POV: How MasterChef Australia made me fall in love with cooking!

As we celebrate World Food Day today, let's take a look at how MasterChef Australia inspired Gen Z to don their aprons and try some unpronounceable exotic dishes at home during the lockdown! 

As a Gen Z growing up with the privileges of the economically liberalized India, the easy accessibility to essentials made me underestimate the need to learn a lot of basic life skills, including cooking! Yes, I could prepare coffee and Maggie to save my life, but preparing a full-fledged meal with perfection always looked like a far-fetched dream. Then came the COVID-19 lockdown, the time when humanity came to a standstill, and we were left with unprecedented free time at our homes. I remember squeezing content off every OTT subscription and being left with no other choice but to binge re-runs of reality shows, including Masterchef Australia, and boy oh boy, was I obsessed!

The show was a form of reality television, unlike anything I had seen before at least on desi TV - It was gentle yet aspirational, judges actually belonged to the profession of cooking, and there was no scope for melodrama! Just a bunch of passionate individuals who pour their souls in what they do and like to have fun at the end of the day, completely in line with the country’s highly accomplished sporting culture! The show provided me with a sense of comfort and a break from the anxiety of the pandemic. Watching home cooks prepare restaurant-quality dishes on screen directly inspired me, proving that pro-level cooking could be achieved without formal training, that made me feel, if they can do it, maybe I can too!

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Living in Mumbai does expose you to a variety of food from all over the world, but the show helped me realise there is a lot more to cuisines beyond the Indianised versions of Asian, American, and Continental dishes I have grown up eating. Suddenly I was out in supermarkets looking forartichokes, brussel sprouts, scallops and mussels in a failed attempt to introduce and impress my fam with some exotic flavours, and putting in extra hours to make the dishes not only taste, but most importantly look resturant style, which also resulted in re-doing a lot of things from scratch, only for that one perfect photo to share on my Instagram stories and tag the people from the show, in an innocent anticipation of a reshare or a reply from the chefs!

What added to my fascination for the show was the OG judging panel of Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan, and George Calombaris. The trio, with their passion for food, positive spirit, and impeccable style, made the contestants feel at home and the gourmet food approachable. Yes, the show still boasts a brilliant line-up of judges, but there was something truly magical about this team that just cannot be replaced! I dearly miss Mr. Preston’s extravagant suits and eloquent description of dishes, loved Mehigan’s warm smile and fatherly encouragement with which he mentored the contestants, and the unforgettable intense energy that Calombaris brought with him, wherein he critiqued the dishes with a genuine desire to see the contestants improve. The combination of the judges was nothing short of a dream panel for participants and viewers like me, as they were firm on standards but also unfailing kind, and supportive, which should be the whole point of such competitions, IMO.

As an amature cook myself, I love bragging about my technical know-how of certain skills, everywhere I go, and truth be told, my craft of making complex pastries, tempering chocolate, and butchering meats has been largely honed by the small tricks and tips I learnt from the show, especially the guest judges who would grace certain episodes as challengers cum mentors. Thanks to Anna Polyviou, my desserts are an instant hit during Christmas parties. Shannon Bennetee taught me how to fillet the most delicate fish with precision, and the OG grandmaster, Marco Pierre White, showed me the exact quality of ingredients required to ace my Alfredo sauce. The show taught me that patience, practising, and adapting don’t just come in handy while cooking but also in the game of life. The mystery box challenges and pressure tests of the show were relatable as they served a metaphorical reminder during the distressing times that life, just like food now, is all about making the most out of the things that are in my hands, and in the fridge of course!

So here’s to celebrating the chefs and the show that made me fall in love with cooking, Happy World Food Day!

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