Ice replaced Iron in a Chef competition yesterday at Central Park Zoo. Fittingly, the contest’s taste testers were Polar Bears Gus and Ida, weighing in at 1,000 and 700 pounds respectively. In the wild, their diets consist mainly of seals, eating as much as 100 pounds in one setting. On Sunday however in the Ice Chef Competition they had a more adventurous and scaled down menu of raw fillet Mignon, tilapia, peanut butter, whipped cream, Cheerios, and carrots to eat. The competition placed a guest chef from the Leaping Frog Café, who typically prepares food for the human visitors to the zoo, versus a zoo keeper in a race to prepare a "cake" for the bears.

The completed creations were tossed into the rocky water habitat almost as quickly as they werer prepared. Ida and Gus devoured the mid day treats, unusual for a pair who is typically fed in the evenings after visitors have departed for the day. And in case you were wondering who won the competition? The real winners were the zoo visitors who watched the meals prepared in front of the Polar Habitat.

http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2006/08/07/when_its_approp.php