Donna Hay: Beautiful food tastes better.
Matt Moran: If he walks into a kitchen I am cooking in, I am probably going to win something.
Matt Moran: Luckier than a hatful of pixies.
Neil Perry: The business of food can be challenging and confusing, but at the end of the day it’s still all about food.
Luke Nguyen: Generosity is a wonderful trait with respect to both food and knowledge.
Luke Mangan: No-one is going to just give you an international restaurant empire, but you can probably build one yourself.
Peter Gilmore: The techniques of cooking are in themselves relatively simple, but applying them in combination to create a dish of brilliance is nearly impossible.
Philippa Sibley: Desserts aren’t as terrifying as I thought they were.
Nathan Darling: ‘Nice guy’ and ‘Chef’ are not mutually exclusive terms.
Shaun Presland: Your food is defined by your passion, not your ethnicity.
Justin North: If you french and crown a rack of rabbit, it looks absolutely sensational.
Michel Roux: Even after 60 years of cooking, a multiple Michelin-starred chef can still get excited by a really beautiful capsicum. A passion for food never leaves you.
"These two Michelin stars say that I could call a Meatball Sub 'classic French' if I wanted to."
Guillaume Brahimi: Smoked duck and stir-fried bok choi is, surprisingly, not a classic French dish.
Tetsuya Wakuda: A person’s food is the story of their life.
Kumar Mahadevan: If you temporarily abandon your wife on vacation in England to fly to Australia for 1 day to appear on Masterchef, you’d better have been a pretty good husband up to that point.
The Restaurant Arras Crew (Adam Humphrey, Lovaine Allen and Aaron Eady): Running a good restaurant is all about attention to detail. And sometimes that means getting up at 5am every day to bake your own bread.
Curtis Stone: I am much shorter than many people in this world, and have less impressive hair.
Jamie Oliver: Jamie Oliver is like a shark: if he stops moving, he dies.
Callum, back away and make no sudden movements.
Ty Bellingham: Well-balanced Thai food is a joy to behold. Witty puns about a guy named Ty that makes Thai food don’t get old for at least 40 to 50 seconds.
Peter Kuruvita: Getting up at 5am every morning of your life to go to the Sydney Fish Markets is not a chore if you love what you do.
Frank Camorra: Winning and losing are the smallest parts of any competition.
Glenn Thompson: Walking through a vineyard is pretty at the worst of times, but when you are walking through with an expert in oenology and viticulture it can be astounding.
Rick Stein: If you consider the flavour of a pot of langoustines simply boiled in sea water, there is a strong case for awarding oceans of the world a Michelin star all to themselves.
Maggie Beer: If Mary Poppins were a cook instead of a nanny, she would be Maggie Beer.
Mark Jensen: The food of all cultures owes a great debt to the history of the world.
Fergus Henderson: Being totally bonkers is fine, as long as you’re brilliant; and Fernet Branca is possibly not an appropriate drink for 10am, unless you’re sharing it with Michelin-starred chefs and internationally acclaimed food critics.
Ian Curley: If you don’t look like you’re enjoying yourself in the kitchen, you probably aren’t doing yourself justice.
Kylie Kwong: The food you grow up with is the food you will love forever.
Tony Bilson: Food is a beautiful confluence of technique and personality. Also, a not-insignificant resemblance to Albert Einstein can go a long way to supporting an air of genius.
NOT Albert Einstein. (Possibly Dr Emmett Brown.)
Ryan Squires: When plating food, if your brain is telling you that something needs to go in a particular place, do exactly the opposite and it will look natural and organic.
David Chang: Brilliance is never effortless, and being an overnight success takes years of work (and after you’ve ‘made it’ it only gets harder). Also, it’s OK to sign autographs by copying out Pavement lyrics.
Darren Purchese: Patissiers are geniuses. If we don’t keep an eye on them, they are likely to take over the world.
Julie Goodwin: You don’t have to hate your old life to want a newer, shinier one.
Josh Emett: Restraint in cooking is a difficult thing to quantify, but when done well even the most complex dishes look effortless.
