Maneet Chauhan delicately sprinkled saffron onto her gushtaba goat meatballs as the live audience began the final countdown. She and competitor Antonia Lofaso scrambled to finish their dishes on the season five finale of Food Network’s Tournament of Champions.
As the timer buzzed, Chauhan tossed a mixing bowl onto the cluttered counter, throwing her hands up in surrender to the clock. She and Lofaso embraced, neither breaking a sweat.
History was on the line for Chauhan, a highly decorated Indian-American chef famous for her mastery of spices, who was hoping to become the first two-time Tournament of Champions winner.
The show had already made history. Through its first five seasons, ToC as it is known, is the only cooking competition series that includes people of all genders where no man has ever won, let alone made it as a top-two finalist.
