With MasterChef India 4 (Colesceum) kick starting this month, Sanjeev Kapoor is back in the kitchen, this time as a judge on the Star Plus show.

The ‘USP' of the fourth season, according to the chef, will be the fierce competition and highly talented contestants who have to cook vegetarian dishes. “Earlier only a handful of good cooks came on the show but with the popularity having raised so much over the years, people across the country are coming on the platform to present their skills. The quality has improved immensely and only the best of lot will be seen in the show," Kapoor said.

With the show having people from small towns as well, we wondered if they would be able to fight the competition with metro-city contestants who have greater knowledge about worldwide cuisines. “I think each one on this show has his/her individual strengths and weaknesses. If city-breds are good with cuisines, they have no idea about the authentic typical food cooked in villages and small towns. I believe that to win a race you don’t need expensive shoes, you can do so with bare feet too, all you need is a passion to win,” said Sanjeev.

To the celebrated chef, experiment and innovation in food hold the highest qualities, while judging such shows. “Today people take food as a challenge and are not scared to think and that holds a great value as a good cook. Although India is known for its diversity in food there are so many flavours and textures that are yet to be created, but slowly and steadily we are working towards it.”

Talking about the trends that will catch up in the coming year, Sanjeev shared, “I think the boundaries over food have slowly been erased, thanks to our love for food. There is no regional food as a person in North enjoys South Indian food as much as one in West enjoys Bengali food. Also, now, one can just go about sharing their knowledge over food through technology and I feel it’s a really good trend.”

As a parting note, chef shared his exclusive tips to all food lovers. “Know your ingredients, pre-plan your cooking strategy, enjoy food and most importantly respect it.”

That’s quite a good tip, don’t you think?