Top Chef's "Stick"-er Schock

By Kim Bellware in Food on Jul 29, 2010 5:20PM

Top Chef contestants received a surprising treat (or trick, depending on your politics) last night when Illinois' 18th District Representative Aaron Schock paid them a visit to discuss lobbying, ethics and food on a stick.

Dressed for business (and without his infamous belt), Schock schooled the "cheftestants" on the ethics info each new lawmaker receives, noting in particular a provision known as the “Toothpick Rule.” In 2007, a string of corruption and bribery investigations on Capitol Hill prompted Congress to pass an ethics reform bill that aimed to cut down on freebies, swag and other temptations lobbyists used to woo lawmakers. As a result, reps like Schock would now be prohibited from accepting fancy meals from lobbyists, with the exception of any food that could fit on a toothpick or be eaten standing up.

Schock and host Padma Lakshmi quickly primed contestants on the rule before issuing the episode’s “quickfire challenge”: create an hors d'oeuvre that fit on a stick but ate like a meal. The House’s youngest representative sampled the Top Chef’s bite-sized creations, discarding pork kebab, buttermilk chicken waffles and bacon and scallops before declaring chef Angelo Sosa’s shrimp and cashew cucumber cup the contest winner. We found Sosa’s piece a little boring for our tastes, though perhaps it won over the abs-conscious representative for being a little on the lighter side.

We had no idea Schock was such a foodie, but perhaps his guest-judge turn on the popular reality show bodes well for those of us interested in politics that affect our eats. Congressman, in case you're curious, there are Illinois residents in another Congressional district trying to get some food-based reform of our own.