Home cooks battle against the pros on The Chefs’ Line, and celebrated Australian food writer and judge, Melissa Leong, weighs in

The prospect of a home cook going up against a professional chef on a competitive culinary game show seems daunting and terrifying. But Melissa Leong, food writer and one of three judges on the recently-launched show, The Chefs’ Line, doesn’t think it’s an uneven playing field. The Australian cooking show that premièred last week on Zee Café, has a unique premise: in 13 episodes across the season, home cooks battle against professional chefs, focusing on a specific cuisine for each episode.

“On the surface, you think that professionals going against amateurs is a no brainer. But we can’t forget that home cooks bring with them generations of handed down knowledge, love, passion and technique about their culture, or, in some cases, they have fallen so in love with a particular cuisine that they have devoted a lot of time to learning about it,” says Leong, who has a background in journalism and radio broadcasting.

Judge’s corner

Hosted by famed Australian food personality Maeve O’Meara, The Chefs’ Line is judged by Leong, along with native ingredient expert and chef, Mark Olive, and renowned restaurateur and chef, Dan Hong. When asked about how she got involved with the show, she says, “Hong pitched the idea and I found it interesting. The idea of passion versus profession is a lot more evenly matched than you think. You’re in for a few surprises in terms of what people produced on the show,” says Leong who is making her television debut with the show.

Shot over a span of six weeks, the culinary challenge showcases a range of global cuisines, each chosen to reflect the breadth of Australia’s multicultural make-up. “We were shooting for long hours during the summer, sometimes shooting two episodes over a day,” Leong says, adding, “The question that we asked ourselves as judges was ‘Was it delicious? Would I go back for more?’”

Read the full story in The Hindu here!