Can a dietitian be a master chef?

Posted: 3/06/2011 2:14:47 p.m.

Who doesn’t love Masterchef? The whole nation seems to have been gripped by the second series of the competitive cooking show, and it seems everyone has an opinion about it. I’ve enjoyed watching it over the past few weeks too, even if it seemed to me often to be more about the drama and personalities and less about the cooking.

Something interesting has happened since the final aired in which dietitian Nadia Lim was crowned the winner. I’ve heard comments, even grumbles, from people in the ‘foodie’ world, about how unlikely it was that a dietitian should win a cooking competition. To them, all a dietitian would be capable of producing is bland, tasteless food. As if someone with a knowledge of the nutrition of food couldn’t possibly also have an interest in the pleasure of eating.

This kind of attitude drives me crazy. It’s so out of touch with reality, I had thought it had died out except in the most macho, cheffy circles. But perhaps I was wrong. It seems there are still people out there who look sniffily down their noses at the idea that ‘delicious’ and ‘healthy’ could exist on the same plate.

Of course you and I – and Nadia – know that is nonsense. It takes effort and creativity to create healthy recipes that also taste fantastic. Perhaps more effort and creativity than it does to use the old-fashioned method of chucking large quantities of saturated fat and salt at a dish. I really hope we see more young chefs coming through who pick up on that message: people want to eat food that tastes good and makes them feel good as well. Well done Nadia; we are expecting big things from you!