For the last few weeks, I’ve been hooked on to MasterChef Australia. (the show’s site reveals the winner, this is the wiki entry) For those unfamiliar with it, its a cooking competition-show that airs on Star World.
I’ve always liked the idea of food – more the consumption than the creation, of course, as you probably know. While I’ve begun to appreciate nuances these days, instead of focusing on solely gobbling up the food, cooking is still far away. My most famous exploit (and that’s only reheating) thus far has been the aluminum-foil-packed-food-inside-the-pressure-cooker-incident. I have a restraining order from D – I am not allowed to handle steel vessels and the microwave, when they exist in close proximity. D, as you probably know, has to show a lot of restraint anyway.
But we digress. The show has interested me even beyond the awesome cooking that happens on it daily. I’ve never really been a fan of the music and dance reality shows, and after I began watching this show, I wondered about it.
I enjoy music, but have always flipped, channels that is, when i watched those shows. Maybe its the one-upmanship games of the judges, or the showboating, or the SMS driven degradation of a god given gift, but they have never worked for me, though i have noticed some supremely talented performers.
There is a passion in the cooking contestants, all of them – maybe they’ve managed to capture it well – a will to win, and they work hard for it. We can see the efforts, and the judges’ appreciation and backing – a sense of fairness. Perhaps I haven’t watched enough of the song and dance shows to notice any of this.
Though both require honing, music (vocal) is perhaps a talent and cooking, a skill, to which creativity adds layers. So the latter, I thought, would require more of an interest, and more hard work. Does that mean the passion for it would be more than that for a talent, which might be ignored, because it has been given without asking. I guess either would be okay, if you had the passion and perseverance to get it to its logical conclusion. Interest without talent, and talent without interest, both are sad states to be in.
until next time, fortune cookie 🙂
I guess all you need to do is watch the indian version on start plus. Will immediately change your view point. It is like an elaborate saans bahu serial. Viewrs may need to watch multiple re-runs of MC-Oz to recover. May involve some counseling sessions as well.
Which is why I avoided it after the first TV episodes
I recently watched a couple of episodes of Masterchef Australia. Loved it. Reminded me of the initial seasons of Project Runway, the dedication and will to win among the participants stood out.
And, I happened to watch a couple of episodes of Masterchef India too. I wish I hadn’t made that mistake.
Hehe. we live, we learn!
For once I thought the Aussies did a pretty good job at hosting shows. Some of the shows that they previously aired(although informative) on TLC were dull at the most. Coming to which..all Indian versions of reality series are a complete and utter waste of the viewers time!
Unfortunately, that is a minority view. The majority loves the saansification of everything!