Popular international singing reality television reality show, Idol, is making its way to Nepal this year and people are going batshit crazy about it. Of course they have to. It’s not like Nepal Idol will be the first singing competition to hit Nepali television as there have been quite a few but dude, it’s Idol franchise, that’s huge. It will not only give an insane amount of exposure to its contestants but the winner will be walking away with a Mahindra KUV 100 car, a cash prize of Rs. 2 million and a music contract worth Rs. 1.5 million. Whoa!
It’s the first ever major international television franchise to come to Nepal and if it gets its fine share of popularity and success, there might be other shows that can make their way to Nepal. And if that happens, we want it to be MasterChef that comes to Nepal next.
See, even Gordon Ramsay wants the same.
It’s not only that it’s a popular show and that’s why we want it in Nepal; there are quite a lot of solid reasons for it.
Firstly, we often complain that Nepali cuisine can be seen nowhere in the international food map because people don’t know about it. But actually, not even us the Nepalese know much about our own food. A Thakali ‘thali’ set, few of Newari ‘khaja’ dishes and we think we know a lot about Nepali cuisine but no, we don’t. There are a number of different varieties of food in every region and culture in Nepal which need to be explored. They need to be shown and fed. People need to know about them and this show can be a good platform for the same.
Secondly, it’s been too long since the Nepali restaurants abroad have been labeling themselves as Indian restaurants because of course, everyone knows about Indian food but they don’t have an idea about what Nepali cuisine is about. A show like this can help in promoting Nepali cuisine well and once it is on the international food map, a lot of good things will start happening.
Thirdly, as we said in the second point, once Nepali cuisine is on the international food map, a lot of good things will start happening; that means a door of food tourism might open as well. Most of the tourists come to Nepal to get closer to the nature and to trek and try adventure activities. But none of them come here just to explore the cuisine because honestly, they really have no idea what’s the food like in here. But once they do, chances are they will start coming to taste varieties of food from all the corners of Nepal.
Fourthly, we know nothing about our chefs. People abroad know who the best chefs in their countries are and they have a lot of respect for them. But it’s not the same here in Nepal. We absolutely have no idea who our top chefs are and what their specialties are. If this show takes place, their would be judges who definitely would be the best in what they do. We would not only have the opportunity to know them but also get some cooking tips from them through the show.
And lastly, Nepali television is boring and we need some interesting shows on our television screens and talk shows can take a break for a while.
So, what do you think? Would you want to see or even be a part of MasterChef Nepal someday?
