8 Pakistani chefs are all set to compete their Indian counterparts in an Indian cooking reality show called Foodistan.

It was nearly a month ago when we heard about a mega music reality show “Sur Kshetra” being organized by an Indian TV Channel Sahara One that aims to be a battle between Indian and Pakistani singers.

Now here comes “Foodistan” another Indo-Pak 2012 battle but in the kitchen.

The show Foodistan is unique in its kind featuring 16 professional chefs with balanced representation i.e 8 highly skilled chefs from Pakistan and 8 chefs from India.

The show will comprise of Pakistani chefs showing their real exquisite cuisine supremacy.

The Foodistan is a 26 part series that was shot silently in November 2011, within Guragon a city in Indian state of Haryana to avoid any special attention or on the spot controversy.

Foodistan is ready to experience airplay from January 23rd onwards on a rather infamous Indian channel called NDTV GoodTimes but may be some Pakistani channel telecasts this one in the future. The show is scheduled to telecast three days a week Monday to Wednesday 9.30 pm (Indian Standard Time).

Taking a quick view the show will comprise of a format similar to Masterchef where the Chefs from each country will be awarded a stipulated time to prepare their new dishes and afterwards a panel of judges will gonna taste the dishes to announce who’s going to get eliminated. The show has been completed and winner announced but kept confidential to maintain the suspense and grab viewers attention.

The show is hosted by Aly khan and Ira Dubey while the panel of Judges comprises of

1- Merrilees Parker

Merriless Parker is a popular British Celebrity Chef.

2- Sonya Jehan

A so called Pakistani with French Descent who is the grand daughter of legendary Pakistani singer Noor Jehan.

3- Vir Sanghvi

An Indian Food enthusiast who traveled the world to taste different cuisines.

Well let me be clear not even a single reputed chef from Pakistan has traveled to India for taking part in the show rather infamous chefs who were unable to make a name in Pakistan have opted for this shortcut.

A brief introduction to the eight Pakistani chefs trying their luck out in this reality show are

1- Poppy Agha

Khurshid Amina Agha commonly known as Poppy Agha is a lively and talented chef who hosts “The Taste of Fusion” on Dawn news.

2- Akhtar Rehman

Akhtar Rehman has roots to Mardan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkuah Province of Pakistan. Working at the famous Pakistani Top Notch Hotel “Mariott Islamabad” was a pleasant experience for him when he had two dishes “Murgh Zandan” and “Gola Kabab” under his label.

3- Amir Iqbal

Amir Iqbal works on Zaiqa TV Pakistan featuring in their mainstream show called “Zaiqeedar”.

4- Muhammad Ikram

Muhammad Ikram is a key team member of chefs working at the Dumpukht Restauraunt based in Pearl Continental Hotel Pakistan owned by the famous Hashoo group.

5- Mohammad Naeem

Muhammad Naeem is an author, blogger, traveler and the executive chef at Park Plaza Lahore.

6- Mehmood Akhtar

Mehmood Akhtar is working as a chef at Avari hotel Lahore.

7- Noor Khan

Noor Khan is a rather experienced but unknown chef. Noor Khan hails from the beautiful Pakistani valley of Hunza.

8- Muhammad Saqib

The youngest contestant of the show Muhammad Saqib is a Pakistani origin chef who is based in New Delhi and was the personal cook for many diplomats.

After listening to their names and evaluating their talent I would say Pakistani Team misses out huge names but still if the contest is kept fair then the victory definitely gonna fall in Pakistan’s favor courtesy delicious taste hidden in Pakistani Food.

It seems Indian media has found a new way to multiply their annual revenue. The Indian media that is famous for propagating fake negativity to defame Pakistan has now learned the art of using Pakistani talent to earn huge profits. Sur Kshetra and Foodistan are an effort to develop friendly relations but in reality they are profit generating machines.

Well hope both the two reality show’s run fair and everybody knows if the game is played fair then victory is for Pakistani team in both Sur Kshetra and Foodistan. Anyways lets hope for the best.