Masterchef’s John Torode says women’s cooking is ‘loving and maternal’

Masterchef host John Torode has said that women are “loving and maternal” about the food they produce, making their food “taste better”.

The Australian-British TV chef, who is married to fellow chef Lisa Faulkner, told the Table Manners podcast that women cook “very, very differently from men”.

“Their food usually tastes a lot better,” he told podcast hosts Jessie and Lennie Ware. “There’s something very loving and maternal about it.”

Admitting that his comments could be “controversial”, Torode continued: “It’s true, and everybody will always return to their home because that’s where the best food was.”

Singer-songwriter Jessie said her own cooking methods were “really haphazard” and she believed that men are “a bit more methodical” when they cook.

Lennie agreed and said men are “more confident”, adding: “I think there’s a cockiness about men when they cook that it’s going to be good.”

Asked if he thought Faulkner is a better cook than him, Torode said: “I think Lisa’s food is completely different from what I cook, and I’ve learned a huge amount from that.

“I grew up without a mother so I’ve always cooked and my father’s always cooked and it’s always the same thing, it’s feeding a family – that’s what I do, I feed a family.”

Torode said his mother died when he was just four years old, leaving behind his father and himself, as well as his two brothers.

It comes after celebrity chef Jamie Oliver faced backlash for saying he cooks best when he “thinks like a woman”.

Speaking to The Times this week, The Naked Chef star said he leans into more “feminine traits” when cooking.

“As a young boy, getting a craft and this energy about Michelin stars and measurement and how you control nature as opposed to how you react to nature, which I think are more feminine traits like nourishment and more maternal feelings ... If I’m ever good, I have to try and think like a woman,” he said.

“If you want to see what bad looks like you go to a kitchen full of just men. It is not a good place to work so you need, we need, each other in the balance.”