The celebrated chef admitted when his eldest son James is invited to birthday parties at McDonald’s, he’ll send him a packed lunch because he doesn’t want him eating the fast food.
While some may think George is being over-zealous or part of the “fun police”, the Masterchef judge believes food needs to be treated with respect, giving it the same importance as religion.
“In life, we’ve all got religions. Some are Buddhists, some are this, some are that, whatever, and we respect people in Australia for whatever religion that is. For me, I look at food like my religion and I have my beliefs in food,” George explained to News.com.au.
“My son knows… we’ll drive past a certain fast food chain and he’ll go, ‘that’s bad in there, isn’t it, Dad?’ and I explain it’s not about bad, it’s about having choices in life.”
Luckily for George, he’s never had to take the kids to the McDonald’s parties, that’s something he leaves for his partner, Natalie.
The 36-year-old TV personality faced his own personal health hardships that led him to this stance.
His father has battled bowel cancer twice, that backed up with his personal mantra of the importance of good, healthy food, is something he wants to instill his son, James and daughter Michaela.
His kids won’t feel like they’re missing out because the Melbourne-chef knows how to pack a healthy yet scrumptious lunch box.
George has lost about 20-kilograms since he first started Masterchef, but has admitted he doesn’t get on the scales.
“Today there was a container of yoghurt with fresh raspberries, a little container of cornichons (pickled gherkins). The sandwich had tuna, cheddar cheese and avocado on the most delicious bread, that’s just yum. He has to take one piece of fruit that he shares with his mates and this time it was an orange,” George told News.com.
For anyone concerned that tuna might be a stinky option for a kid, George reassures us it is “nothing” compared to “the sh*t I was taking to school when I was a kid.”
“That stuff would put people in a coma. It was garlic, it was salami, mortadella, real cheese, not that square sh*t in plastic,” he said.
The loveable cook, who used to be one-third of television’s “chubby trio” with Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston, wowed the country two years ago when he lost about 20-kilograms attributing it to healthier choices and eating at regular meal times.
“I’d finish work at 11.30 at night and go home and eat a big bowl of pasta,” he said at a Masterchef event two years ago, “that’s not a good idea. I’m still eating the same things, just eating more appropriately.”
“We had a pact,” fellow host Gary Mehigan complained at the time, “and he broke it. We were the chubby trio and the only chubby blokes on television and now he’s looking so trim, we’ve got two choices, either we fatten George up or we have to slim down – and we know which one of those is going to be the easiest.”
George still enjoys a cheeky “dirty burger” as a treat.
“It’s real meat, cooked on the grill. The bun’s cooked in the fat of the bacon, they use real cheddar cheese, pickled beetroot, and a big bucket of yummy chips the little Greek ladies out the back have cut up. That for me is wonderful, these are the choices I like to make.”
So George may be giving the happy meal the flick but on the flip-side, he know his kids will be very happy with their home-cooked meals.
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