A new culinary champion is crowned
If you want to know how food fashions have changed over the last 20 years, then you could do worse than go back and watch a few old Masterchef finals to compare them to tonight’s closing episode.
As Gregg Wallace recalls, when he and his fellow judge John Wallace first brought us Masterchef Goes Large (as their version of the show was then known), there were some noticeable trends.
He says: “If I remember back then there were too many patterns. There were too many patterns on plates and there were too many food balancers.
“They were all stacking up their food, they were very interested in how high they could make their tower. I remember one guy balanced roast potatoes on courgettes that were stood up on end like Grecoroman columns.”
John adds: “Heston [Blumenthal] had just hit the screens, really, hit the world. So, there was the whole molecular gastronomy going on – using liquid nitrogen and various things.
“If you consider then the first ever series, in the final, we had a starter of pâté and soda bread. So that will give you an idea of how far the competition’s come in 20 years. Whether it be, you know, everybody using aubergines until aubergines come out their ears. We’ve seen everything, haven’t we?”
However, while the judges might have been glad to see the back of aubergines and vertical meals, one trend they’ve thoroughly embraced is contestants taking inspiration from their own backgrounds.
John says: “One of the great things about the modern Masterchef is that people are so proud of their heritage and they’re bringing those influences along with the experiences of the life they live in the UK – together onto a plate. Full of surprise, excitement, wonder, and deliciousness.”
Gregg agrees: “We have people from all over the world in the UK and you can see that in their food styles. So, they get part of the style from where their family are from, and part of the stuff that they also grew up with here. And it’s an absolutely vibrant, exciting scene. So, it’s almost Anglo Thai, Anglo Indian, Anglo Chinese, Anglo African, it’s absolutely brilliant.”
Those changing flavours and fashions are one of the reasons Masterchef has endured, but Gregg thinks there’s another important aspect too. “What keeps it fresh are the contestants; that you just have new people all of the time, with different personalities, who aspire to different things, with different skill sets and different passions.
“So, although in its simplest form, people come into the Masterchef kitchen and cook, it’s never the same. It’s never the same because the people and their food in the kitchen are different.”
That means that even though tonight’s final may seem to follow a tried-and-tested format – the three contestants will serve up a threecourse meal showing just how far they’ve come – we could still in for some surprises as we discover who has succeeded Chariya Khattiyot.