Master Chef: Licence to Chill

Last night the immensely popular Master Chef finished, with Julie Goodwin - the home cook in the tradition of Donna Hay and sentimental favourite - took out first prize (which includes $100,000; a cook book [royalties!]; and of course the glory of being the first winner of Master Chef in Oz).


Poh - my favourite contestant by a country mile - took out second place, uber dignified in defeat, and remaining true to herself the whole way through the finale, from cooking her own creative take on a traditional Chinese dish she grew up with (Hainanese Chicken) to disregarding the advice of super-chef Matt Moran and following her "instincts" (only to botch it). Poh's mother appeared once the winners had been announced, and upon being asked if she was proud of Poh's cooking of traditional Chinese dishes she said "yes ... but she always changes them!" with mock sternness.


Master Chef has been referred to as "joyous" in Australian media, and heralded for its new approach to reality TV, with the judges taking a genuine, nurturing interest in each of the contestants and positivity and exuberance for good food being the driving force behind the show. The popularity of the show, combined with the Global Eff-ing Crisis, has seen more and more Aussie's cooking at home for friends and family. One of my favourite activities ever. Phuong - remember the pork belly? :o)

Anyway - that's all well and good. I was always more interested in the cravat or scarf Matt Preston - food critic and Master Chef judge - would be wearing. Matt Preston has become something of an unlikely sex symbol in Australia - each time a mouthful of food passes his lips, there is the moment of swirl and then, assuming he likes what he's eating, the eyes roll back in almost orgasmic pleasure. It is strangely sexy.


He's no Curtis Stone (he was there last night ... Dear God he's hot!),
but the pure joy on his face makes you yearn to be the one giving him all that pleasure. No, I am not kidding.

The other thing about Matt is that he is debonair, cultured and highly accomplished (he won the highly sought after World's Best Food Journalist in 2008 and is on every foodie board you can imagine, as well as having worked for all of the best food publications in Australia). He has flair, and an unwavering penchant for cravats which I absolutely adored. He is another kind of man in Australia - a hidden treasure. The man brought glamour and sex appeal to eating food in a far classier way than Nigella Lawson. I will most definitely be adding him to my dream list of people to attend a dinner party (Poh can cook).

Judge (scarf wearer and unlikely sex symbol) Matt Preston with fellow judges George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan.

George - the short, bald guy (also cute in my opinion) - was a bit of a tough guy, but he was guaranteed to crumble at certain key, emotional moments in the show. Last night his man-tears were truly sweet, and he began his congratulatory speech as follows:

If you want to change the universe, there's a small part of the world you must change first: you.

He then walked to the back of the room to hide the tears that were gathering, and went on to tell Julie that she had changed him. I actually think he'd planned to say a lot more but the emotion of the moment took over. It was one of the best finales of a reality TV show I've ever seen (granted, I rarely watch reality TV). It was joyous and happy and the very talented and ever-artistic Poh was granted the opportunity to help Curtis Stone with his new cooking show in LA (she is a plating genius). Lucky, lucky girl.