Just seek a few seconds to feel sorry for others. UK public television broadcast last Tuesday a Mexico-focused episode of the famous Great British Bake Off, a reality cooking show in which contestants compete to be the best cake chef. The Mexican cuisine theme seemed like an excellent idea for English prime time, but it turned into a set of stereotypes about Mexicans who had very little to do with their culture. For example, presenters Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding open one of the segments dressed in Guadalajara serapes, hats and maracas in hand. “I think we shouldn’t make Mexican jokes because some people might get upset,” Fielding says while dressing in what a Mexican supposedly looks like. Elsewhere, the same presenter asks if Mexico is a real country. Criticism of the BBC network responsible for producing the program has swept the networks after very sensitive fibers were touched.
Aside from the props and unfortunate commentary from the hosts, the culinary content of the show doesn’t even come close to the richness of Mexican cuisine. The variety of dishes that contestants must prepare are meat tacos accompanied with beans and pico de gallo, sweet bread bowls, and a tres leches cake. The contestants demonstrate throughout the episode that they don’t know how to cut an avocado or that a Mexican cake isn’t exactly a fondant-covered tower. British audiences (including Mexican and Latin American audiences in general) have already cried out to heaven: making tacos on a show dedicated to baking is lazy, they say, since Mexican cuisine has hundreds of recipes dedicated to this one are suitable for the occasion.
More than anything else, the Great British Bake Off over Mexico seems like a missed opportunity to showcase authentic Mexican cuisine. What was declared intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO in 2010; which has gradually opened spaces in the capitals of the world – first on the streets and then in luxury restaurants -; and which has already received several awards in the most important international rankings. The complexity of the recipes, the variety of ingredients, and the difficulty of preparing them have been neglected in favor of entertainment. Who wants to learn how to make a capirotada when there’s a hard supermarket tortilla and avocado to mix up for the camera?
Mexicans, accustomed to seeing themselves stereotyped around the world – there’s Warner Brothers’ Speedy Gonzales – tend to take cases like the English show with humor and even transfer them into the world of memes without much hesitation. Some critics point out that the Bake Off production could capitalize on the idea of inviting a Mexican chef, one of those plentiful in Europe, to share original recipes with the contestants the way grandmothers teach them. A more accurate portrayal of a Mexican to help British audiences understand why cooking is so important to the country. Mexico is incomprehensible without a good breakfast of chilaquiles, a meal of pozole, and a dinner of esquites: the millennial corn diet. Famed chef Enrique Olvera says that “Mexican food tastes like Mexico” and that there is no need to cross oceans to really get to know it, those who have emigrated have already taken it upon themselves to cross the planet bring.
One of the images promoting the Great British Bake Off, dedicated to Mexico, cites nachos, burritos, hard tacos and American quesadillas as examples of Mexican food. In the United States, the Mexicans practiced a veritable culinary diplomacy that has already spread – at least – to the big cities. A few decades ago, it was unlikely to find a tamale cart in New York, an exquisite plate of birria in Los Angeles, or a lavish tlayuda in Chicago. The show was released this Friday in this country and of course the channels are already burning. Although there are misunderstandings about Mexico even among some Americans, it is undeniable that education about this culture has already made significant strides. Eating as a tool to understand other realities could also serve as the best public television in the world.
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