‘Risotto is the worst rice dish in the world’: Top Aussie chefs stir the pot with controversial food takes

Food opinions can prove notoriously divisive. From pineapple on pizza to coriander on your fish tacos, we’re all ready to go to bat in defence – or condemnation of – contentious combos.

And now, some of Australia’s leading authorities in food are dishing out their hottest culinary takes – and some are sure to stir the pot.

Take chef and TV host Courtney Roulston, for example.

The Chefs Ahoy star has taken aim at performative foodies, asserting expensive cuisine should not necessarily equate to being the best.

On the contrary, she alleged some of the humblest feeds could prove the most nourishing.

“I think people confuse expensive food with good food,” she told nine.com.au, in a distinctly Anthony Bourdain-esque take.

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“My most favourite and memorable meals are often very simple and served in a casual setting.”

Though sure to ruffle a few feathers, this opinion was not the most controversial by any means, with Roulston’s Chefs Ahoy costars also pulling absolutely zero punches.

Dan Hong especially might have shared the most divisive opinion of all, coming out swinging – and potentially making an enemy of the entire Italian community in the process.

Risotto is considered a crown jewel of Northern Italian gastronomy, and is a notoriously technical dish to master.

But according to Hong, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

“Risotto is the worst rice dish in the world,” he said, in a bold statement that is sure to scandalise nonne far and wide.

Alice Zaslavsky, meanwhile, opted for a slightly less contentious take, alleging meat protein in a dish doesn’t deserve to be the centrepiece over highly underrated – and at times, superior – vegetarian accompaniments.

“I reckon telling people veg can be the most delicious part of a meal would strike some as unpopular or controversial,” the In Praise of Veg author, whose recipes are famously vegetable-forward, said.

MSG was yet another hot topic among the chefs. 

Short for monosodium glutamate, common misconceptions have demonised the savory flavour enhancer – often present in asian cuisine – for decades following a single, unverified letter to the New England Journal of Medicine in 1968.

The letter in question alleged the seasoning was linked to adverse side effects such as headaches, numbness, flushing and heart palpitations.

These misconceptions were later debunked by several controlled, double-blind scientific studies.

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Food Standards Australia & New Zealand (FSANZ) has since dubbed it totally safe for consumption, though some residual suspicion remains to this day.

Vincent Yeow Lim sought to put the anti-MSG propaganda to rest, insisting “MSG isn’t the enemy.”

“It gets such a bad reputation, but I’m all for it. Used properly, it’s an amazing way to bring out flavour and umami in food,” he added.

So staunch is Lim in his pro-MSG stance, he’s since created his own version, which he says can be added to “pretty much anything” to give it that extra flavour boost.

Similar, Mark LaBrooy has highlighted one flavourful, unconventional meat source he believes Australians should be utilising in diets far more.

“Instead of culling and eradicating the most nutrient dense red meat protein we have in Australia (deer), we should be eating it,” he said.

And ever-conscious of cost of living concerns, Khanh Ong has tackled the topics of seafood and home-made meals, inciting competition between two popular crustaceans.

“Prawns are better than lobster,” he said, “I’ll stand by that.”

“And not everything needs to be made from scratch,” he added.

“In this economy, am I really buying 50 dollars’ worth of ingredients to make curry paste when there’s a really good four-dollar can right there?”

Watch Chefs Ahoy on Channel 9 and 9Now