Khinley Trott on competing on MasterChef and Student Cooking

“I view cooking as a kind of window into different cultures.”

In 2023, Khinley Trott, then a second-year student studying International Relations and Philosophy, applied for MasterChef “on a whim” to push himself and his limits. He appeared in Series 20 of MasterChef UK.

“I started cooking when I joined university, so I'd been cooking for about six months at that point, and I enjoyed challenging myself and finding new recipes, particularly of places that I've lived in.” Raised in various places around the globe, including Senegal, Cape Town, Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa, and Rome, Trott sees cooking as a “window into different cultures.”

“I initially applied for Young MasterChef, which was a spin-off [that] started the year before I applied.” From there, the process moved quickly. “On January 5, 2023, I got an interview. In August, they phoned me and said, ‘We thought your application was very competitive, have you considered doing MasterChef rather than Young MasterChef?’”

Trott agreed and was interviewed in London. He was asked about “how [his] background had affected [his] cooking and what [he] would do if [he] had to choose an ingredient, what kinds of recipes they could expect if they presented [him] with a blind ingredients list.”

Trott also had to prepare a dish for the judges. He described the dish as a “Korean bulgogi with some mango, a kind of muchim, which in terms of taste, is kimchi-esque.”

“After that, it was all pretty smooth sailing from there.” The process was followed by background checks, a psychiatric evaluation, and ensuring that Trott was comfortable with being in the public eye.

Out of several thousand applicants for each series, only a small pool of 24 is selected. Trott thought that his background set him apart. “I have an interesting mix of cultures, I suppose, and you can see that in my cooking.” He added, “I’m also quite new to it. I was the youngest contestant that year and the second youngest contestant ever.”

“There was a brunch [round] where […] I split my hollandaise about twenty minutes in, and so I had to make it in about ten minutes,” Trott recalled, describing the high-pressure moment that led to his elimination.“One of the judges went off to the corner, and they spoke loudly enough that I could pick out my name and that I was in trouble, but not loudly enough that I could make out exactly what they were saying,” he said.

Despite being eliminated, Trott recalled his elimination positively. “At nineteen, I was the youngest by far of that cohort,” he said.“I had a conversation with the other contestant who didn't make it through like I did, and she had applied because her son, who was my age, had told her to apply. It was a nice moment.”

The judges on Trott’s season, Gregg Wallace and John Torode, have since faced allegations, the former of sexual misconduct, and the latter for using racially offensive language. When asked for an insight into the judges’ behaviour on his series, Trott replied, “I didn’t really experience anything too abnormal. That being said, with regards to Gregg Wallace, it wasn’t a surprise.”

“I have seen and heard from other contestants about things that [Wallace] did and said that were quite unpleasant,” Trott said. He described their behaviour as “very unsettling.” They often “added to the stress” of the competition, he remembered, “making comments about the way you look or the way you’re cooking,” or “moving things you’ve already arranged.”

Trott feels hopeful about the new judges, Grace Dent and Anna Haugh. “I think they are good choices [...] the changes that are being made are probably the right changes, and [it’s] probably about time they were made.”

Reflecting on his experience almost two years later, Trott said, “It’s more of a fun fact, and I rarely bring it up, mainly because I didn't go very far.” However, “it's hard to be critical of how I performed, seeing as I'd only been cooking for a year at that point,” he added.

Since returning to St Andrews, Trott launched his website, cookhinley.com, which explores recipes and cooking from a student’s perspective. “I feel there isn’t that much help when you’re going from home to university [or] in bridging the gap in cooking for yourself,” he said.

It’s not quite so easy as following a recipe. “Especially in halls, where maybe you don’t have access to everything you want to have access to [...] You need to be more adaptable,” he explained.

Beyond not having a fully stocked pantry, “a lot of it is a question of confidence,” Trott said. “You have to accept that you might not like all the decisions you make, and you have to accept that a lot of decisions you make will fail.”

“It’s also quite a significant time investment, especially if you need to be washing up dishes, [and] especially if you’re cooking for one person,” Trott explained. A 2018 survey of 123 UK higher education institutions by The University Caterers Organisation reported that only 56% of student respondents cooked a meal from scratch on most days, with 76% of respondents citing a lack of time.

The second leading reason was a limited knowledge of how to cook a variety of meals. However, Trott insisted that “cooking is far, far easier than people think it is. As long as a few principles are followed, whatever you make will be edible in terms of taste.”

A brief interview with a former hall resident highlights additional challenges of cooking in university accommodation. William Dawson, a former resident of Gannochy House, pointed out not being prepared for induction hobs, a limited fridge and counter space, citing concerns about hygiene in shared kitchens. Trott’s website aims to make it easier for students to overcome these obstacles.

“[My website is] kind of an amalgamation of the stuff that I've been cooking, particularly in the halls, because that was when I was exploring new things,” he explained.

Trott acknowledged that there are still challenges to overcome. “There is a limited amount of exploration you can do with the ingredients available to you. For example, I haven't made anything Latin American because a lot of the ingredients just aren't accessible where we are.”

Trott’s current exploration is finding alternatives to processed meals and accessible ways to grow food in student flats.

Illustration by Mokshita Nagandla