Fans of MasterChef were left perplexed as a competitor chose to stretch the rules by including blueberries, chocolate, and mushrooms into a pasta dish.
The 19th season of the culinary programme premiered this week, with a fresh batch of amateur cooks entering the kitchen to impress judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace.
The cooks, including Croydon’s Vanessa D’Souza, have been striving to stand out from the throng in order to create a good impression and advance to the next round.
Vanessa, an Anti-Piracy Manager by day, describes her cooking as ‘traditional meals with a Neurodiverse touch’.
However, on Tuesday night, she served spaghetti that neither the judges nor those watching at home found appealing.
Contestants were challenged to create a meal inspired by their favourite TV chefs.
For Vanessa, she drew inspiration from fusion chef Ixta Belfrage, choosing to mix the fruit and dessert with the savoury staple, as well as some mushrooms.
While the judges didn’t seem to mind it too much, with John saying she had been ‘brave’ to mix the ingredients, while Gregg called her decision-making ‘daring’.
After tasting the dish Gregg said he ‘didn’t mind the blueberries too much’, overall it was ‘very, very peppery’.
‘It is a terrible shame,’ he added.
Critic William Sitwell also said that the addition of the blueberries was ‘purely that’.
‘When two extraordinary chefs bring two unusual ingredients together and they marry and can create something new, but this isn’t quite doing that,’ he said.
However, John said he believed that it was ‘better to be talked about’ and that although Vanessa would ‘divide the crowd’, he believed she should be applauded for taking a risk.
Vanessa, on the other hand, was moved by the mixed reaction.
‘I can see how I divided the crowd, but it’s not great when two out of the three don’t like your dish…,’ she said while tearing up on the show.
Those who were watching at home were equally split on the food.
‘Sitting here, livid about chocolate and blueberries in pasta. Livid. I won’t sleep tonight,’ one person posted on Twitter.
Another added: ‘Blueberries, mushrooms and chocolate are when you make a meal out of what’s left in the fridge. If she had added salad cream though, I would have been in.’
Despite the conflicting views of the judges, Vanessa advanced to the next round.
Vanessa described her meals as “classic recipes with a burst of flavour inspiration from my Portuguese-Indian heritage, my East-African born and raised parents, my travels to 60 countries, and my neurodiversity.”
She said it was all ‘quite an eclectic mix’.
MasterChef is streaming on BBC iPlayer.
Source My Celebrity Life.