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Who is the real winner of MasterChef Australia 2010?
As the television juggernaut that is Network Ten's MasterChef Australia draws closer towards it's finale this weekend, I've decided to add my voice to the many others that have praised, derided, questioned or lauded the series over the past three months or so.  Image: The Age It's interesting to me the effect that a television series can have on the attitude that "average Australians" have to their food, and what they might be cooking for dinner on any given night. And also the influence that association with the show has had on its many sponsors. Firstly the audience. Media outlets I'm thinking about here seem to think that "average Australians" are are happily popping into their local Coles supermarket, (it's where a MasterChef shops after all) to pick up a kilo of shallots to blanch and slow-roast until they are caramelised; a dozen or so succulent lamb cutlets to grill, and a crown roast of pheasant to poach and then deep fry. Now seriously, lamb cutlets at thirty-odd dollars a kilo, or a pheasant, or indeed a saddle of rabbit are well and truly beyond the budget of your average suburban family shopping for Tuesday night's dinner. I've got nothing against anyone experimenting with unfamiliar ingredients. I like the idea of someone giving a pigeon breast a red-hot try, or indeed a prawn scotch egg. I resent the implied pressure that these dishes should be part of the every day menu in homes from Marrickville to Moree, and Broome to Byron Bay. Isn't there already enough pressure on families to come up with something other than chicken nuggets and chips for the kids five out of seven nights a week? How am I really expected to manage a perfectly set creme brulee when I know the kids are going to be put off by the lemon myrtle-scented tuille biscuit I'm supposed to whip up to serve beside it. Is little Johnny going to be expecting a perfectly glazed, whiter-than-white, eight-different-textures-of-vanilla cake for his birthday next week? And does Coles have that titanium dioxide powder shelved somewhere near the white chocolate buttons anyway? How many time-poor Mums and Dads around the nation are under pressure to perform extraordinary acts of gourmet gymnastics every weeknight when they are shopping on a budget that doesn't allow for a brace of pheasant or a bottle of aged balsamic vinegar to find its way into the trolley. There have been plenty of stories, in past weeks about surges in supermarket sales for unusual ingredients after they had been featured on MasterChef. Public relations spin to further reinforce Coles new market position as gourmet food supplier, or simply reporting on the phenomenon that is our fascination with cooking as an elimination sport? According to an article in The Australian ("MasterChef sparks Coles sales surge"; Lara Sinclair, 21 June, 2010), The Wesfarmers owned supermarket has experienced impressive increases in sales across the ingredients featured in the cleverly marketed celebrity chef Curtis Stone and MasterChef recipes. The article quotes figures of an increase in 30% for beef stroganoff ingredients, and diced pork up 480%. Clearly the real winner of Masterchef this year is not going to be Adam, or Callum. Sure enough, one of them will go away from the show with a book deal, a pile of cash and a certain level of fame. The real winner, for as long as our aspirational grocery shopping lasts anyway, will be Coles. The association with MasterChef has been nothing short of brilliant for the supermarket giant who until this year at least has been playing second-fiddle to Woolworths the self-procalaimed "fresh food people". Coles is undergoing a well deserved facelift across it's store network, with new fixtures and fittings and a more hands on approach to fresh produce. The butchers and the fismongers are back in plain sight, and the stores are being redesigned to feel more like a local farmers market than the sterile, plastic wrapped hall of groceries they had become over the past decade. I'm giving the association with MasterChef the big thumbs up for Coles, but I'm still going to reserve judgement on the effect the show has had ramping up status-anxiety levels in the suburbs.
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