Masterchef’s gay alumnus cooks up a storm

Season two Masterchef contestant Alvin Quah will appear at the 2nd Annual Flavourfest in the Hunter Valley over the Queen’s Birthday weekend, giving foodies a taste of what he has to offer during sessions on the Saturday and Sunday.

“It’s Asian fusion, if you like – although I hate that word. I’ll be using local produce to make my native Malaysian style of cooking,” the openly gay cook told the Star Observer.

The weekend will double as a Masterchef reunion of sorts, with Quah booked to appear alongside fellow contestants Callum Hann and Jake Bujayer. Is there any rivalry between the ex-contestants as they all mark out their own names as celebrity chefs?

“The competition’s over, it’s all done and dusted. We all have our different styles of cooking and different audiences. There’s healthy competition maybe, but no rivalry.”

But with Masterchef into its third series, Quah conceded that the glut of TV cooking graduates may make the fight for work opportunities more competitive.

“There’s been a bit of a saturation with cooking TV shows in general,” he said. “It’ll be interesting to see how this new bunch go, because we’re all slowly crowding the space.”

Between public appearances, writing for his cooking blog Cinnamon Pig and regular stints as a guest chef on Mornings with Kerri-Anne, Quah admitted he’d been too busy to keep a close eye on the current Masterchef series. But he had heard about lifesaver contestant Hayden’s recent attention grabbing speedo strip during a beach challenge.

“There lies the problem with cooking reality shows: from one gay to another, there are never any good looking guys, so when someone shows a little bit of skin, people go wild!”
info: FlavourFest 2011, Hunter Valley Gardens, June 11 – 13. Visit www.hvg.com.au