Masterchef Australia is a popular show with a massive fan following. The food challenges and contests among the evolving chefs have the viewer at the edge of their seats. Moreover, with the variety in ethnicity and tastes of the participants, the viewers get exposure to diversified cuisines.
While on the one hand the food and its challenges grasped the audience’s interest, on the other, the charming and handsome presenter host Jock Zonfrillo gathered attention. The 45-year-old restauranter and presenter is experiencing a career bloom with the show. Although his three-piece suit appearance and immense knowledge of food have him going smoothly in his public life, but life has been pretty unfair to him.
Did you know that Jock Zonfrillo sparked a masterchef controversy with his commentary on Asian Cuisine? Well, we will look into it in the later part of the post, first, let’s know a little about Zonfrillo.
A sneak peek into the struggles of Jock Zonfrillo
Jock Zonfrillo born Barry Zonfrillo was a Scottish resident before moving to Australia and establishing his career. Zonfrillo comes across as a fun-loving and high-spirited guy during his tenure as the Masterchef Australia Judge. But, his childhood was not an easy one, from struggling with addiction, unemployment, and homelessness, it was quite a challenging one.
Zonfrillo has been addicted to heroin at an early stage in his life. The addiction was so terrifying that it could have cost him his life if not for the love of food. He dealt with a severe drug addiction at the age of 15 that cost him his job at the Michelin Star Restaurant Chester in England.
With an unemployed and unsure future, he moved to London in search of a job which led him to Star Chef Marco Pierre White, who offered him a job at the world-famous Hyde Park Hotel. Quoting Zonfrillo as he once said that if not for Marco he would have ended up behind the bars. Marco understood his situation and supported him which paved the way for successful years in his life.
Zonfrillo moved to Sydney in the year 1999 and with it, he believed in starting everything afresh by leaving behind his drug addiction. In Australia, he spent a lot of time with the indigenous community trying to know all about the native ingredients and their uses. This exposure greatly influenced his cooking in the later part of his career.
In the year 2013, he started his restaurant, named Restaurant Orana. Although, initially Orana was a financial disaster with years of hard work it finally paid off as Orana was awarded “Restaurant of the Year” for three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019. However, with the covid pandemic, the restaurant was forced to shut its door but Zonfrillo hinted that he would escalate his cooking career some other way.
Zonfrillo Commentary on Asian Cuisine
In October 2019, Zonfrillo was announced as one of the co-judges for Masterchef Australia, along with Andy Allen and Melissa Leong. Although, Zonfrillo is known to be a friendly and enthusiastic judge but one of his remarks sparked a major controversy. In one of the episodes of Masterchef Australia, Zonfrillo gave a questionable remark on Asian Cuisine.
It was a fine dining challenge in which one of the contestants Khanh Ong decided to cook Vietnamese cuisine. Zonfrillo commented on his choice by stating that Asian Cuisine cannot be considered fine dining. This particular comment from the chef and the presenter earned him severe backlash on Twitter. People called him out on his derogatory statement about Asian Cuisine and was labelled as having a Eurocentric mentality. People even went on to advocate the need to dismantle the popularly prevailed European definition of fine dining.
This masterchef controversy had Twitter strictly objecting to the ignorant and offensive remarks on Asian Cuisine. Many people even called out to the other judges for silently agreeing to Zonfrillo’s comment and supporting his thoughts on Asian Cuisine.
People objected to the stereotypes that do not consider non-European cuisine as fine dining. Most people believed that a chef who has a vivid idea of Asian cuisine can present it perfectly as fine dining. However, keeping all these backlashes aside, Khank Ong failed to impress the judges with his dish and was finally eliminated from the show.
Did Masterchef influence offline games?
Well, Masterchef definitely popularised cooking among people and children. Many children are attracted towards cooking and this has been taken as an opportunity for game developers who are bringing juegos sin internet and online games for children and adults.
Star Chef 2 is a popular game that is available across Android, Windows, and IOS devices for download. It is a cooking game where the player gets the experience of a chef running a restaurant. The player can get first-hand experience in running a restaurant and catering to the various needs and orders of the customers.
To Sum Up
It can be rightly said that Jock Zonfrillo has become an imminent part of Masterchef Australia. And together with all his jovial appearances and controversial remarks, he is someone who keeps the show engaging and interesting. People love him despite his remarks and questionable remarks.
