A few months ago, I sat down with MasterChef Australia judges and culinary geniuses—debonair Matt Preston, affable Gary Mehigan, and reserved George Calombaris—for a delightfully entertaining chat where they whipped up a feast of flavours, creativity, and never-ending laughter.

By SHAHNAAZ BAKSHI

The Three Musketeers! How did you get that title?
Gary: We called ourselves the Chubby Trio!
Matt: And then we called ourselves ‘The Triangle’, because we were three people from Melbourne filming in Sydney. That’s a bit like being three people from Delhi filming in Mumbai. But I’m not sure who coined ‘Three Musketeers’.
Gary: I think people picked up very early on how well we got along. We weren’t typical television types. We were unlikely participants who became celebrities very quickly and that was quite a shock for us, in all honesty. I remember asking one of the executive producers: “Is this show doing well?” They said, “My goodness, we’re going to have this carved on our gravestone.” And we kind of looked at each other and said, “Well, that’s good then!”

The one thing that set MasterChef Australia apart was its great sense of positivity. A conscious decision from your side?
Matt: I think we had a rough idea of the sort of judges we all wanted to be. None of us were interested in being the mean judge. We all wanted to be the, ‘You go, girl!’ type of judge. When we were shooting auditions in Sydney, Julie Goodwin, who went on to win the first season, cooked this beautiful lamb dish and we all gave her a huge hug. That’s what you see in the first episode of MasterChef. And the editors went, “Wow, we’ve not seen this before.” Because reality TV is mostly about being mean.
Gary: I think they labelled us slightly differently, too. The judges were cheeky, wise, and…
Matt: Loveable! (everyone laughs). And there’s enough drama in a kitchen; you’ve got sharp knives, you’ve got steam… there’s enough drama there without manufacturing it.

If food be the music of love…
Gary: That’s the great thing about food. Like art and music, it brings people together when everything’s so divisive: politics, war, or even social media. Food just reminds people of the simple pleasures in life.
Matt: We got an email from someone in Amritsar who wrote: “Thank you so much for the show. I watch it with my family. We all sit and eat together.” And it was exactly the same email we were getting from people in Brisbane or in Adelaide.

Favourite moment from the show?
George: That’s like asking me to pick my favourite child! We had 11 incredible years and there were amazing moments throughout all the seasons. And it’s lovely to see the alumni doing so well; some are even global superstars. But I really loved how we celebrated our 10 years of MasterChef by doing a tour of restaurants around the world. We had no cameras; it was just us three, and it was wonderful.
Gary: People ask why we left. But we imagined maybe, one day, we’d have to start sucking food through a straw! We were getting older and I don’t know how long we could keep chewing all that food!
Matt: What matters is the legacy you’ve left behind. (Speaking of ex-contestants). Calum’s opened his third restaurant and Rose was on TV the other week. And 24 MasterChef contestants out of the 240 we looked after went on to have TV shows!
Gary: I called Rose the other day and asked her for the recipe of her cinnamon scrolls. She said, “Seriously?” And I said, “Yeah, I gave you a lot of my knowledge, can I have some back?” (laughs).

Then the food journey led you to India?
Gary: Yes! We’re in India in collaboration with Conosh, a community of food lovers, for a series of dinners and masterclasses. We’ve got a beautiful menu with some wonderful Indian ingredients like wild bee honey, a Kalari cheese from Jammu, caper leaves from South India, millets, and more. There’s a particular green leaf used in the delicious Gujarati dish panki, and I told George excitedly that it’s a Greek wild leaf! Probably brought over to India in travels long ago. So, there’s this wonderful connection in Greek and Gujarati cuisine!
Matt: The pride that Indian chefs now have in their indigenous local ingredients has been simply amazing to witness. In fact, there’s a whole revolution that’s happened in India.

Is this the age of fusion food?
Matt: Everything is fusion! Vindaloo is a fusion dish. Chillies and potatoes came from Latin America. And there’s a huge Persian influence here, too. That’s what’s so exciting about India; it’s such a wealthy place in terms of foods. And we’ve even seen growing interest in vegetarian and vegan cookery in Australia.
Gary: George is much more vegetablefocused because of his Greek heritage; their food is so heavily vegetable- and legume-driven.
Matt: It’s about the flavours you create. If people have to choose between a prawn dish and a carrot dish, we want them to pick the latter.
Gary: Kentucky fried carrot!
Matt: I do a really slow roast of carrots for about four hours. They become chewy and get the same colour as a tandoori chicken. It’s delicious. I’ve fed it to my obsessive meat-eater friends. It’s something I’ve learned from coming here. That’s the great thing about fusion. It’s an opportunity to learn from other cultures and cuisines.

Which recipes of yours does your family love to use?
Matt: My partner only wants to cook from Gary’s book!
Gary: It’s true! My wife called me one day and said she’s got a chocolate tart in the oven and it’s just not setting. I asked which recipe is that? And she said it’s in Matt’s book. I said, “Well, why’re you ringing me, ring him!”

The Indian-Australian connection?
Gary: There’s a great common bond between Australians and Indians. We have this lovely shared sense of humour; it’s almost identical. Which is why we just love it here!

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Your culinary style?
Gary: I’m a man of process and technique. And my soul food is always French. I’m forever in search of beautiful ingredients.
George: Something homely and simple. The food should be delicious and the environment should make you feel good.
Matt: Tasty and easy. If I can give you something that you find delicious, it’s only got three ingredients, and takes only five minutes to make, that’s my honey brown.

A flavour or a dish that was completely new to you?
Matt and Gary: Pani puri! Because it’s got everything—sour, sweet, liquid, crunchy. It’s just an explosion of flavour! And it’s tiny. And you can have 10 or 12.
George: I’m not good with chillies but I love it, too. I sweat a lot, though it runs in the family.

Food you wouldn’t touch with a barge pole?
Gary: Anything squeaky or chewy in texture.
George: Food that’s about profit not soul.
Matt: I can’t eat anything that smells like poo or wee! Something that has a funky and ammonia-y smell.

Favourite cuisine?
Gary: Kerala’s food.
George: Greek and Japanese.
Matt: My mom’s. (everyone goes aww!)

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