Pakistani female doctor Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed has made headlines around the world by winning the title of BBC’s Masterchef, beating 64 other amateur cooks in the race.
Whoever suspected 29-year-old Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed, a British-Pakistani from Watford, is now sure of her victory of becoming the BBC’s Masterchef of 2017. The task was not an easy one since Saliha had to beat 64 other amateur cooks to win the competition.
To ensure that she could take part in the competition, Saliha swapped on-call shifts with colleagues. The doctor specialises in gastroenterology but has dreams of writing cookbooks and tackling obesity someday. Besides, she was quite thrilled at winning the title.
“To be the Masterchef champion is fantastic and wonderful. Adjectives are not sufficient. This is definitely the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life!”
However, she did make it quite clear that realising her dream did not come easy.
“It involved a lot of hard work and early starts – late nights cooking after 13-hour long shifts, no holidays, no breaks, no sleep – but it was well worth it!”
Inspired by her Pakistani origins, Saliha impressed judges with her ‘East meets West’ menu. The judges described her as a ‘class act’. The Pakistani Masterchef credits her grandmothers and her family’s love for food as the reason for her success.
“I had very passionate grandmothers who cooked traditional Pakistani food and my mum is also an excellent cook. We love to feed people – it runs in our genes.”
