By Joy Evbuomwan
This year’s edition of the MasterChef Italia, held in Rome, Italy’s capital has been won by a Nigerian-Italian, Tracy Eboigbodin.
The 28-year-old lady from Verona of Edo State origin in Nigeria emerged the winner of the 11th series of the MasterChef Italia. The competition is an international culinary talent hunt show which takes place in the UK, USA, Australia and other countries.
Tracy won the competition with a menu entitled L’abbraccio – the embrace, beating off stiff competition from two young male chefs, 18-year-old Carmine Gorrasi and Christian Passeri, a 20-year-old with Asperger syndrome, in Thursday’s final.
The waiter speaking on her victory, said that her menu, L’abbraccio symbolises the union between loved ones.
“The embrace is the fundamental symbol of the union between two different elements, distance ones, sometimes remote,” she said.
“During my path at MasterChef I have learned to open up to what is unknown and accept what surrounds me without fear or prejudice and make it part of my cuisine in a positive way.
“I wanted to translate how much this means to me in the four courses of this menu,” Tracy added.
According to her, she came to Italy with her family after spending her childhood in Nigeria.
The Nigerian-Italian received a the price of 100,000 euros in gold tokens and the right to publish a book of recipes.