It can be hard to describe what characterizes the personality of a firm, what with different personalities, areas of expertise and converging (and sometimes diverging) passions. But here at Logos, one thing that brings us all together is FOOD.
Yes, food. All of us came to Logos with an interest in food, but we really discovered our mutual obsession in Japan. I was working for a client of Logos at the time, and Anthony, Fred and Barbara were all in Kyoto as part of the team. Over our long, sleep-deprived days (and during our few and fleeting moments of down-time), we talked food. And of course, being in Japan, we talked Iron Chef.
Over the week a plan was hatched to have our own Iron Chef competition. Ingredient ideas were submitted and a final choice selected, and the Secret Ingredient for our first Logos Iron Chef was… Battle Chile Pepper!
Fast forward one year. Oxana and I had since joined Logos, and together with Barbara, Fred, Anthony, Raleigh and other honored guests, we gathered to try to “win the people’s ovation and fame forever.” We had official score sheets, judges (and some attempts to pad the judging pool), and a beautiful day. At the end, only one chef reigned, and Iron Chef Anthony was crowned winner of our first competition.
Since then, we’ve had Battle Pork and Apple (not required to be in the same dish), and Battle Egg. What kind of dishes might Battle Egg comprise? We had everything from variations on Spanish egg soup, jerk mcmuffins (jerk pork & eggs on sweet potato muffins with a mango chutney), spaghetti carbonara, wonderfully decorated deviled eggs, Alsatian amaretto cake, and one of my own entries, eggnog ice cream. (Which, if I do say so myself, took the top prize for Best Tasting Dish.)
The venues have changed, and our rules have evolved. (E.g. No judges under age 9. Sorry, Gabi.) We’ve learned how to manage quantity a bit better. (Yes, there is such a thing as too much bacon.) Anthony defended his crown during round 2, but Barbara came from behind and unseated him in Battle Egg to become our current reigning Iron Chef just a couple of weeks ago.
In advance of each event, there’s some trash-talking, strategic decision-making and calculated pandering that goes on around the office. But in the end, we all win.
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