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The latest season of MasterChef India has become a topic of a social media debate. Recently, during a task, while all the contestants were asked to cook with fish as the protein option; a home cook Aruna Vijay was offered paneer as an alternative on religious ground. While a few lauded the show for respecting values of the contestant, the move did not go down well with many as they swarmed Twitter calling out judges of partiality. They also discussed how others, like plant-based cook Priya Vijan and another vegetarian Baa, had to cook with eggs and even asked to step out of their comfort zone.
For the unversed, during the ‘Immunity Pin Challenge’ a contestant had to pick one ingredient each, with which everyone had to cook a dish. Suvarna Bagul picked mutton mince first but seeing that Aruna was in the competition too, she decided to go for another choice which was Indian Salmon. While everyone was asked to cook the fish, Aruna was given paneer as an alternative. At the end of the competition, she even stood in the top two, while Kamaldeep Kaur managed to win the challenge.
Netizens were quick to post their opinions on the same as they said judges were biased to give her the ingredient of her choice at this level of competition. They also said that the decision was unfair for other contestants, such as evicted home cooks Baa and Priya.
Priya was evicted during a task where most of her ingredients were non-vegetarian and dairy-based. Given she cooks plant-based food, she could not manage to make a ‘MasterChef’ level dish out of the remaining items and was thus evicted.
Read some of the tweets of fans calling out the judges:
Former contestant Priya Vijan also voiced her thoughts in a social media post, sharing how her efforts of stepping out of her comfort were never noticed. “I don’t have to prove anything. Everything is right in front of the audience. I went outside my comfort zone handling eggs and dairy too in team challenges and egg challenge, even tasted dairy made dish when chef asked me to. Dint pick on it even once. Not sure if those efforts were even noticed.”
“I came here as a plantbased contestant. Knowing I may be tested on levels outside my comfort, isn’t that what’s it about. Baa handled eggs & tasted too. I don’t regret anything with all due respect to what judges had to say. (I wouldn’t have cooked with meat anyway, would have backed out even if it became mandatory to use.) I have my boundaries. With all respect to the platform. Still stood true to what I see food as in all individual challenges. I wrote this only for the people who have encouraged me and tagged me in a lot of places to let me know they care. Love & Light Priya,” she wrote. As fans supported her, Priya also thanked them for acknowledging the issue.
https://twitter.com/Priyavijan/status/1626697449007099910
MasterChef India launched last month with Chef Vikas Khanna, Chef Ranveer Brar and Chef Garima Arora as judges. The show promises to celebrate home cooks and their passion towards food this season. The cooking reality show airs on Sony TV and streams on SonyLIV.
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