Master Chef: Food or Feelings?
Ah, the culinary world of Master Chef, where the stakes are high, and evidently, so are the emotions. You know, it’s refreshing to realize that 14 seasons in, the food is still the second fiddle in this grand orchestra of screaming chefs and simmering drama. Who needs seasoning when you have enough tears flying around to flood a small country? In fact, I’d wager there are more sob stories on that stage than Michelin stars in the culinary world!
Now, here’s a little confession: I was once invited to judge the grand finale of Master Chef. I, of course, politely declined. Who wouldn’t want to trade a gourmet feast for the cozy charm of staying home? But, here’s a kicker – the winner treated me to a dish that included beef patties stuffed with sweet potato on a bed of rice and eggplant. Sounds divine, right? Yet, it didn’t hold a candle to my late grandmother’s famous surprise lunches. To this day, her dishes remain the gold standard. Sorry, Master Chef, but your sweet potato will have to settle for silver!
The show’s secret? It’s a heartwarming tapestry of human stories woven together in a kitchen. It’s not merely about gourmet delights but about the contestants’ journeys – the stress, the joy, and oh, the tears! What’s next, a Master Chef therapy session? Sign me up! It’s almost poetic how, amid the chaos of war, this crowded kitchen becomes a haven for compassion and culinary mishaps.
Let’s talk about the latest season. They’ve resorted to a shortened All-Stars format, and we can only hope that the returning contestants can stop burning water. One task I chuckled at involved cold noodles reheated in the microwave. Honestly, if this is what they define as a culinary high, I might just start serving my cereal warm and call it breakfast cuisine!
Now, the people behind the show – Haim Cohen, Eyal Shani, and Israel Aharoni – apparently received a free pass for this season, a delightful little detail absent from the promo buzz. It’s almost like that last-minute twist in a bad horror movie! Just when you thought it was over, the editors are frantically shuffling around tidbits like a magician revealing his tricks.
And let’s not forget Yuval Ben Naria, the mastermind behind the famous Taizo restaurant. Here’s a man who brings a refreshing dose of professionalism to the table but, somehow, ends up playing the villain! You have to admire someone who’s just trying to do their job whilst inadvertently auditioning for a role in a drama series. If cheeky editing can turn him into this season’s baddie, then I can’t wait to see what the producers conjure up next. Will he throw a plate or simply roll his eyes dramatically? Stay tuned!
In essence, while Master Chef may serve up some cold noodles and plenty of emotions, it’s clear that the real star of the show is the human experience. After all, life is like a poorly baked soufflé—full of ups and downs, but always best shared with a laugh!
First I will argue that there is one thing that has not changed at all: the food, which is the highlight of the format, has always been secondary in the program. A small confession: in the second season of Master Chef I was invited to be a judge in the grand finale. I gave up the pleasure, which included spending hours in the studios in Neve Ilan. A few days later, I had the privilege of eating a lunch prepared by the winner of the grand final, which consisted of beef patties stuffed with sweet potato cubes on a bed of rice, eggplant and tomato paste. The dish was very nice, but it didn’t beat any lunch that my late grandmother made for me when I would drop by for a surprise visit.
So the open secret of “Master Chef”, even 14 years after it became Keshet’s most consistent ratings magnet, is that it is not a show about food but about people. Sometimes it seems that there is no need to add salt to the recipes, due to the many tears that are splashed everywhere. And somehow, precisely in the midst of the terrible war that has been going on for over a year, it is important to me that such a program be on our commercial television – certainly in the form of a shortened All-Stars season in which we return to the biggest losers of all seasons.
On the culinary level, there was a real mix of cold noodles heated in the microwave, with an opening task that asked the contestants to return to the dish that led to their elimination in their previous round of the program. If that’s not enough, the people who make the show – Haim Cohen, Eyal Shani and Israel Aharoni – received an exemption from the season, something that for some reason was not mentioned in the excellent promos for the show, which corresponded brilliantly with the breaking of the fast.
Yuval Ben Naria, the man behind the beloved “Taizo” restaurant, is probably the most respected chef in Israel, when talking purely about food. There are more television chefs, certainly more celebrities, but Ben Naria came to refer to cooking from the professional side, and probably missed the memo that this is a show. On the contrary, it made him a more interesting judge, and with the help of successful editing (and there are the best editors in Israel) he may even become the villain of the season against his will.