With shows like Master Chef and My Kitchen Rules reaching such heights in popularity over recent years, it’s not surprising to see home cooking going through a type of revolution of its own.

Gone are the days of the evening meal consisting of meat and three veg’, or dessert being simply a bowl of neapolitan ice cream with your favoured flavoured syrup topping.

Gone also is the stereotype of just who the home cook should be. Dads and kids are equally involved in the daily culinary activities these days, with entrees, mains and desserts all featuring regularly on the evening menu.

For one Medowie teenager, Tiahna McGarry, her interest in cooking was sparked long before she ever knew what a ‘cooking show elimination episode’ was.

Treena McGarry recalls what it was like in those early years with her cooking enthusiast daughter.

“Before Tiahna could even speak sentences, she was interested in cooking.”

“She used to carry around a little step so she could see what was happening on the kitchen bench.

“I encouraged her interest as I love cooking as well.

“For her 10th birthday, I bought her the ‘AWW Cooking School, Learning to Cook’ book.

“I’ve never seen a child get so excited about a book before.”

Nowadays Tiahna’s interests are primarily in desserts, with special occasion cakes and even high teas being her specialty.

She is mainly self taught, watching internet tutorials and reading blogs regularly.

She did enjoy attending a cake decorating course recently though, as, according to Tiahna, “It gave me the chance to ask questions.”

So what is the most satisfying part about cake decorating for this talented teen?

“I love seeing photos of kids with their cakes, with huge smiles on their faces.

“I love seeing their reactions.

“I also love telling people that everything on the cake is edible and homemade.”

Tiahna dreams of being able to work with Adriano Zumbo one day.

“I’d love to learn his crazy techniques on mastering beautiful desserts and being able to show people how to make them,” she said.

By Jenny BAXTER