“The negativity just paled in comparison.”

Fans of Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed will be glad to hear her say this after her victory in the finals of MasterChef 2017 was followed by reports of online abuse.

Despite some criticism on Twitter, including one user branding her “curry girl”, when we discussed her win on Friday, May 12, the junior doctor at Watford General Hospital explained: “The love and support, especially from the NHS and hospital, it’s absolutely fantastic.

“Food can obviously divide opinion. I respect that people have other opinions but I have been overwhelmed by positivity.

"When I won my inbox and my Facebook was flooded with hundreds and hundreds of messages, with so much positivity so you lose sight of the negative comments that are out there."

Watford Observer:

Saliha fought her way from 64 amateur cooks through to the final week and, along with the other finalists Steve Kielty, 40, and Giovanna Ryan, 29, she was pushed to show judges the skills, creative flair and perseverance needed to succeed.

The final task was to prepare a three-course meal for judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace.

Saliha’s winning menu started with a Venison shami kebab with cashew and coriander green chutney, chana daal and a kachumbar salad – in memory of her grandmother’s house in Pakistan.

Saliha’s main course was a Kashmiri style sous-vide duck breast, with crispy duck skin, freekeh wheatgrain, spiced with dried barberries, walnuts and coriander, a cherry chutney and a duck and cherry sauce.

The final dish in Saliha’s menu was a Saffron rosewater and cardamom pannacotta, served with a deconstructed baklava (inspired by her childhood love of baklava), including candied pistachios, pistachio honeycomb, filo pastry shards and kumquats. 

Saliha commented on the competition that she didn’t think she would win. “I was just going to try,” she said.

“I’ve always seen food as a serious hobby but being a doctor means I don’t always have the time to fully engage in it.

"I entered the competition to challenge myself, and see what I was capable of.”

Watford Observer:

Outside of MasterChef Saliha has been juggling her career in gastroenterology at the hospital close to her home, as well as family life with her husband and two-year-old son.

“It has been really difficult,” she admits.

“The only reason I got through is because my husband, my mum and mother-in-law were really supportive and helped with childcare. I also had really supportive colleagues who did lots of swapping of shifts for me. It was a very hard period in my life, but it was so worth it in the end.”

So when did Saliha start cooking? She doesn’t remember for sure, but was “fully fledged and loving it” by the age of 12.

“It was always a thing at home, when mum was cooking we would help her out. Gradually with time we built it up, when I was 12 or 13 that’s when my mum let me take a bit more control and do a few things.

“Before that you weren’t considered worthy,” she adds, through laughter.

She is certainly worthy now, with a trophy to prove it, but Saliha has no plans to hang up her white coat yet.

“I will continue to work as a doctor, because that’s what I’m trained to do, but I want to combine my interest in medicine with my interest in food.

"I work in gastroenterology so I’m dealing with people’s bowels and food-related ailments every day.

“On top of that I would love to be able to write cook books, perhaps later on cook books for children and I would love to work in television.

“I feel like the world is my culinary oyster right now. I’ve demonstrated that I quite enjoy multitasking and I can see the reward in doing lots of things. I plan on continuing that approach for as long as I possibly can.”

Wherever her path takes her, she won’t forget her Watford roots.

As our conversation comes to a close she hastens to say: “A huge thank you to Watford who have been incredibly supportive, west Watford I love you.”

MasterChef: The Final is available on BBC iPlayer.