Shelter is pleased to host Master Chef finalist, Ali Jadavji. From November 2nd to 5th, Ali will be cooking in Shelter’s kitchen. Ali’s fascination with food started with the classic Indian sweet, Gulab Jaman. As a young child, he remembers his mom trying to shoo him away from the stove while she was frying dough and placing it in sugar water. Watching the small pieces of dough absorb water and swell up into large balls was mesmerizing, he thought she was a magician.It was moments like this and a lifetime full of food adventures and memories that led him into the culinary world.

This passion eventually led to a whole other platform – being a finalist on MasterChef Canada – a competitive cooking reality show, designed to identify talented home chefs; no participants are allowed to be professionally trained.

His father is from Moshi, Tanzania, and mother, from Karachi, Pakistan and both brought their unique cultural influences to his upbringing. He was fortunate enough to be given the unique opportunity to travel in his teenage years, thus exposing him to a variety of people and cuisines. This not only gave him an adventurous palate but also nurtured his culinary creativity and passion to fuse these cultures through food. Ali often says food is the great equalizer – it doesn’t matter the economic status, language you speak or the clothes that you wear, sharing a plate of food automatically resonates a commonality, a humbling experience to say the least.