Warren Turnbull: Every ingredient in a dish should taste like what it is, and should be there for a reason.
Cherish Finden: Very small people have lasers that shoot from their eyes that can destroy buildings. And if you are strong, fair and kind, everyone will love and respect you for it.
Heston Blumenthal: Grace is just as important as genius.
"I made a '67 Mustang convertible into a ham sandwich. Then I made it invisible."
Franck Poupard: I don’t season my food enough. And I really should know better by now.
Mitchell Orr: I am much older than I thought I was.
Jan ter Heerdt: A third-generation Belgian chocolatier looks exactly how you think he would.
In Belgium there is a law that states that if you look like this, you must become a kindly chocolatier.
Margaret Fulton: As you age, a love of food keeps you young. And even though Masterchef is only a TV show, what we do on that stage is fundamentally important for the future of Australian food. She made me cry.
Adriano Zumbo: Evil exists in this world, and its name is Zumbo.
Adam Melonas: It’s important to dream big.
Christine Manfield: If Christine Manfield traveled through time in a fusion-powered DeLorean, she would apply for Masterchef under the name Courtney Roulston.
Alla Wolf-Tasker: The appeal of an audacious pair of spectacles should not be underestimated.
Mark Best: Synergies in food sometimes appear where you least expect them.
Jacques Reymond: Claire is a very beautiful woman.
Hiroyuki Sakai: My Japanese is not as fluent as I thought it was.
Shannon Bennett: A stoic calmness can be achieved through a thoughtful approach to food and life.
And last, but certainly not least:
Gary Mehigan: The best lessons in life and cooking are taught and learnt in equal measure.
George Calombaris: Food has a heart and a soul. That fact is unforgettable and irrepressible.
Matt Preston: Matt Preston is a giant food encyclopaedia robot… in colourful pants.
Brutal taskmasters.
Clever, entertaining and insightful ! Loved it Adam
Hahaha.. holy smokes, this entire post is made of GOLD. Gold of the edible flake kind. Too good!
Ads you are a much funnier man than people give you credit for. I love this post
Hilarious! Thanks for the entertaining read.
love it – and it’s a collection that can just keep getting better and better – i’d love to see your distilled take on Ben & Elvis from Bodega or Chui from Claudes among others
I’m at work and i laughed out loud about the Matt Moran. Everyone is looking at me funny.
You are defs hilarious!
LOL, Zumbo is evil. But damn, watching him unleash torture on contestants are always the highlight of Masterchef. Awesome post Adam. I can’t help but laugh and smile at the mere mention of Maggie Beer and Heston.
Greatness. Was waiting for your Zumbo remark. I wouldn’t call him evil but then again I haven’t tried to cook one of his creations.
Your comment about Margaret Fulton made me cry.
Haha, I agree with Margaret above, this post is GOLD! Especially re: Maggy Beer & Jamie Oliver…you’re a hoot Adam! Looking forward to catching up on Monday
xx
Oh Adam! This is hilarious! Esp Zumbo’s one
LOL hilarious!
You are spot on! This is so funny and clever!
I have been following your blog since Masterchef, really enjoy your blog. Keep writing and good luck with your future works.
Love it! Make sure to include it in your book.
Gold… The captions on the photos had me laughing out loud – especially the one on the photo of Heston Blumenthal.
This is what 1 blog a week gets you. Amazing. That is all
This post is beautiful and funny.
Nicely put together. And nice photo of Colonel Sanders.
This is GREAT. I almost, ALMOST wish that you came in second just so you can continue to be the best and funniest professional food blogger in the universe!
Hilarious post, Adam – I really loved the comment about Cherish Finden (I want to be her when I grow up!), and seeing your reaction to Iron Chef Sakai. I just about fell off my chair when I saw he was going to be on the show. I don’t think I would have been able to say anything to him in any language!
What a great and funny post!
Love the comment about Adriano Zumbo!!! But you have definitely learnt a lot along the road to where you are now … and I have no doubt you will learn even more before you get to where you are going. Well done, Adam … I wish I could cook like you.
