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A true blue, dinki di bit of patronising television

Alex Dickinson

by Alex Dickinson

07 Jun 11:18am

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Filed under: Entertainment, Masterchef, Matt Preston, Television

34 comments

Did anyone else find Masterchef last night incredibly patronising towards blue-collar workers?

Guys, this thing with prongs is called a fork. Picture: Masterchef

In case you missed it, the troupe of budding young chefs were given the challenge to cook a goat’s cheese-based vegetarian dish for “six of Australia’s biggest meat lovers”.

And who were these esteemed judges? True blue Aussies: tradies, truck drivers, a fireman and a farmer. Seems blue-collar types don’t have refined enough tastes to appreciate a good vegetarian dish… or even know what goat’s cheese is.

“I’m not sure how to eat it,” said one.

“I’m confused. It just looks like a hashbrown,’’ said another, probably taking the piss. “Is goat’s cheese something goats like?”

I squirmed at the cliché of the meat-pie eating tradie Masterchef was so lazily trying to depict.

Sure, stereotypes are what they are because they’re mostly true - most farmers I know do love a good steak - but the portrayal of these men as simple because they didn’t know their leeks from their figs was….cringeworthy.

Especially when the meals were cooked by bored lawyers and accountants and tools who refuse to take off their beanie. Aaron.

The cravat-clad Matt Preston doesn’t help either.

It’s not that I’m personally or even that easily offended. Or that Masterchef should be over-analysed in such a way. (It is what it is and it generally does it well).

Just having Preston condescendingly hold up a fig to a balcony of builders and explain what it was…. somehow didn’t sit right.

And I hate lazy television.

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34 comments

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    • Glen says:

      11:43am | 07/06/10

      I said the same thing to my wife.  I am a white collar worker who absolutely loves my meat, and would never dream of ordering vegetarian when out and about.  There are plenty more like me (and many other varieties) they could have used if they were truly trying to use the whole “vegetarian can be tasty” angle.

      What we ended up with is a highly condescending “how can we dumb down our food”.

      Reply

    • Andy D says:

      11:47am | 07/06/10

      Somehow I don’t think the tradies, truckies, farmers and fireman of Australia will be crying themselves to sleep tonight because they were misrepresented on Masterchef.

      This just seems like a self-indulgent, self-superior, PC attack on the latest easy target for bored writers.

      And I hate lazy journalism.

      Reply

    • Jason T says:

      11:57am | 07/06/10

      pfft. Andy you obvioulsy didn’t watch the show last night. Not about being PC. About a good show going bad.

    • Helen says:

      12:42pm | 07/06/10

      Also, not journalism. Opinion.
      I hate lazy commenters.

    • Terry says:

      11:59am | 07/06/10

      Did we need them in their work gear so we could identify them as working families? Why did one of them have to wear his safety vest? And that farmer’s mum would have been aghast that he wore his hat to the dinner table.  That would not have been allowed in her home…

      Reply

    • dancan says:

      12:08pm | 07/06/10

      $10 says these “blue-collar workers” were all actors in the first place

      Reply

    • Hamish says:

      12:47pm | 07/06/10

      That’s what I thought dancan. Like a real fireman would be willing to wear his pants and overalls to go on the show as essentially an object of ridicule.

      I was just waiting for one of the contestants to tear-up (which they do all the bloody time) and say something like ‘oh my God, that guy with the shaved head and the goatee said he loved my goats cheese and caramelised onion tart. I feel so proud. It’s a dream come true. No matter what happens in the rest of the competition, no one can take that away from me…sob…sob…cry.’

    • dancan says:

      02:36pm | 07/06/10

      @ Hamish - I can just see it now.

      Contestant 1 wins and starts to tear up
      Contestant 2 tears up over contestant 1 winning
      Fireman tears up over both contestants and that he just ate a vegitable
      Everyone group hugs

    • Rover says:

      12:12pm | 07/06/10

      Maybe Masterchef tried to patronise the meat eaters but blokes fought back.

