‘Great British Bake Off’ faces criticism for ‘Mexico Week’ stereotypes

The episode, which aired this week in the UK and is set to stream on Netflix from Friday (as ‘The Great British Baking Show’), began with one of the wacky opening sequences of the show featuring co-hosts Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas. , both dressed in serapes and tasselled sombreros. “I don’t think we should make Mexican jokes because people are going to get mad,” Fielding says. “Wait, not even Juan?” Lucas responds. “Not even Juan,” Fielding replies. In an indication that he didn’t know how grumpy the exchange was, the show used him in a tweet promoting the episode.

The episode also had mispronunciations (“peek-o-de-gally-o” was a variation) and generalizations (in one scene, Judge Prue Leith says the cakes “look Mexican – there’s has lots of bright colors”) who came to mock social media. A Netflix representative did not respond to a request for comment, and emails to the show and its production company were not returned. The show faced similar criticism for its 2020 “Japanese Week,” when many people said the producers confused various Asian cuisines. And he faced wider condemnation for his Anglo-centric attitude: as Jaya Saxena wrote for Eater, “Anyone who watched GBBO also knows how picky the judges are when they think something has too much spice, how easily they exoticize non-British foods, and how the standard marker of a good baker is their ability to make a Victoria Sponge.

Mexican chef and TV host Pati Jinich said when she first saw the latest social media backlash, she thought maybe it was the ‘authenticity police’ reacting in such a way excessive. But when she got a chance to watch a few clips, she realized they were right. Jinich says she’s not opposed to non-Mexicans using symbols of Mexican culture — even those that have become stereotypes — as long as they dig deeper as well. “If there had been a little more about depth and substance, you can get away with some of these wacky things, because these things are part of the culture – like, yes, mariachi musicians have big mustaches “, she says. “But taking it out of context and putting it on a stereotypical platter is just tired. It’s basic.

Jinich thinks the producers of GGBO underestimated their audience, who in today’s international and interconnected world could have handled a deeper dive into Mexican cuisine and culture, even if they didn’t know it. not immediately. “They do this for obscure British baking traditions and the baking traditions of Europe,” she says. “They could have had better recipes and better contests, but when it’s just isolating the stereotypical elements, it’s irritating.”

Gustavo Arellano, a Los Angeles Times columnist and author of “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Took America Away,” was quick to draw distinctions in what he found offensive in the episode. He was not bothered, he says, by the pronunciation errors or the lack of familiarity that some candidates had with the ingredients (the skin of an avocado was removed with a vegetable peeler, for example). But the “Juan” exchange? “It’s the cheapest joke,” he said.

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In general, he says, Mexicans and people of Mexican descent should welcome others who adopt their cuisine, even if it’s a bit awkward. “You should be happy that the British are trying to cook Mexican food – it’s a testament to the popularity and power that Mexican food has not just in the US, but around the world,” he says. “And I would love to see a Mexican or a Mexican-American trying to cook a good Yorkshire pudding.”

UK audiences have also complained that the show has strayed from its nominal focus – baking, obviously – to include culinary challenges. Last week, the contestants were asked to make pizzas and, in the latest episode, tacos. But some also saw the shift to a savory dish — the taco — as a lack of awareness or appreciation for the breadth of Mexican baked goods.

Jinich said producers could have chosen from a wealth of Mexican “pastries,” from tortilla casseroles to tamale pies that would have been on-theme without resorting to a dish that doesn’t show off the makers’ baking skills — which is ostensibly the point of the show.

Arellano, however, saw a silver lining in choosing “the most familiar Mexican food of all” — which he likened to a gateway to lesser-known parts of Mexican cuisine. “It shows the power of the taco,” he says. “They want to ride the wave of tacos. It’s baby steps.