What's the secret sauce?

Beloved chefs are cooking up TV shows in new formats. It's a pity that so few manage to serve up the perfect dish

- VIR SANGHVI

Like nearly everyone else, I was saddened to hear of the untimely death of Chef Jock Zonfrillo at the young age of just 46. I don't watch MasterChef Australia (or any of the other MasterChefs around the world) so I did not feel the personal connect to Zonfrillo that many of his fans did. But the reactions to his passing showed how he had won the hearts of foodies all over the world.

People love the MasterChef judges. I once anchored a series of dinners for Gary Mehigan, who I had never seen on TV, but who turned out to be a good bloke and a very accomplished chef. Nearly everyone who came to the dinner was not there to eat the food (which was very good, by the way) but to take selfies with Gary or just to shake his hand.

I shot a fortnight ago for Somebody Feed Phil, a Netflix show hosted by Phil Rosenthal. Phil was an accomplished comedy writer. He created Everybody Loves Raymond.

Food TV started out as a side-line (the first season of his food show was on American broadcaster PBS) before Netflix picked it up and it became an international rage.