By Charlene Gatt
GARY Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Calombaris are the faces and judges behind the MasterChef juggernaut, but contestants have to face this man first.
And for that matter, so did the judges.
Chef Glenn Flood, who co-owns Footscray food distribution company Raw Materials, is conducting the national recruitment for Junior Masterchef – a spin off of the popular cooking show for eight to 12-year-olds.
Mr Flood has to shortlist a Top 50 to go to Sydney for televised cook-offs over a two-week recruiting process.
He had already been to Perth and Adelaide and was in Brisbane checking out the talent when Star spoke with him.
“They’re amazing. From what I’ve seen, they’re very impressive. Some beautiful Thai beef salads, lemon meringue pies, there was a venison and rabbit ragout with a hollandaise tomato relish and some vegetables yesterday that was amazing,” he said.
“These are just dishes they’re bringing along to show us.”
Mr Flood did some work last year, helping to recruit the MasterChef judges and the first round of contestants for the first series.
Last year, he also masterminded a Footscray 150 commemorative wine with winemaker Neil Prentice.
It is likely he will continue to work with the show once filming begins. Junior MasterChef will screen later this year.
