First Posted: 3/25/2015
LIMA — Robert Irvine quickly got the crowd involved by calling several children up to the stage during his live performance at Veterans Memorial Civic Center on Wednesday. His performance kind of reminded everyone of their own lives.
Irvine talked and joked with several audience members and his staff, shared live Twitter and Facebook posts, including one that asked him politely not to burn the place down. All between cooking tasty dishes with relative ease.
Talk, joke, Twitter, Facebook and of course, cooking. Just like home except the food is a lot better.
“Food is supposed to be both fun and functional,” Irvine told the crowd.
Everyone was hooked to his pleasant demeanor from the get-go. He stopped and talked with people, wore their hats, even joking with them about how big their head was.
One of his biggest appeals is that every show is not exactly the same, and he likes to involve the crowd into his presentation, with as many as 30 people called on stage to participate.
Terri Mann, of Lima, said she first remembers him from Food Network’s “Iron Chef” but really started to enjoy him with his “Dinner: Impossible” series, in which the traveling show is based.
“I enjoy him because of his overall personality,” Mann said. “He is all about people. He is big on the military. It isn’t just about the cooking.”
In between the the talk and the fun, he showed people how to simply prepare delicious and healthy food, such as the first dish, which was fish with several other ingredients such as corn, avocado and onions. Irvine asked the crowd on each dish of what ingredients to include, and regardless of what they were, a great dish was the result.
Despite filming its last episode in 2010, “Dinner: Impossible” is still the top-rated show on the Food Network with its repeat airings.
The show has no script, other than audience participation is guaranteed. Irvine says that it lends to the authenticity of the show and makes each experience unique.
