‘Iron Chef’ Zhou Fude popularised Chinese food in Japan and overseas
Zhou, who was born in the Chinatown district of Yokohama and cut his teeth in the neighbourhood's kitchens, died of complications arising from pneumonia, according to his family.
Zhou Fude, a Chinese cook who helped to turn the Japanese television show Iron Chef into a worldwide cult hit, has died at the age of 71.
A fixture of the long-running Ryori no Tetsujin cookery series, better known as Iron Chef to non-Japanese audiences, Zhou was particularly renowned for his Cantonese-style dishes and being a witty commentator throughout the broadcasts.
Iron Chef was first aired on Fuji Television in October 1993 and quickly became a major domestic hit. Each week, a guest chef was brought in to challenge one of the seven resident "iron chefs" in a one-hour timed contest that featured a particular theme ingredient.
The series ran for 309 episodes over nearly six years - a remarkable lifespan given Japanese viewers' notorious fickleness and their preference for new programmes and talent.
Zhou, who often went under his Japanese name Shu Tomitoku, appeared as the challenger in the eighth episode of the first season but lost in the crab cook-off. Undeterred, he was asked to return in subsequent editions and his victories were credited with attracting more tourists to Chinatown.