STAYING TRUE TO SELF

Minoli De Silva

Q: What were your thoughts when you realised that you’d qualified for the telecast round of the show?

A: I was so excited when I found out that I’d got the opportunity to cook in front of amazing judges! It happened so fast that I didn’t really have much time to psych myself up about it. I simply took it in my stride… and made my way over to the next part of the programme.

Q: Along with its esteemed panel of judges, the show is most famous for bringing in different celebrity chefs for various challenges – whom were you most excited to meet in real life?

A: There have been so many celebrity chefs who have appeared on the show these past 12 years. The two that I was most excited about were chefs Massimo Bottura and Yotam Ottolenghi. I truly feel that their ways of thinking are incredible; and I love how they cook.

Q: The show brings many different people together – were there any contestants with whom you became instant friends?

A: To be honest, I don’t know what it was – maybe it’s because we were all connected through our love for food – but the whole group immediately bonded.

It’s a special bond because we found people we could connect with on another level since not everyone likes listening to us yammer on about food the whole time. But here, we could be ourselves, and enjoy each other’s ideas and suggestions.

Q: If you could have redone any challenge on the show, what would it have been?

A: It would have been my final challenge – the one that had me eliminated. If I’m being honest with myself, I didn’t cook a dish that had anything to do with me. It was a moment of panic really, and I think that’s a message for anyone who watched the show.

In my mind, I felt pressured to cook something on that day to impress the judges and win rather than cooking what I know best.

So I was left feeling it wasn’t good enough. It’s a very valuable lesson because I now know how good a cook I am and also that all I need to do is stay authentic to my style.

The two that I was most excited about were chefs Massimo Bottura and Yotam Ottolenghi Minoli De Silva