Cooking competitions like MasterChef, Hell’s Kitchen, Chopped, and The Next Food Network Star have been around of a while now…and for the most part, Latino chefs of any variety have been noticeably absent, or at most early casualties.
Not so this summer. On FOX’s MasterChef, the gentlest of Gordon Ramsey’s two hundred different programs currently on the air, and on The Food Network’s The Next Food Network Star, Latino chefs made it all the way to the finals–in fact, they came in second in both competitions, which is not nearly as bad as it seems.
Adrien Nieto stayed true to his Mexican roots, right down to his last culinary creation–a gourmet variation on taquitos that looked, well, good enough to eat. Amongst all the drama and angst, Adrien maintained a cool demeanor and incredible focus, and he continues to be popular on Facebook and elsewhere, with rumors of a cookbook already in the works. And talk about relentlessly upbeat. Adrien has a short interview on the MasterChef web site, where he says, “I learned that I can learn to do anything I want to! I learned and gained a deep sense of pride, and that I am pretty good when it comes to cooking and food! I learned to fight harder and go after what I love and want!” As for his second-place finish, it really doesn’t seem to bother him. “It was a great journey!” he writes. “A balance of humility and pride! I’d do it again in a heartbeat! It was a reminder to be in the now. Always!”
Meanwhile, over on The Next Food Network Star, half the country seemed to be rooting for the always-smiling and superbly talented young cook Susie Jimenez. Like her final competitor, she seems to be everything that the Food Network looks for: energetic, enthusiastic, clever, and really good at the cooking thing, and the final decision to go with The Sandwich King seemed pretty arbitrary to everyone: they were both winner. Since then, Jimenez’ catering business (you can look at it at www.susiejimenez.com) has continued to thrive, and here, too, there’s plenty of speculation about future TV for Susie. In the meantime, she recently told The Huffington Post what she thought of her own performance on the finale. “I knew it was coming so I was sort of dreading that moment,” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to cry because I had already had my crying moments on the show but I think once they announced the winner, everyone was crying with me and hugging me. It felt nice to still have a lot of support and I’m nothing more than proud of myself with the whole experience. I can’t really complain about that. I never thought I would make it to runner up!”
It worth noting that plenty of Food Network runners-up have still had opportunities elsewhere, both on Food and on its sister cable outlet Cook; one of the runners-up is a co-host of ABC’s cooking-talk show hybrid Chew that’s replacing All My Children this fall.
Whatever the future holds, it’s nice to have Latinos noticed–and in both cases, relying heavily on their family traditions and Latino heritages to get Latino chefs out of the kitchen and into…well, the kitchen. But this time the kitchen’s on TV.
