[Nfbwv-talk] Master Chef

[Smyth, Charlene R]

Feature Writer Alena Roberts - Interview with the Winner of Master Chef,


Christine Ha

 

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Christine Ha, the visually 

impaired winner of this year's Master Chef contest. She was a pleasure
to 

speak with and I hope that my questions shed a little more light on who 

Christine is and how we can learn from her example. My questions below
will 

start with the letter "A" and her answers will start with the letter
"C." 

 

A: I know our readers would really appreciate some tips. I myself am not
a 

good cook, but I know a lot of us are. Do you have some simple things I
could 

write up on how we can feel safer in the kitchen and how we might be
able to 

expand on our potentially simple dishes?

 

C: Sure, there are some things I can come up with off the top of my
head, and 

this is not just for visually impaired cooks. I think it's really
important to 

have sharp knives. Spend some money on a good sharpening block. Often
times 

our knife sets come with that tool, it's actually a honing tool, that
people 

think is a knife sharpener. That tool is actually for honing after you
sharpen 

the knife to get metal bits off. The reason why it's so important to
have a 

sharp knife is so you don't have to use as much pressure. It's much
easier to 

cut things and the slice is cleaner. When you're slicing and using less 

pressure, there is less danger of the knife sliding out of your hand and


causing injury. So, contrary to what you might think, a dull knife is
more 

likely to injure you then a sharp knife.

 

Organization, I think, is also key. I think that most vision impaired
people 

know the importance of organization since that's one of the ways you
gain 

independence. So in the kitchen, being organized is also part of gaining


independence. Hopefully the people you live with will be respectful of
your 

need for organization and put knives back where they found them, spices
back 

where they found them, and other gadgets back where they found them. I
think 

that this is key to being a successful cook when you're a visually
impaired 

person. 

 

For those who want to start expanding on their cooking it's important to
note 

that I am pretty much self taught. I started cooking from cookbooks. I
would 

read recipes straight through and follow them to the T. So once you
learn how 

to follow a recipe and understand certain techniques and how things will
turn 

out, then you kind of start understanding the science behind it. I think
you 

should then start venturing out. For example you can take a recipe and
start 

adding different spices and playing with the ingredients and being more 

experimental. Once you're confident in turning a recipe that's already 

established into something that's more like your own, then you could
step up 

to doing something like we did on the show with mystery boxes where you
just 

mix up things that are in season or gather what looks good at the
grocery 

store and then just come up with something. That is something that
definitely 

takes time and the desire to learn such a skill, but I think if you
learn 

flavor profiles, what goes well with what, I think that helps with
cooking. 

Sooner or later you got to let go of that cookbook. There's going to be
a lot 

of trial and error, a lot of bad food, but you've got to spread your
wings and 

let go.

 

A: I know that a lot of visually impaired cooks are fearful of
under-cooking 

meat. I myself have turned to using the crock pot as a way of ensuring
that 

the meat is done, but there are only so many things you can cook in your
crock 

pot. I also don't want to overcook my meat. Some might say that you just
cook 

it long enough to make sure it doesn't hurt you, but then it might not
taste 

good because it's overcooked. So what do you do to ensure that you're
meat is 

cooked properly?

 

C: I myself have no problem with tasting my food as I cook it. If it's
raw 

then I'll spit it out and continue cooking. It's important to use 

thermometers, especially when cooking meat. I myself use talking
thermometers 

in my kitchen. When you're cooking steak, a rack of lamb, or other
meats, it 

comes down to the temperature when you're determining if it's rare,
medium 

rare, or well done.

 

A: Are there things you avoid when cooking, or is everything fair game?

 

C: There are definitely things I tend to avoid cooking at home just
because 

it's messy or requires a lot of precision. For instance, I'm not a big
fan of 

seafood. I will scale a fish if I have to, but I would prefer not to.
When I 

was on Master Chef, though, I was open to everything.

 

A: What was the overall reaction from your fellow contestants when they 

learned you were visually impaired? I know that I saw a number of
episodes 

where there was a lot of negativity and bitterness. I realize that this
is 

reality television and that there's an editing process, but I'm curious,
was 

there any point where you said to yourself that you weren't sure you
could 

deal with the attitudes?

 

C: I wasn't taken seriously at the beginning when there were still 100
of us. 

I was come up to and asked things like, "Do you use a knife?" A lot of
people 

thought I was going to stand on the sidelines and tell a sighted person
how to 

make the food. As the competition continued it got better, though. I was
often 

picked last for the challenges, which makes sense from the other
contestants' 

point of view. When this happened, though, I did my best to prove to
myself 

and the other contestants that I wasn't a disadvantage to their team--I
just 

had to do things a little differently. I felt like I had to give my 200 

percent in comparison to the other contestants, but all in all I'm good 

friends with many of the contestants on the show and I have never felt
pure 

negativity directed at me personally.

 

A: Now that you've won the competition do you have any plans for your 

winnings?

 

C: Since part of winning the competition is getting my own cookbook, I'm


working on that. As a writer I'm excited about the writing process and
the 

narrative of the book. I'm also gathering recipes that I want to
include. 

Outside of that, I'm trying to finish my masters program since my other
love 

is literature. I'm working on my memoir. My memoir won't focus on
cooking, but 

rather dealing with my vision loss and my medical condition. I'm also
planning 

to write up a formal business plan to present to investors. My hope is
to open 

a gastro pub and an ice-cream shop in Houston where I live.

 

We wish Christine the best of luck as she moves forward with her new 

endeavors.