Isn’t it amazing? Apparently approximately 3.7 million Australian viewers (that’s not even counting the regional country areas) tuned in Sunday night for the Masterchef Australia two-hour finale show – that’s nearly 20% of the country’s population and highest rated non-sports show ever! It is so interesting to see that a food-related show was more popular than Australian Idol. Communication of food has definitely come a long way, especially with the rise of celebrity chefs and reality shows. Food is now viewed as entertainment and being “sold” to people of all walks of life. These are the types of topics that I have studied and written about while doing my Masters of Gastronomy course and it will be interesting to see whether this type of reality show will actually increase interest in cooking or whether it will just make everyone into a food critic.
At first, I wasn’t watching every episode of the show because I had no idea that it was on nearly every night (and it didn’t help that I just had a baby). Then when the show got down to its top 20 contestants, I started to pay more attention. As with any reality show, I started to vest some interest in certain individuals and found others bland or arrogant. But on Monday morning when I went to read the online articles about the Masterchef finale, I was amazed to see so much negativity out there. The final two contestants were Poh and Julie who are vastly different types of cooks but equally passionate. It astounds me that so many people who commented on various websites think that the competition was “rigged” towards favouring Julie. Even the contestants felt that the judging was fair based on their performance that night. No need to be so nasty people! It is just a TV show!
Chris was my initial favourite because his dishes were unique and inventive but I can see why he didn’t win on the night that Donna Hay was the guest judge because she did say that “layers of brown” were the worst for food photography and all of Chris’ dishes were some shade of brown and not very photo-friendly. That was the one night where looks were just as important as taste and I don’t think Chris had a chance with how his dish looked compared to two women. On a side note, I was surprised to finally see Donna Hay’s face! She is the queen of publishing here but never shows her face so I had always wondered if she was young or old or whatever. She’s not what I expected and those high heels she was wearing that night were very stiletto!
When it came down to the two finalists, I didn’t care who won – I thought that they both deserved it and that they both brought their own unique style to the competition. Poh Ling Yeow is definitely an artist and I love her meticulous ways in plating and desserts (but I wonder why she’s so messy when cooking). Julie Goodwin is generous in her style and her food exudes comfort. That Matt Moran signature chocolate plate was very tough (lots of skill needed) and I don’t think a lot of people at home really appreciated that unless they’ve done all of the desserts components before. The thing that really got me on the night of the challenge was when Poh put her chocolate cigar in the fridge even though the recipe said no to!! In culinary school when I learned my chocolate skills, it took me three months to learn how to temper chocolate properly and had to do it to the point where I used my bottom lip to test for temperature, not a thermometer…it is by no means easy. I think perhaps no one explained the point of tempering to them and thus she thought that chilling the chocolate would make it set better (or firmer) but the whole point of tempering is so that the chocolate sets at room temperature (with a beautiful shine and good snap when broken).
Then there are the controversies of on set romances and the young ones belonging to a “Kiddie Mafia”. The headline that makes me laugh the most is that Poh “shockingly” posed nude for Austrlaian artist David Bromley! For god’s sake, she’s an artist – it’s no big deal! It is not as if she posed for some porn magazine! And really, who cares?
I saw Poh on Saturday at Adelaide’s Central Market. She was talking to some friends outside of T-Bar and I wanted to tell her good luck but then I realised that if she is already in Adelaide, then the finale was obviously taped a while ago and that she already knew who had won and I didn’t want it to be awkward. Besides, I’m sure she wants to be left alone. Or perhaps I didn’t feel like being rejected, like the time when I was on the same Qantas flight as Kylie Kwong and when I asked her if I can have a photo with her while waiting for our baggage, she said no…but she wished me a happy Chinese New Year…
Oh and for those of you who don’t live in Australia, Julie was the winner.
Desperately Seeking Crab 