MasterChef’s Minoli De Silva reveals how breast cancer diagnosis influenced passion for food

Recently-eliminated MasterChef star Minoli De Silva has opened up about the inspiring journey that led her to the high-pressure Channel 10 kitchen.

Her MasterChef journey may have come to an end, but for gifted home cook Minoli De Silva, it’s by no means the hardest obstacle she’s faced in her life.

The 34-year-old from Darwin was diagnosed with stage 3A breast cancer in 2017. Acting quickly after the diagnosis, Minoli underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy over seven months, froze her eggs and focused on maintaining a positive attitude.

A side effect of the longtime food-lover’s treatment, however, was losing her sense of taste.

Speaking to news.com.au, Minoli described how the experience inspired her to cook with heart, and heightened her passion for food as she rediscovered her palate and found joy in new flavours.

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“I’d actually applied for MasterChef before this season,” the inventive chef revealed.

“I cooked a dish that wasn’t really me, so I didn’t make it through. But when I moved to Darwin after having breast cancer, I had a new-found love of cooking using tropical and fresh ingredients here.

“I just thought, ‘life is so short’, and applied again after a friend encouraged me. That time around I had so much clarity around food and cooking, and really highlighting Sri Lankan cooking because it’s so under-represented.”

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She added that regaining her sense of taste after chemotherapy opened her eyes to new aspects of flavour she had never been able to pinpoint before, ultimately benefiting her cooking skills.

“It was a really strange sensation because it’s not something that anyone would randomly go through,” she said of the unexpected side effect.

“When it happened I asked a lot of questions to figure out why, and they said it was because of the chemicals in the chemotherapy treatment.

“When my sense of taste started to return it happened really gradually, so I was was only able to reintroduce foods that kind of worked with my palate, really fresh food, and slowly slowly build up all the different spices that I was able to eat.

“It was interesting to introduce spices gradually into my diet and the food that I made, because there were nuances of the flavours I could identify so much better than before. I hadn’t really taken flavours before or stopped to think about it. I would just eat something and think ‘Yep, this is yummy food’.

“Post-treatment, I was always really present when I ate. I was mindful eating food and being so conscious of what I was doing, because I had to learn to be conscious.

“It was like introducing food into a child’s diet and the child going ‘Ooh, what’s this’,” she added.

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In Sunday night’s episode, Minoli broke down in tears after failing to impress the judges with her pan-seared snapper with green mango noodles.

“I’m really glad I made it to the top 10, but this is really hard because I really wanted to get further in the competition,” she said as she left the kitchen for the second time this season.

Despite her heartbreak, Minoli said she’s extremely proud of what she showcased throughout her time in the competition.

“To get into the competition on something that was extremely authentic and something I would cook for my friends was awesome, and from there, figuring out that I just needed to cook for myself and from the heart really helped in maintaining my mental strength to be positive. I’m so proud of everything I did in that kitchen,” she added, revealing that her favourite dish presented to the judges was her version of traditional Sri Lankan Lamprais.

“At the start of that cook, I was thinking about things that I could create that were from the heart, inspired by your family, and I came up with all these different things but decided to do Lamprais,” she explained. 

“Actually after that episode aired on television, I learned a lot about that dish and its origins from other Sri Lankans who reached out to tell me what the dish means to them. Education is so important to me with food, so that was just a really great learning experience.”

Minoli was in tears during Sunday night’s episode. Picture: Channel 10.

After being eliminated once before and re-entering during Second Chance Week, Minoli said she gained a high level of respect for judges Melissa Leong, Andy Allen and Jock Zonfrillo for the valuable advice they offered.

“The judges kind of drummed out of us to stop cooking for other people (and) just cook authentically. Don’t be ashamed of cooking food that is true to the heritage in the region that your family came from. Be proud of that. Because without your authenticity and your uniqueness, you’re not really being you. By the end, everyone was cooking really meaningful food and family recipes from different cultures, and it’s really important that cooking like that is celebrated,” she said.

In turn, her words of advice for future contestants are simple: Back yourself.

“You have to back yourself because you don’t have anyone else to. The more you push yourself, and push yourself out of your comfort zone, the more you learn to recognise that uncomfortable feeling, and then just do stuff anyway.

“I urge anyone on the fence thinking they can’t do it, listen to that and challenge yourself. What’s the worst that can happen?”

It’s certainly not the last we’ll see of Minoli, with the cook revealing exciting and heartfelt volunteer projects on the horizon.

“I’m doing a series of pop ups at the Melaleuca Centre, which originally was referred to as the Melaleuca Refugee Centre, but they’ve removed the word refugee because there’s just so many connotations with that word,” she said of her volunteer work.

“It’s a centre to help anyone; migrants, anyone that needs assistance.

“They’ve created this gorgeous space where I’ll be doing a series of pop ups to teach people food skills, hopefully educate people in the community and bring people in Darwin together using food as the base.”

She’s also working with renowned chef Jimmy Shu, who owns the Hanuman restaurants in Darwin and Alice Springs.

“Jimmy has allowed me to open up a Southeast Asian style bar with tapas alongside Hanuman restaurants. We’ve had a couple of soft opens already but there’ll be more information out there soon so follow me on Instagram,” she said.

MasterChef Australia continues tonight from 7.30 on Channel 10.