Nostalgia time for judges of Junior Masterchef

The kids on the show reminded the three judges of the time that they too were kids!

At the launch of Amul presents Junior MasterChef – Swaad Ke Ustaad on Star Plus, the three judges were at their nostalgic best. The series this season which will see children entering the territory assumed to be for adults has Chef Vikas Khanna, Chef Kunal Kapoor and Chef Surjan Singh Jolly as the celebrity judges on the show.

While the show will see junior participants in the age category of 8 to 12 years, the three judges themselves remembered that they had their first brush with cooking when they were very much into their teens.

“For me, it was a lesson from my dad,” says Chef Kunal Kapoor, “My dad would cook every weekend and make me sit and stir the pot while he would add the spices and other ingredients. So I got my first training through him as he told me about which spice and masala would go into the dish and how it would enhance the flavor. Then when I think I was 15-16 years old I made tea on my own and that was my first cooking experience.”

Chef Surjan Singh Jolly went into a flashback mode as he answered this query, “I remember the first dish that I cooked was kheer and I was almost 16 years old then. Now when I look at these kids I am amazed as they are all in the 8 to 12 year old category and I am stunned when I see them baking and cooking lovely dishes. I learned all this only when I joined a professional course so I must say that they are more ready and confident then what I was at their age.”

For Chef Vikas Khanna, it was the all-time difficult roti that he remembers making for the first time, “My dadi had taken me to the Golden temple and there I first attempted to make rotis which was a difficult proposition then and still is for me.”

All the three chefs are highly impressed with the talent that the kids participating in the show possess and think that it will be an inspiring platform for these little minds.