“Sugar, fat and calories don’t exist in the MasterChef kitchen!”

How do MasterChef Australia judges juggle a full day’s work in the kitchen tasting up to 24 different meals… and does it impact on them from a health perspective?

Melissa Leong tells TV Tonight, that celebrating food is more important than watching the waistline. When the food is this delicious, who can blame her?

“Come on! You and I both know that sugar, fat and calories don’t exist in the MasterChef kitchen!” she insists.

“Of course you can break food down in different ways and one of them could be nutritionally. But it’s more important to me to be talking about stories that are conveyed through the dishes that are created and offered to us. It’s with deep respect that you eat the food that someone has put all of their consideration into giving you.”

Leong points out there’s a time and a place for balanced meals and exercise.

“This is the dream job. Sure I come home from work quite full some days. That’s absolutely okay. I balance in other ways. To me the show has always been a celebration of food,” she said.

“I think if you start to break things down too much on a granular level, you lose the magic and the wonderness of what food can do.”