“I was impressed not only with their technique, which was really out of this world, especially considering how many of our contestants are 8 years old when they’re competing,” Oz told Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “But also, by their willingness to explore. They get in there with their willingness to try new things and to learn.” Oz admits that at age 8, her own skills were nowhere up to the level of making pasta from scratch or breaking down a whole halibut. Rather, her reason for being in the kitchen at that age was to spend time with family. “That’s how my family bonds, how my family shares history, that’s how my family just spends time together,” she said. “I probably knew at 8 how to make a good chocolate chip cookie dough and how to dip crusty bread into delicious, bubbling, fresh, homemade tomato sauce, which is something my family makes pretty regularly.” This season, the 16 cheftestants will take the show on the road, cooking a meal for diners at a historical renaissance fair, participating in a WWE-themed episode, and competing to see how they size up to monster trucks at a motocross track. “I would say the one that I think was most physically grueling [was the monster trucks],” Oz continued. “They were out cooking in tents in the desert in very hot temperatures. It was just an incredible work ethic and they powered through.” The other aspect of the 16 young chefs that Oz found impressive was their ability to function in teams when that’s what the challenge called for. Instead of every kid for themselves, they supported each other and pushed their teammates through to the end. “I can’t give too much away but there was a snafu in the cooking process shall we say, and then to see them help each other recover,” Oz pointed out. “I think sometimes we insulate our children from a lot, and we try to jump in and help them fix things all the time. To see how they were able to work through a very challenging, sticky situation, and the confidence boost that that gave them, I think was very, very powerful to see as a parent.” During our conversation, Oz, who was pregnant with her fourth child during filming, also talked about how she spends time in the kitchen with her own kids, what it was like to work with Gordon Ramsay for the first time, her upcoming cookbook, and her TV show The Good Dish.
How impressed were you by these talented kids?
At the time, my oldest was 5, and I just could not fathom the idea that in three short years someone her age could be competing on this stage in this format with this level of skill and, honestly, resilience. It’s tough. Competing in the stadium is incredibly intense, and they’re out there every day just pouring their little hearts into it. These kids are sponges and they’re soaking up every droplet of wisdom that we share with them and bring it back the next week with even more power behind it. As a mom and as a television viewer, I was blown away by these kids.
When you think back to when you were their age, what were your skills like?
At that age, I learned to love being around food and loved being in the kitchen very early on. I always joke, I’m the oldest of four in my family, but I’m kind of also the youngest of seven. I grew up spending a lot of time with my grandparents and I feel like I was always in the kitchen, helping make these big family meals. Helping to be a part of creating those wonderful experiences and connective points as a family. I loved being able to be a part of that world, and cooking and eating together.
You’re stepping into Christina Tosi’s shoes, so to speak, because she left the show. What do you bring that’s fresh?
I think being a part of this show for me is about two things. No. 1, obviously, I’ve been in and around the world of food and food television for 15 or so years now. And I think having that experience and that exposure to so many chefs, to so many types of cuisines, and I’m so lucky to have eaten at such an incredible range of high-quality, beautiful restaurants, but also hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and beautiful home cooking with grandmothers who’ve made biscuits for the last 70 years and have the most incredible hidden knowledge in their fingertips. So, absolutely I am able to bring that range as an eater and cook that is, I think, approachable. I’m also a bestselling cookbook author, so I’m able to help craft those recipes, and find those workarounds and provide those little tips and tricks along the way. But I think a critical piece is also as a mom of four—I’m very pregnant with my fourth on the show as you will see, I’m able to guide these kids and shepherd them the way I hope an adult with influence would talk to my children as they’re going through something, as they’re working on a passion, as they are struggling. There are really, really tough challenges on this show, and we put them to the test because we know they have what it takes. I think having an adult who believes in your child’s greatness, who wants to help them find that voice, is incredible. As a parent myself, it’s incredibly inspiring and I hope to be able to lend that voice to the show.
Gordon Ramsay is very impressive. Had you worked with him before? Or was there a little, “Oh, I’m not sure,” when going in to work with him for the first time?
I hadn’t gotten to work with him before, which is crazy because I’ve worked with just everybody else in the industry over my time. We got on a Skype early on in the process to get to know each other and just hear each other out. And right away, honestly, I loved the intensity. I think it’s a great sign of respect for the contestants’ abilities that he doesn’t try to sugarcoat things. He knows you can be great. He’s going to show you how to do it. He’s going to help you get there. And so, I actually really appreciated that, and I thought it was extremely entertaining and also very educational. And maybe that’s just me being me, but no, I have to say getting on set with him and with Aarón, it was so seamless. Their production, obviously, has been running this ship for such a long time and they are so fluid with it and they’re so top of their game. They welcomed me so warmly; I felt so supported and was made to feel very much a part of the family there. And I have to tell you, obviously having seen a lot of the programs that Gordon does, where he is himself, of course. And one feature of him is restaurant chef and incredibly acclaimed at that. But then on MasterChef Junior, you get to see Gordon as a dad, which is incredible. You forget that he’s a father of five. He has this incredibly playful, incredibly warm side to him, too. And I think he balances being able to be firm when he needs to and being the teacher that he needs to be, with also being a kid. Honestly, he’s like a big kid in the kitchen. He’s jumping on tables, he’s waving raw octopus in someone’s face. He’s that guy, too, so I think you get a side that is hilarious and also new to what you enjoy about Gordon elsewhere.
