JOIN USMeet the English Australian chef Gary Mehigan, one of the judges of the popular food show MasterChef Australia, which started in 2009. Since then, there have been several versions of the show like the MasterChef US, Germany, South Africa and India. Talking about these versions, the 49-year-old, says neither interests him but the original.
“I do not follow “MasterChef India”. In fact, I have never followed any other version of ‘MasterChef’ that have been made over the years. None of them interest me.
Though the brand is unique in itself, but I like just the original one that is the English version of MasterChef and MasterChef: The professionals,” Mehigan tells Metrolife.
The Indian version of MasterChef started in 2010. And till its fifth season, which is on air now, no two seasons have seen the same judges. These changes seem to bother Mehigan, who along with George Calombaris and Matt Preston has been associated with show since its inception.
MasterChef India has seen quite a few judges changing in each season. I think there should be a few fixed names who can judge the show which is so unique in itself. MasterChef Austrlia has the same set of judges right from the very beginning. We are now known as the three musketeers and we love our job,” says Mehigan, who was in the capital for ‘The CEO Series 2016’ held at Hyatt Regency.
This was Mehigan’s sixth visit to India. On being asked how he finds Indian food, he says, “I eat a lot of Indian cuisine. In fact, I did a series on Indian food last year for which I visited Jodhpur, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. There I tried a lot of the street food. In Jodhpur, I cooked a local dish along with the chef. In Chennai, I cooked on the beach. But I must tell you Indian food is very complex to make and I
don’t have the energy to replicate it.”
“However”, he adds, “Indian food that is available in Australia is really different from what it is here. When I visited India for the first time, I was clearly told that there is no Indian cuisine that will be served to me but regional cuisines like from Kerala and Rajasthan, which will be very different from what I have tasted back in Australia. And it was actually very different.”
Mehigan, who was trained at The Connaught and Le Souffle in London before he moved to Melbourne in 1991, co-owns The Boathouse restaurant. He informs that most of the Indian food found in Australia is from North India and there is
not much of South Indian food. “People in Australia need that ‘Keralian Fish Curry’ and other coastal cuisine. I have taken many recipes from India and
have reinvented it in a way the Australians like it. Cooking the chana dal and popping of the mustard seeds look so simple, but it really brings out the flavour of a dish.