My Kitchen Rules judge Pete Evans confirms he breaks his strict Paleo diet to eat contestants’ food

HE’S famous for sticking to a strict Paleo diet, so how does My Kitchen Rules judge Pete Evans cope with eating the contestants’ food?

EVER since being widely-pilloried for sharing a daily diet plan featuring activated almonds, My Kitchen Rules judge Pete Evans has been forthright about his food choices.

He unapologetically sings the praises of the Paleo diet, sticks to his guns on his anti-fluoride stance, and has publicly fought it out with everyone from the Heart Foundation (he questions its healthy heart tick program) to the Dietitians Association of Australia.

So when he laughingly, confirms: “Yes, I swallow,” you’d better believe it.

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Switched On has posed the question to Evans out of sheer curiosity ahead of the new season of MKR, which Evans has co-hosted and judged alongside fellow-chef Manu Feildel since 2010.

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How, we ask Evans, can he fairly and honestly taste and judge the dishes of contestants containing ingredients excluded by his Paleo diet — and how can he reconcile breaking the diet for the show?

The Paleo — or caveman — diet essentially promotes poultry, fish, eggs, fruit, vegetables and meat, and avoids legumes, grains and dairy.

Basically, Pete, we’re asking: When you taste the contestants’ dishes — do you swallow?

“Yes,” Evans responds, before bursting into delighted laughter, almost marvelling at the question.

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“Yes, of course I do. I don’t spit it out.”

Evans may have shed a few foods from his diet, but clearly hasn’t lost his sense of humour.

“Look, just because I’m Paleo doesn’t mean that I don’t like the flavour of food.

“I don’t eat and purge afterwards. And I never, ever feel guilty. There’s a bigger thing at play here. It’s bigger than me.

“You have to understand, the food I consume as an MKR judge is a very small percentage of my yearly diet — about one per cent.

“I chose to be a judge on MKR for many, many reasons, and one of them is to embrace cooking and highlight cooking in the mainstream.”

Evans also validly reminds us he doesn’t take his Paleo beliefs and “causes” into his role on MKR.

Paleo man ... Pete Evans says his strict diet doesn’t interfere with him tasting the contestants’ food.

“MKR is a cooking show — not a healthy cooking competition, and that is why I love it,” he says.

“We are all part of that package. I don’t want to jeopardise the formula for the show when it is kicking goals. That is not what I am involved in it for. It’s not about me.”

“Staying on MKR helps me promote other things I am passionate apart from Paleo.

“I’ve never been asked to ‘turn down the volume’ on the show because, quite simply, we don’t talk about it on the show.

“I am there quite simply to judge a dish on its flavour, presentation on what they have cooked, and it’s whatever they want, and that’s how I judge it.

He says his palate ‘is ‘still the same old Pete Evans palate’ — which saw him make a career out of food when, at the age of 18 he ditched university in favour of becoming an apprentice chef.

That career has seen him open and consult on eight top restaurants in the past 25 years.

MKR may have raised his profile, and, outside the show highlighted his stance on diet, and that’s a debate he welcomes.

“The fact you are asking me these questions creates a bit of controversy, and that’s fine, because it means we are engaging in a debate and people are inquisitive about it and puts it out there,” he says.

Foodie ... Pete Evans made a career out of food when, at the age of 18 he ditched university in favour of becoming an apprentice chef.

“I don’t think everyone is going to adopt the Paleo lifestyle because I keep on about it. But at least by having the conversation we are putting out there, and hopefully it will spark some curiosity and healthy debate.”

Besides, MKR’s often controversial contestants create a media storm all of their own, he confesses, saying he and Feildel often “scratch our heads and laugh because we just never know with some of them what’s going to come out of their mouths”.

“All I can says is at the end of each series we have the best food of the competition,” he says.

“Sometimes the most outspoken ones are there. Sometimes they’re not. In the end — whatever the personality, if the teams haven’t evolved with their cooking, they’re gone.”

Helping them evolve is fiery Irish chef Colin Fassnidge. The fan favourite has taken more of a prominent role mentoring the contestants through their ‘instant restaurants’.

“Colin’s bigger role this year is great,” previews Evans. “He is more of a coach for (the contestants). If they drop the ball he’ll teach them how to pick it up properly and run with it — in his own distinctive style.”

But despite this part of the show being expanded, Evans confesses he still likes the home restaurant phase of MKR best.

“(When) viewers see people cooking in their own homes they can relate to that,” he says. “And that’s where MKR is different from other reality cooking shows because the teams create their own food.”

“They never have to replicate something that we dreamed up. It’s always their own interpretation and their food on the plate.”

MY KITCHEN RULES, Seven, Monday