Brilliant! So many big names and you’ve added another demension to them that we can all relate to in some way or another.
Plus I just pictured a hat full of mini-matt morans dressed as pixies and now my keyboard is wearing coffee. Epic Win.
Gosh that is so funny! Gambatte ne!
Awesome – love it! How about doing one about your fellow Masterchef friends?
What a brilliant and entertaining post! I loved Cherish! haha and you summed up Jamie Oliver pretty nicely too
Loved this. Found myself nodding along to many of your references.
Hilarious! You are too funny, Adam!
Just wonderful
And you’re so lucky to have had the chance to meet all these people – although it’s well-deserved.
I wonder what next year’s winner will say about you? =)
After reading this, I thought: “Adam Liaw – a winner who has retained his sense of humour and fun.” Thank goodness you haven’t turned into one of those insta-celebrities who start thinking they’re just so “damn” good that they can’t laugh about themselves. Gary and George would be proud!
I’ve been lurking around this blog since about week 2 of Masterchef 2010 (whoa, stalker tendencies, much?!
) – can I just say that it’s really nice to see this updated more ‘regularly’ post-confidentiality undertakings, etc since your last post in what, August, September 2010? =) You have a lot more fans than you can imagine, who had been wanting you to win for the whole series, and you haven’t let us down since you actually did win! (woooot. =))
(sorry – that should have been a ref to Aug/Sept 2009, obviously =))
It has already been said, but what a great – and funny – read! This man has greater talents than were revealed on Masterchef.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post, Adam. Thanks for sharing your reflections- it was funny, thoughtful and makes me smile a silly smile inside.
Michel Roux: Even after 60 years of cooking, a multiple Michelin-starred chef can still get excited by a really beautiful capsicum. A passion for food never leaves you. – > ABSOLUTELY!
Thanks for sharing
Loved it, very clever and funny! But I think you mean Phillippa (not Phillip) Sibley?
I, too, would like to see a similar take on your fellow MC contestants.
Awesome post – insightful and funny! Hope you’re enjoying life after MC. Any news on your new restaurant ventures?
oooh I loved this! The Jamie Oliver comment made me giggle – too true!
haha, this post is so beautiful and funny lol
that’s a great post and very entertaining and insightful to read. sounds like Jacques had the hots for Claire
and don’t forget about Matt Preston’s colourful cravats as well 
ur pretty
Re: Maggie Beer – totally! That’s a great observation
Haha, your insights are hilarious
I really enjoyed this post but mainly wanted to say thank you for adding the blog links. I’ve had lots of fun food blog surfing. I’m always looking for really good, fresh, not too time-consuming dishes with not too obscure ingredients to feed my teenagers. I’ve already printed out lots for our ‘things to try’ folder and a couple are already in the book of keepers. Looking forward to your book now….
Brilliant! Though I’m sure Zumbo’s mother thinks he’s an angel.
Funny stuff adam!!! I loved this blog, it made me laugh. good to see you’ve kept your sense of humour.
Shaun Presland: Your food is defined by your passion, not your ethnicity.
Great lesson!
haha, this was such a joy to read beginning to end.
Wonderful that an Asian man won the master chef Australia. I also learned a lot from your post
Tetsuya Wakuda: A person’s food is the story of their life. – I love this one! Its is just so true…. great article
Hey Adam – just want to say a belated congratulations. Here in the UK we’ve only just finished the series, but it was epic viewing. Not to sound too suck-uppy, but I followed you from the start, and I’m afraid your nickname was “Ninj”. I said on the first episode – always look out for the quiet guy at the back with the glint, and I turned out to be right. Your book is on my “to be purchased” list, and I’m going to trawl through your site now I’ve been able to find it (self imposed lack of any google searching for anything MC related so I didn’t spoil it!). Well done brother – your food inspired me as much as you did
Mike
I loved the description on Adriano Zumba, in fact in latin america Zumba is a VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY TIRED AND HARD EXCERSICE! congratulations!