5 Reasons I Cry Watching Junior Masterchef

if you’ve been taking a walk on the moon or hybernating for the past months, you’d probably didn’t know that ‘junior masterchef’ is a cooking game show involving kids aged between 8 – 13. looking at their age, you’d think they make cute cupcakes, plain porridge or just simple caesar salad. nope.

yeap. my jaw dropped, looking at the level of sophistication they brought to their cookings. not just that, i was close to tears watching these mini masterchef at work. ok lah, not close to tears – i was actually in tears already!

 

 

beating 5,000 hopefuls, these are the top 12 finalists for this first season. among the top 12 are twin sisters isabella and sofia from queensland. though i already know who will end up winning in the end, it’s never a bore watching these little kitchen geniuses at work.

they’re SO talented, and they’re SO adorable!

 

picture credit : here. my favorite would be pierre, cassidy, jack, isabella & twin sis sofia & alex :-)

 

1) age does not matter to achieve greatness

their culinary competence is beyond anything i’ve seen a kid can do. i mean, yah sure you’d be impressed when a kid can do algebra at the age of 7 – but this is more fun! age jokes kept popping up - “what are you? 27? 30?”, and “how old are you? 8?! you’re joking!” and “if this is how your chocolate mousse taste like when you’re 9, imagine how it will be when you’re 20!”

the presentation of their food is also remarkable. it looks like it came straight from a fancy restaurant fit for fine dining. you know – the kind where they make all the prawns stand up and sauce is poured on top, or a teeny weeny dessert with chocolate spiral around it and fresh raspberry on the side – unbelievable.

i mean, kids are generally creative – but this is something really classy altogether!

2) they display outstanding support for each other

they hugged each other after a challenge, they give high-5s, they pat each other on the back when someone made it to the next round – the supportive atmosphere was just astounding. you’d be ashamed at how much adult contestants bicker, complain and back-stab each other in other reality shows.

in junior masterchef, there are no put-down comments on other contestants like, “i know she’s good so if i can beat her it would be great,” or “he doesn’t deserve to be here, he’s got no talent,” – they’re just a bunch of kids having a time of their lives.

 

3) incredible parents’ support

i feel so overwhelmed with their cooking talent, that i cried. imagine their parents! there was one contestant, whose father looked like an aging biker – but always seemed on the verge of tears everytime the camera points at him. so very sweet!

the moms are always, “i’m panicking but he seemed so relax, and has everything under control. i’m so proud of him,” there was one mom who screamed so loud and jumping up and down at her seat that her kid was like, “aw mom! not on national TV!” and the one of the judges commented in jest, “your mom is embarassing, huh? haha. no matter how old you are, your mom is going to be proud like that!”

cammon, you’re a mom (or dad) – your kid is able to put his shoes in the shoe rack all by himself, and you’d be throwing pompoms up in the air, right? just the other day my eldest son khaleef kemas the entire living room, and WASHED HIS OWN PLATE. *hati berbunga-bunga*!

that’s definitely a proud moment for me!

4) they’re cooking stuff i can’t even pronounce, using cutleries i don’t even recognize!

croquembouche, boudin blanc sausage, la gout de la mer, cotolette, classic vietnamese dishes, french cuisine, mediterranean meals – these are only some of the dishes that the junior master chefs were able to produce from their little kitchen.

say what?

these are dishes that i can’t even afford to order from high-end restaurants and cafes, let alone try to make one! these kids are incredible!

they make their own capsicum sauce and lemon dip, they mould their own pastry dough and rolled out their own pasta from scratch. they look like they’ve got years of training before-hand to get to the point where they can make all these on their own – within very limited time!

i wonder if the kids could spell what they’re cooking...

 

5) the cool judges

the judges make it fun for them. their comments are a pleasure to hear, their expressions are exaggerated and they even help out at the kids’ station.

sure, they MOSTLY gave out positive comments – because hey, lighten up – they’re just kids! if you pull a gordon-ramsay, that kid won’t ever touch another pot! during judging, they make funny faces when they taste, widened their eyes in disbelief of how good the dish tasted, they even once walked away from the judging table and pretend it didn’t taste that good.

all in good natured fun and just a lot of encouragement for the young chefs.

 

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enjoy one of the many, many clips of the awesome cheflings. this one is a group of the youngest groups of contestants – 8 to 10-year olds. amazing.

 

 

zoey is so adorable! i love her quippy little accent especially the way she pronounce ‘sauce’. hihi *pinch pinch*

okay, i’m already ecstatic that akademi fantasia is finally coming to its final season. enough already! and like mr. khairul mentioned, we should be proud that ‘imam muda’ was our own unique reality-show, and was even mentioned in the UAE newspaper. also, masterchef malaysia is coming soon.

now the question is – when can we have junior masterchef : malaysia?