Another helping:
My Kitchen Rules New Zealand returns to TVNZ 2 this week with judges Pete Evans and Manu Feildel enjoying a taste of what this country has to offer. Kerry Harvey reports.
Pete Evans and Manu Feildel return for another serving of My Kitchen Rules New Zealand.
Kiwi cooks rule and so, it seems, does our food. “I haven’t been anywhere else in the world where a nation is so connected to where its food comes from,” says Australian chef Pete Evans. Evans and fellow chef Manu Feildel were in New Zealand this year filming a new season of My Kitchen Rules New Zealand and both say they were blown away by the range of fresh food on offer – and what we do with it. “A lot of this year’s contestants hunt or have friends that hunt and bring them venison or whatever they’ve shot,” Evans says. “Most also fish or are well versed in understanding all the seafood that is available in your beautiful country, whereas in other parts of the world there is such a disconnect between where real food comes from. “That is what I really admire and am impressed with about Kiwis – the understanding of how to live a beautiful life through the food that you choose to eat.” And eat the pair did, as they travelled the country judging six pairs of contestants on the food they served up in their instant restaurants and, later, in a series of challenges where they had to cook for the public and celebrity guests. The contestants pull out all the stops in the fight to take home the $100,000 prize, with the final two cooking off at Auckland’s award-winning French Cafe in front of the two Aussie chefs plus local guest judges Nadia Lim, Ray McVinnie, Tom Hishon and former owner of the French Cafe, Simon Wright. “I think this season food-wise is better
than the last one – not that the last one was bad – but we’ve really had some really good home-cooked food and that is what the show is about,” Feildel says, adding not sticking to that brief was the downfall for some contestants.
“They seem to think we want more than what they know, which is the wrong way to think. Sometimes they tweak their recipes to make them a little bit fancy and that is where they go wrong.
“When you cook you need to enjoy what you cook. If you start stressing about cooking then the stress is going to happen on the plate as well.”
Athough there will be stress, don’t expect the fireworks that occurred on this year’s MKR Australia which culminated in one couple being disqualified.
It appears Kiwis are a lot more polite than their Australian counterparts and that is just how Evans and Feildel like it.
“Manu and I are employed to judge the food and not the contestants,” Evans says.
“We advise them and try to guide them to make them better cooks and possibly better team mates if there’s miscommunications but we don’t judge them on their opinions around the table.”
“When you cook you need to enjoy what you cook. If you start stressing about cooking then the stress is going to happen on the plate as well.” – Manu Feildel