East Meets West
Mark Halpin
Each haiku line is an anagram of two full names. As hinted in the flavor text, each pair represents one battle in the series Iron Chef: America (note that the puzzle title is also the name of another cooking show on the Food Network, the host of which, Ming Tsai, is featured in the first line of the puzzle). The featured ingredient from each episode must be determined. Indexing letter n in each ingredient, where n is the line of the verse, provides the message DISH ATOP A PINEAPPLE. The answer is UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE.
| Bobby Flay / Ming Tsai | Duck |
| Mario Batali / Todd English | pIzza dough |
| Mario Batali / Anita Lo | muShrooms |
| Cat Cora / Kerry Simon | Hamburger |
| Mario Batali / Roberto Trevino | cAtfish |
| Cat Cora / Walter Royal | osTrich |
| Cat Cora / David Myers | Oysters |
| Mario Batali / Tony Liu | oPah |
| Cat Cora / Sam Choy | clAms |
| Cat Cora / Neal Fraser | Pork |
| Bobby Flay / Peter Kelly | rIbeye |
| Cat Cora / Walter Scheib | duNgeness crab |
| Cat Cora / Jon Shook | Eggplant |
| Bobby Flay / Ralph Pagano | bArramundi |
| Cat Cora / Mark Tarbell | apPles |
| Cat Cora / Alex Lee | Potatoes |
| Masaharu Morimoto / Aaron Sanchez | bLack bass |
| Bobby Flay / Marc Murphy | brEakfast |