Behind the MasterChef Apron

Perception, Identity, and Bias in the Kitchen

Oct 24, 2024

Hello friends,

It’s been a while since I last wrote, and I actually thought about stopping. To be honest, I felt my writing was starting to sound like life lessons, which I hated cause I am obviously not eligible enough to do it. I mean Mark Manson didn’t write The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck until he was in his thirties. Looking back, while I don’t disagree with my words, they often came across as too cliché. I didn’t recognize that many readers, especially older adults, likely already understood the concepts I discussed through their own experiences. They definitely should be the ones sharing their insights instead. I’m trying to break free from this pattern, as it has also stripped away the excitement and uniqueness I aimed for when I started writing, when I need to think of what “valuable insights” I should share this week. Instead of sharing pretentious wisdom, I’ll just share whatever I observe and what comes to my mind.

Now, let’s set aside my previous thoughts and share something I’ve been enjoying lately. Recently, I went back and binge-watched my favourite show in high school– MasterChef. I was so obsessed back then that I even made my own apron with the show’s logo. I’m not sure why I decided to watch it again, maybe I heard that the Korean Netflix show—Culinary Class Wars was a top topic lately. Instead of the US version, I’ve been watching the Canadian one, which feels more relaxed and less dramatic, without Joe Bastianich throwing dishes in the rubbish bin.

While watching the Season One finale, I noticed something when Eric Chong was serving his crispy pork belly appetizer. The judges’ comments were surprisingly varied, despite tasting the same visually stunning dish. Michael Bonacini and Alvin Leung praised it, while Claudio Aprile was critical, saying it was dry. At first, I questioned whether Claudio’s negative feedback was due to a bias against Asian food. However, his critique brings up a bigger point about how we view and rank people based on our interactions. We often believe we treat everyone equally, but we might not realize the subtle shifts in our tone and facial expressions when talking to different people. We may think we’re serving the same dish, but the experience of "tasting" it can feel very different because we don’t get to taste them. This actually reminds me of the different character masks we wear in front of different people, that my friend once told me about. 1

Back to the episode, I found it interesting that Eric letting Claudio try the dry pork might have actually helped him. After checking the comments, it seemed like Alvin was sided with Eric, probably because of their shared Chinese background. They even opened a restaurant together after Eric won MasterChef. Meanwhile, Claudio was backing another contestant, and Michael stayed neutral. So, Michael tasting the better-quality pork likely gave Eric an advantage when the judges decide who would win. Even though Claudio’s pork wasn’t dry, he was probably still not going to vote for Eric.

When Alvin praised Eric’s dish, he highlighted the challenge of preparing it in under an hour, which might mean a bit of bias here. Not saying there’s anything wrong with the judgment, but I don’t think it’s a very nice idea to add it as a comment in the finale. Perhaps he viewed the dish as "perfect" because he took that difficulty into account. This raises the possibility that Alvin’s leniency was influenced by his previous perceptions of Eric’s good performance. Sometimes, when we root for someone, our perception may not be very reliable, thinking they’re absolutely right even when they’re not every time, and I admit I do sometimes (maybe not just sometimes). It’s kind of like how typing in Times New Roman always feels more professional, regardless of the content.

The Pondering Twentysomething

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