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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32056 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 31, 2022

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Any fans of the Great British Bake Off here? I think this season has been a case study in the mechanisms by which wokeness latches on and does its best to ruin things. I'm so sick of people talking about how offensive Mexican week was. If you ask me, I really have no idea what was so offensive about it. Acknowledging that Mexican culture and food exists is not the same as being racist towards Mexicans. Also, since when are Mexicans even considered to be oppressed, and worthy of people getting outraged over? Have Mexicans historically been oppressed, especially by the British?

Following Mexican week, now, I guess the outlets all saw that claiming offense at GBBO was a great way to get more views, because every week I see at least one article about how viewers were "shocked and outaged" at the latest episode of Bake Off. Often, these are related to the fact that several contestants this season aren't native to Great Britain and are not being handled sensitively enough with regards to the recipes they do and their ability to follow the instructions in the technical challenges.

My wife is Mexican and a big fan of GBBO. She isn't woke and wasn't offended by that episode per se, but we were both pretty disappointed at how phoned-in it seemed to be. Mexico has a huge variety of interesting baked goods, yet they chose a taco as the technical challenge? It's an extreme stretch to call that baking, and it felt like they were just too lazy to google "popular baked goods of Mexico."

Yeah, the taco thing was BS.

With that episode, I was just left wondering how much of a presence Mexican food and culture has in the UK. I feel like this episode would have made much more sense in the US.

They did tacos? I figured out how to make tacos in like 10 minutes, sounds boring.

were both pretty disappointed at how phoned-in it seemed to be. Mexico has a huge variety of interesting baked goods, yet they chose a taco as the technical challenge? It's an extreme stretch to call that baking, and it felt like they were just too lazy to google "popular baked goods of Mexico."

This seems unfair to GBBO. Sure, the show's producers could have googled "obscure Zapotec cuisine no-one except you and your Mexican wife recognises", but then the median viewer's going to be muttering at her TV something along the lines of "Oi wot's all this shite made outta rattlesnake meat, I 'fort it's Mexican week? Where's the bloody tacos?"

GBBO's not an educational Attenborough documentary, it's not supposed to teach anyone anything, and therefore their Mexican food is REQUIRED to be tacos because that's the only Mexican food that British people already know of.

It's be like having French cuisine week and no garlic snails. It's just not credible without them!

If escargot was the technical challenge in "French Week" of the GBBO, I'm pretty sure everyone would call BS since it's a baking show not a cooking show.

They didn't need to do some obscure baked good, it could have been something like conchas which are widely available in grocery stores in US border states.

Or maybe some Pan de Muerto. They could even have had fun decorating it different ways. Lots of varieties of pan dulce they could have picked.

I do understand what you're saying. But I do think there were a lot of other better options than taco.

Putting together guac and a steak marinade really should have been trivial for almost anyone. It had very little to do with baking - even doing a nice Torta vs a Taco would have been an improvement IMO.

What kind of steak marinade would you make? I know it's a goofy question but I just bought a steak and was thinking about how to cook it when I got distracted by the motte, but Mexican style steak and guac sounds perfect.

I am a carne asada guy, so lime juice with a little orange, garlic, cilantro, and Chiles. Salt/oil/couple drops of soy as well.

Oh yeah that sounds perfect (aside from the cilantro, but that's a me thing), thanks mate!

If I don't know what a Torta is, then your average Britisher definitely doesn't.

It's a taco sandwich... I didn't think they were that rare. And technicals frequently feature rare items IMO.

I've never heard of 50% of the stuff they make on GBBO.

FYI a torta is just a Mexican sandwich served on a sweet baguette-like roll. Basically a taco on bread. At least that would have required some actual baking.

but then the median viewer's going to be muttering at her TV something along the lines of "Oi wot's all this shite made outta rattlesnake meat, I 'fort it's Mexican week? Where's the bloody tacos?"

I really don't know what GBBO viewership demographics are like in the UK. However, the way you phrased and spelled your imaginary median viewer's quote implies that they would be lower class British, the equivalent of a southern/hick/redneck accent in the US. And as a American fan of The Great British Baking Show, I can confidently say that the American fanbase is solidly Blue Tribe, educated, urban, PMC, etc. And I certainly don't react that way ("Yo, I thought this was supposed to be British, where's the steak and kidney pie?") whenever they pull out some obscure European cake or bread or pudding I've never heard of for a technical challenge. I Google it and go "huh, that's interesting". I agree that GBBO/S doesn't have a requirement to teach anybody anything, but one of the reasons I do enjoy it is the opportunity to learn about baked goods I'm unfamiliar with.

For what it's worth, the only commentary I've seen on Mexican week online was a bunch of TikTok videos making fun of Brits inability to pronounce "avocado" and "guacamole".

And as a American fan of The Great British Baking Show, I can confidently say that the American fanbase is solidly Blue Tribe, educated, urban, PMC, etc.

Well if that's your prior then I can see how it would lead you into thinking that British GBBO's viewers could indeed cognitively handle "Zapotec rattlesnake steak garnished with cranberry jus to evoke heart-blood of a Flower War sacrifice to Huitzilopotchli".

My prior is extremely different: that the only people who watch television in the UK are Red Tribe cockneys and everyone else is out grouse-shooting.

I do find it quite fascinating how the class-status-marker associations of outdoor sports like fishing and hunting, and rural living in general, are completely reversed in the UK compared to the USA.

I mean, just look at how different these two very similarly-named magazines are:

Country Life - UK-based lifestyle magazine for people who can afford two million pounds for a manor house, and vacation in the Maldives and Seychelles.

Country Living - USA-based lifestyle magazine for fans of Kelly Clarkson and decorating one's porch with gourds in the fall.

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