TV

People Love The Muslim Representation And Wholesome Energy From Last Night’s ‘MasterChef’

"Watching a Korean-Egyptian wearing a hijab, explaining what Bulgogi is in an Aussie accent, is the type of diversity Australian TV needs."

by Michelle Rennex  8 May 2020
masterchef representation

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In last night’s MasterChef: Back To Win immunity cook-off, Amina, Emelia and Tracy were tasked with a sushi train challenge.

In the challenge, the girls had to each plate up 100 serves of five different dishes to the judges and their fellow contestants. But while immunity challenges are often competitive as the cooks battle it out for a single win, last night’s cook was unexpectedly wholesome.

Being a ‘blind tasting’, the girls were able to cook without the judges breathing down their necks and without the added stress of people watching and commenting from the gantry. Instead, Amina, Emelia and Tracy spent the entire cook supporting and helping each other get through what they called the “toughest” challenge yet.

Unlike other cooking shows like My Kitchen Rules that have shifted away from food and towards drama, last night’s immunity challenge was full of pure supportive energy. While the girls were technically battling it out for one spot at safety, they still helped each other where they could.

For example, as Tracy plated her final dish, both Amina and Emelia — who had already finished their dishes — helped clean Tracy’s plates and place them up on the sushi belt for service. The girls also passed the time by singing and talking shit about Jock being annoying, and just generally pushing out the best vibes we’ve seen all season.

But one of the most beautiful moments of the episode occurred while Amina was cooking her third dish of bulgogi beef. Sadly, despite being a Muslim contestant, Amina wasn’t provided with halal beef to cook her dishes. As a result, she wasn’t able to taste her bulgogi to check if her seasoning was balanced.

Instead of just sending her dish out without adjusting the flavours, Amina asked Emelia if she could help her out. Even though Emelia was also in the middle of her own frantic cook, she took the time to taste Amina’s dish and let her know that it could use a little more salt to balance the flavours.

Not only was the sweet moment super wholesome, but it showed the importance of representation of all cultures on TV. We saw this earlier in the season when Melissa’s mystery box — which included ingredients like chicken feet and galangal — was praised for how it normalised Asian ingredients and authentically represented Asian-Australians.

But beyond the use of halal meats, the way Tracy and Emelia respected Amina’s faith was also beautiful to see. After the mammoth cook was over, Emelia said that they deserved a bottle of wine after the cook. However, acknowledging that alcohol is haram in the Muslim faith, Emelia then told Amina that she earned a block of chocolate for all her efforts.

This normalisation of halal ingredients and the Muslim faith on mainstream TV has shown just how far cooking shows like MasterChef have come in recent years. As Twitter user @Joe__Curtis perfectly summed it up: “Watching a Korean-Egyptian wearing a hijab, explaining what bulgogi is in an Aussie accent, is the type of diversity Australian TV needs.”

But, of course, the episode had some less than ideal moments too. Namely, when Amina was preparing her Korean rice balls with geotjeori kimchi, she noted that Andy and Jock likely wouldn’t understand the dish, yet knew that Melissa would.

Sadly, Amina was right and when her rice ball dish came out, Jock called the dish “greasy” and like “last night’s fried rice”. But Melissa instantly defended the dish, just like Amina said she would. Proving the importance of diversity within the judging panel, Melissa understood the dish and the need to eat the kimchi with the rice to balance the flavours.

This lack of understanding of Asian cuisine was similar to last week’s immunity challenge, where Curtis Stone was hesitant to eat Jess’ noodle dish because it had egg in it. This was strange for viewers watching at home because carbonara — a dish that Curtis Stone has video recipes for online — is literally a dish also made of noodles and egg.

However, the addition of Melissa on the judging panel is a step in the right direction for MasterChef and the ignorant critique of Amina’s dish shouldn’t take away from the wholesomeness of last night’s episode as a whole.

What we should take from this episode is that Amina, Emelia and Tracy are the best, Melissa is a great addition on the show, and that we need more ‘blind’ cooking challenges without the judges or other contestants in the room so we can get more wholesome energy.

MasterChef: Back To Win returns on Sunday at 7.30pm on Channel Ten.