His daughter’s going to be on this season.
Yes, Tilly’s on doing a donut challenge. She’s phenomenal. I mean, how could you not be? But it was my first time getting to meet her, too, and she’s a big ball of energy and just a delight to be around, and so much fun with the kids. A chip off the old block for sure.
You have four but I think only two of yours are old enough to actually work in the kitchen. Do you encourage that?
I do. It’s funny, people are always like, “Oh, do you have your kids help in the kitchen?” And I always qualify, it’s definitely a much slower, much messier process when they’re there. I’m not sure if I would qualify it as help as much as it is to just spend time together and have them have the same fun and kitchen memories that I hold so dear from my childhood. Absolutely. And all my kids are actually capable of getting in there, they’re just capable at different levels. My older two love making garlic bread and they love helping to make salads, salad dressings, things like that. My younger two will do mixing, egg cracking, pouring in vanilla and things like that. But it’s absolutely something that I really encourage. On the weekends when we finally get a chance to chill and hang out as a family, we’re always in the kitchen making yummy meals together.
You have a new cookbook coming out. Is it on a specific topic or is it general?
I have a new cookbook Eat Your Heart Out coming out April 26, and the subtitle is All-Fun, No-Fuss Recipes for Celebrating Eating Clean. It’s a book filled with 150 recipes free from gluten, free from refined sugar. And it details the reset that I have developed over the last five years whenever I need to renew my commitment to healthy habits. After pregnancy, after a lot of stress, or a lot of celebrating, whenever you feel like those healthy habits that you normally have slip away and you just want a quick reset to, yes, lose weight, but also to feel good in your skin, feel like you’re in control again, feel like you’re thriving on nourishing food. I was really upset by the idea that to be healthy, we’ve always been told you need to suffer. You’re going to eat bland food; you’re going to be miserable. But don’t worry, you’ll go back to your old ways of eating soon enough kind of thing. And that to me was so wrong. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t feel as joyful and celebratory doing something really good for myself as I did when I’m indulging, which I also do plenty of. And people who know me and know my cooking know I don’t tolerate bland food, so this is my kind of food, my way of eating but done in a really clean and health-supportive way.
You have a new show also, The Good Dish, with Gail Simmons and Jamika Pessoa. What was it like to take over your dad’s Dr. Oz time slot? Did you have any idea that was going to happen?
No. Literally, it was wild and crazy as lots of memorable experiences in life are. So basically, The Good Dish began as The Dish on Oz, which was the segment we were doing on my dad’s show for the better part of the last three years on Wednesdays. We had such a great response to it early on that we did start to take it out as its own show, but pre-pandemic. And then like so many creative projects, it had a great response, but it got put on hold through that time. We continued the conversations; it was always something that we found was really bringing comfort to people, very useful. We answer the question every day: What’s for dinner? We fundamentally just tried to make people feel confident and comfortable in the kitchen as a place they could go to create incredible sustaining, nourishing, connected meals that bring your family together. But when we found out that we were going to be launching it as a standalone show, we literally had one month to pull it together. And what made that possible, completely honestly, is that the production team has worked together for 13 years. They are so seamless and phenomenal at what they do, they pulled this together so fast. Then, Gail, Jamika and I have been friends now … I’ve known each of them for at least 10 years. We’ve been working together for three years already, so we already have such fluidity, which I think is the tough part of launching any new show, is getting that chemistry right, understanding each other, getting to know each other. We already have that in spades from our friendship. We’ve only been on the air now just over two months, but it has been such a fun experience and it’s so redeeming and so rewarding. Because look, it is a lot of work. It is a lot of hustling to make this happen. And it’s so rewarding to get to hear from people who say, “You are my bright spot on TV. I learned so much. I laugh. I have fun with you. I never feel stressed out when I watch your show.” Which I think is something we all need, just that everything delicious in daytime is how I describe it. It really is. It promises to be just a bright spot on your day.
Are you finding that even though people can now go out more now that the pandemic is waning, that they are still cooking more at home? Is that part of the goal of The Good Dish?
I think once you start to get confident in the kitchen, it stops being a chore. It stops being something you dread doing and it starts being something you look forward to. I really think of my kitchen as my playground. It’s a place I go to and I can travel without ever leaving home. I can try new things. I can taste along the way. It’s a joyful place for me, and that pleasure component I think is something we all are creating. And so, it wouldn’t surprise me. Yes, I hope people go out and support restaurants again. I hope that they continue to take advantage of what new liberties they have. But I think that there is going to be a tremendous interest in continuing to grow your home cooking skill sets. And you’ve seen that, just by the way TikTok and Instagram food content has exploded. Even if they’re not cooking, people cannot get enough of inspiring food content. MasterChef Junior season 8 premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX. Next, Cute Kids in the Kitchen! Everything We Know So Far About MasterChef Junior Season 8
