The grand final of Plate of Origin will air on on Channel Seven tonight.

A few hours ahead of the show, Australia National University Lecturer Kim Huynh and ANU Associate Lecturer Blair Williams penned a report in The Conversation, titled “Channel Seven’s ‘Plate of Origin’ shows how Australian multiculturalism is defined by white people.”

The show, which features cousins Dezi, 41, and Penny, 33, from Team Greece are criticised for defining multiculturalism by white people.

The article describes the program as one which puts ten different cuisines against each other in an “epic competition” and a “celebration of Australia”.

The teams include Team China, Team Lebanon, Team Vietnam, Team India and Team Greece, and the hosts are Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston of MasterChef fame, and Manu Feildel from My Kitchen Rules. The fact that the judges are three white men (two from England and one from France) is criticised, especially when MasterChef ventured to have an Asian woman, Melissa Leong, on its judging panel this year.

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The lecturers also criticise the presence of Team Australia made of Ethan and Stew, “just two regular guys who like to cook”. The whiteness of the two Australian representatives is considered wrong as it implies that other teams aren’t “real” Australians, and for episode six’s elimination task they had to adapt “an Aussie classic – the pie!”

The ANU lecturers wonder why there are no First Nations representatives.

The two writers of the report point to recent Deakin University research which showed that those on Australian television were overwhelmingly white, finding more than 75 per cent of presenters, commentators and reporters were of Anglo-Celtic background, compared to 58 per cent of the population.

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The lecturers state that the show’s make-up highlights an ongoing issue with Australian multiculturalism. While the Greek girls are not directly referred to, the lecturers suggest they contribute to whiteness at a time when specifically Greek roles are missing from not just television but also bodies such as the VMC.