There’s only one sleep left until Savindri Perera (aka Sav) makes her debut on MasterChef Australia as a contestant. While she’s no stranger to cooking and sharing her food journey on social media, making some of her favourite dishes on national television is a completely different ball game.
“I am nervous because it's a big thing that we are doing,” Perera tells Draw Your Box. “The magnitude of this thing that we're doing – I don't think it's going to sink in until I see myself on TV.”
The 30-year-old, who moved to Australia from Sri Lanka when she was 18 years of age, says auditioning for MasterChef signifies a new chapter in her life.
“What made me decide to audition for the show was I wanted to break out of being in a very stagnant place because of grief. My mum passed away in 2017,” she says. “And since then, I have been grieving that entire time, but I realised that I was just in a comfort zone and it was time to essentially begin my next phase of growth.”
The Adelaide-based banking consultant moved to Australia just four months after she turned 18. While her sister was already based here, it still took some time to adjust to living in a new country.
“As a young adult, I was so focused on assimilating and becoming part of the culture that I lost a little bit of my own,” she reflects. “I didn't realise that that was happening until maybe about two to three years ago when I was 27 or 28. I realised that up to that point, I would never eat with my hands around my friends.”
While she would invite friends over to her place on a Sunday and make Sri Lankan dishes – similar to what her mum used to do – she didn’t completely embrace her culture in other respects, such as eating with her hands. Over the last few years, Perera has embarked on a journey of reconciling with her cultural heritage. She describes it as “reclaiming my own identity”.
“It’s finding that middle ground as an immigrant living in the dichotomous state of having one foot in one country and the other in the other. I’m constantly split between Sri Lanka and Australia,” she explains.
It’s because of this that the South Asian cook says it wouldn’t have been the best time to audition for MasterChef a few years ago. This experience of self-discovery was important in bringing her to where she is now.
“Three years ago, I don't think I would have been in the right state to do MasterChef. It became the right time for me to do it this year, because I knew who I was as an Australian and I knew who I was as a Sri Lankan – and I know that now very clearly.”
When it comes to the style of food Perera will be serving to the judges on the cooking show, she says it will undoubtedly be influenced by her culture, despite not necessarily cooking Sri Lankan food day-to-day at home because it can be quite time-consuming. But if there’s anywhere you can showcase the intricate technique and rich flavours of home cooking, it’s surely MasterChef.
“I keep making this joke with the producers, ‘In case you didn’t know, I’m Sri Lankan,’ and they all laugh,” she giggles.
“It's what I love to eat and it's what I actually know the most about in terms of technique. I live and breathe it so I'm definitely influenced heavily by that cultural upbringing that I've had. I know the history of it,” she says.
“You will get a lot of Sri Lankan cooks who are good at cooking, but don't necessarily understand the context of why certain things are done the way that they’re done, or why certain dishes are different from region to region.”
Perera explains that there’s still a lot of oral tradition in passing down Sri Lankan recipes and food history, but she hopes to help change that.
The cast of MasterChef Australia 2024. Image Source: Channel 10
Ultimately, cooking on MasterChef Australia’s 16th season is going to challenge Perera in new ways when it comes to her culinary skills but also confidence in front of the camera and taking on feedback. As she immerses herself in this experience, there will always be one person she’ll be thinking about.
“I've said this at some point, but I still firmly believe that any creative pursuit that I engage in is a love letter to my mum and this is no different.”
Perera will appear on MasterChef alongside 21 other home cooks vying for $250,000 in prize money. They are Alex Crisp, Darrsh Clarke, David Tan, Gillian Dinh, Harry Butterfield, James Holmes, Jonathan Hooper, Josh Clarke, Josh Perry, Juan De La Cruz Torales Villarreal, Khristian Walker, Lachlan Whittle, Lily Davies, Lourdes Leschen, Mimi Wong, Nat Thaipun, Snezana Calic, Steph Griffen, Stephen Dennis, Sue Bazely and Sumeet Saigal.
The judges this year are Andy Allen, Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin and Jean-Christophe Novelli.
MasterChef Australia 2024 premieres on Monday, April 22 at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10 Play.
MasterChef Australia 2024 judges Sofia Levin, Andy Allen, Poh Ling Yeow and Jean-Christophe Novelli. Image Source: Channel 10