      The comment about the need for more beetroot to balance the tanginess of the goat’s cheese was a much more succinct description of the dish than the cravat-wearer can manage.

      And the fact that the fig and goat’s cheese dish was one of the top two, despite the understandable confusion about “is it a dessert, a starter or a main” showed that these guys went in with an open mind.

      Reply

    • Brad Coward says:

      12:33pm | 07/06/10

      If PC was mushy peas and tomato sauce, Alex, we’d all be eating Adelaide Pie Floaters for the next year thanks to this article!  And that includes white and blue collar workers!  Your talking about a cooking show, for goodness sake. 

      Clearly another “I’m a victim” piece on today’s “Punch”.  I am referring to the article penned by the young lady on loan from “GET UP”, in case you have yet to draw the comparison or have yet to read it.

      This article comes across as something that you’d prepared earlier in case the one you were working on didn’t turn out the way that you wanted it to… in the style of the television chef!

      Reply

    • Tim says:

      12:48pm | 07/06/10

      I’m not worried about the stereotyping of Aussie blokes.
      I’m more worried about the fact that Masterchef thought that cooking vegetarian meals was in any way a good idea.
      Fair dinkum, Figs and goats cheese???? Nearly made me choke on my roast lamb.
      What’s the world coming to?.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      02:16pm | 07/06/10

      Thats nothin. In the Sat. Courier, there was a recipe for beetroot risotto.
      The picture of it looked like maggots in tomato sauce.
      Beetroot’s only good, and necessary, on burgers.

    • paul says:

      03:08pm | 07/06/10

      Hey in some countries (back in the 1940’s in my mother’s village in the Mediterranean for example) figs and goat’s cheese were about as common as beer and meat pies are here. And no, it’s not because they thought the food was high cuisine or they’re aspiring to be on masterchef. Nope. You have goats, you gotta milk ‘em and from milk you make cheese. You have fig trees, they produce figs. They actually go well together and it does not exclude meat from the menu.

    • Talitha says:

      01:08am | 08/06/10

      and as one of the increasing number of people adhering to a vegetarian diet as a result of greater concern for the economic and environmental ramifications of the meat industry, I’m worried that Masterchef thought only one week of vegetarian food was enough!

      In terms of what the world might be coming to, ‘Eating Animals’ by Jonathan Safran Foer certainly is an enlightening read as to that quesstion.

      It’s all a matter of perspective.

    • Bon says:

      12:57pm | 07/06/10

      I really liked Claire’s comment when George and Matt questioned her fig dish and whether the ‘meat lovers’ would like it - she said that underestimating people is one of the most dangerous things you can do in life.

      Reply

    • Kylie says:

      07:33pm | 07/06/10

      I agree Bon. Claire’s comment was the one redeeming line in the whole show. I was very pleased when they liked her dish.
      I also agree with your comments below.

    • Bon says:

      01:20pm | 07/06/10

      I agree that it was unnecessary to have them in costume - all dressed up in their work clothes.  Their occupation really wasn’t relevant to the segment anyway. And another thing - why were they all men?  I know plenty of women who like their meat with more meat, as one of the contestants put it last night.

      Reply

    • Robbo says:

      04:43pm | 07/06/10

      I would’ve been insulted ifi was one of the tradies. I have a degree in chemical engineering and the guy who got the uni medal from my year for topping the course is now a brickie because he “likes working with his hands outdoors”. Just because your are a tradie doesn’t mean you are any less intelligent than a professional and they should be treated that way

    • luke09 says:

      01:31pm | 07/06/10

      Masterchef is really informative, I always thought figs were a fruit not a vegetable.

      Reply

    • Robert Smissen , rural SA says:

      02:51pm | 07/06/10

      There you go, I thought it mean’t F#ck I’m Good hence fig jam

    • Michael C. Donovan says:

      01:31pm | 07/06/10

      There have been quite a few cringe-worthy episodes in the last couple of weeks (save the cruise ship challenge).  It’s also not helping that the producers of the show are obsessed with making their contestants cry.  The same thing was prominent throughout the last season of “The Biggest Loser”.  Give me a break!

