I love the normal, standard cooking show fare, I began branching out and started watching the Iron Chef series. Iron Chef is not relaxing. Iron Chef is a bloodbath, in a good way. It can be epic, nerve-racking and intense. I love it.

Anyway, First Lady Michelle Obama is going to participate in a new episode of Iron Chef. Unfortunately, she’s not going to cook (I would pay to see that). And it doesn’t look like she’s going to be one of the judges, either. Instead, she’s going to present the challenge, which will be taped at the White House. The battle? The chefs have to use food from the White House garden!

Michelle Obama’s vegetable garden is about to become a culinary battlefield.

The Food Network announced Wednesday that an episode of “Iron Chef America” will be taped at the White House featuring Mario Batali, Bobby Flay and Emeril Lagasse.

The three chefs, joined by White House chef Cristeta Comerford, will be welcomed by the first lady and allowed to use anything found in the garden to help create their meals.

The competition will then move back to the network’s Kitchen Stadium in New York, where Flay and Comerford will face-off against Batali and Lagasse to produce five dishes showcasing the ingredients.

The judges will include chef Nigella Lawson, Olympic gold medalist Natalie Coughlin, and actress Jane Seymour.

The episode airs Jan. 3.

[From Fox News]

I’d like it better if Michelle was one of the judges. Or if White House staff got to taste the stuff. That being said, I’m looking forward to seeing Nigella Lawson at the White House. I love her too.

The first lady is probably participating in the show to do some kind of edu-tainment about eating healthy, since, obviously, Twinkies don’t grow in the White House garden. It should be an interesting battle – with all of those veggies, I’m thinking Batali and Lagasse will probably come out ahead. Flay isn’t so great when he doesn’t have a bunch of meat to grill.

Here’s Michelle Obama hosting a fall harvest of the White House vegetable garden with help of students from Washington D.C. elementary schools last Thursday. Images thanks to WENN.com .