      MasterChef Australia, AKA, “Every Time I Cook, I Weep.”

      Reply

    • H of SA says:

      02:18pm | 07/06/10

      Honestly people if you thought reality TV (yes including cooking shows) was going to be anything more than trashy stereotyping appealing to the lowest common denominator…....let this be the last time you are fooled.

      Reply

    • Julia says:

      02:25pm | 07/06/10

      The only reason I know what a fig is, is the builder next door to us had one in his back yard when I was growing up. It was fantastic to climb.

      Reply

    • Joe says:

      02:40pm | 07/06/10

      No, truckies and farmers won’t be too upset by this but that’s beside the point. It was a pointless challenge. What was the objective? In the end it seemed like it was to serve up a dish that 6 random tradies thought tasted good. If thats correct then they could have just made a bowl of fires with goats cheese dip…because not many people dont like chips. Pete’s team lost because the tradies didnt like vegetables. It was a vegetarian challenge?! This show is teetering on becoming sh*t.

      Reply

    • megan says:

      03:28pm | 07/06/10

      My favourite part of the episode was how Matt Preston tried to Aussie up his accent. “So, wadda you blokes reckon about figs?” Hilarious!

      Is this the same cravat clad toff who described Aarons dish as “disastrously delicious” last week?

      Reply

    • Fiona says:

      04:08pm | 07/06/10

      Thanks god Alex - I was fuming last night. How dare they patronise the blokes who build their houses, grow their beef and deliver it to their latte-belt cafes. Sharp reminder about how far removed tv land is from the reality it purports to represent.

      Reply

    • Melanie says:

      04:11pm | 07/06/10

      I thought that the episode was extremely patronising as well. That was the first thing that I thought when they paraded the tradies out, all dressed up in their work gear! This show is really starting to lose all credibility.

      I also agree with Joe’s comment regarding the loss of Pete’s team due to the tradies not liking vegetables. It’s a vegetarian challenge, for heaven’s sake! They produced a nice looking dish.

      More and more, I’m starting to believe that this show is rigged.

      Reply

    • papachango says:

      05:27pm | 07/06/10

      I suppose you thought ‘The Castle’ was patronising too?

      Reply

    • Vicki PS says:

      05:34pm | 07/06/10

      I watched Masterchef just once, and (apart from finding the whole thing just too, too precious) was appalled that anyone could take seriously any wannabe chef who insisted on wearing a grubby-looking knitted cap or, worse, had hair hanging loose over their face and shoulders.  Funnily enough, I prefer my food without a garnish of someone else’s bodily detritus.

      Reply

    • Daniel says:

      05:56pm | 07/06/10

      Im not sure it was patronising but it was so stereotypical.

      Reply

    • GB says:

      10:56am | 08/06/10

      I don’t think it was patronising, the blokes were clearly hamming it up a bit - the outfits, some of the comments.

      Wasn’t the best invention test they’ve had though.

      Reply

    • Daniel says:

      02:26am | 09/06/10

      The strange thing is that 99 percent of chefs are “blue collar workers”

      I’ve never watched much of “master” chef, but GO (or ch.99) used to show a far less dramatised version that was much better.

      Really if doctors and lawers wanted to become chefs/cooks you would think they would be smart enough to do it without the help of a T.V. show… The amount of jobs avalible in cookery/hospitality at the moment for anyone willing to give it a go is ridiculious

      Reply

    • Bon says:

      02:46pm | 09/06/10

      They don’t actually want to do the hard yards though - there is no glamour or celebrity in your standard apprenticeship/hospitality job.  If these people actually had a burning desire to slog it out in very un-glamourous, hot, stressful kitchens they would be doing it.  Of those that have left, I think only one of them has actually gone on to find work in a kitchen and learn from the bottom up, and only one other contestant (Fiona the teacher) has actually fulfilled her stated goal, which was to work with the Stephanie Alexander school garden program.

 
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