The Great British Baking Show: Mexican Week : Series 13 Episode 4
By Lily Hessekiel
Release: 10/4/2022
Produced for Channel 4 Television, by Love Productions
Run Time: 1:07:05
In Series 13 Episode 4 of The Great British Baking Show, bakers take on the challenge of “Mexican Week,” a frustrating failure of the show to diversify their challenges and woke-ify their reputation. Watching the episode, it quickly became clear that the objective of the episode is exceedingly performative. The Bake Off themes this week as “Mexican” to be able to say that they have done so, while failing to do the work within the episode that would actually educate viewers. It’s not just that the episode fulfills the uneagerly anticipated jokes and stereotyping expected of it, but that the seemingly willful ignorance by production, judges, and hosts alike encourages contestants and viewers to accept their own lack of knowledge. I certainly laughed while watching, just not at the jokes made by hosts Noel and Matt. Rather, I was cynically amused, in disbelief at how appallingly under-researched this episode is. The network’s goal may have been to expand the horizons of (white) British viewers and contestants, but they fail to do so, instead maintaining stereotypes and thoughtlessly encouraging ignorance of the cuisine and culture they presume to engage in.
Mexican week is not the first time that Bake Off has attempted to spotlight a country outside of Europe, and it’s not the first mishandled culture either. The episode, which came out (in the UK) on October 4, 2022, ranges from insensitive to ridiculously cliché. I was sighing from the first fifteen seconds of the episode. But this wasn’t just from the hosts’ poor attempt at tongue-in-cheek humor, which recognized the criticism leveled against the show for their past problematic jokes. (“I don’t feel like we should make Mexican jokes, people will get upset”… “What, not even “juan?”) Rather, my major gripe with the opening of the episode was with the talking heads that play just after the quaint and classic chocolate cake introduction sequence, where the contestants proudly pronounced, one after another that, “I don’t really know much about Mexican food,” “Mexican food’s fun, but… what do the Mexicans bake?” and the phrase that exemplifies the problem, “When I think about Mexican food, my mind instantly goes to fajitas. That’s where my knowledge stops.” Janusz, the contestant responsible for the latter phrase, cheekily smiles at the camera. And I don’t blame him, a Polish immigrant to the U.K., for being undereducated about Mexican food and culture. However, it’s the show’s decision to highlight this lack of knowledge throughout the levels of production over and over that normalizes ignorance, which in turn feeds stereotypes. These stereotypes which of course have just been upheld by the white hosts in serapes and sombreros making “Juan” jokes, a literal six seconds after acknowledging that they know they shouldn’t.
Getting into the actual substance of the episode just multiplies the issues. Each challenge of the episode is a misstep from representing the baked goods of Mexico. In the Pan Dulce Signature, the first challenge, bakers are given the entire genre of pan dulce, which literally means sweet bread, to choose a pan from one of the “dozens of varieties” that are regionally traditional. Seven out of ten of the bakers choose the same varietal, conchas, displaying a further lack of interest in educating bakers and viewers. The depth of research taken on for the episode is shallow across the board. But don’t blame the contestants, who seem incentivized towards making themselves look bad. They’re not the ones guilty for failing to showcase the Mexican baked goods that the episode should be promoting. The next challenge is the Technical Challenge, where bakers are given ingredients and pared down recipes prepared by judges Prue Leith or Paul Hollywood to follow to the best of their abilities. The task set by Paul for Mexican week is tacos, a befuddling choice seeing as there is no element of baking in that dish. This selection further drills in the accepted understanding of Mexican cuisine represented by the aforementioned talking heads that – even in a baking show – there is no room for Mexicanness outside of the predictable stereotypes. The Technical Challenge is frustrating to say the least – nearly every utterance of the word taco is pronounced incorrectly, with an æ sound rather than the correct ɒ. Even the judges garble the pronunciation, saying, “tack-o,” demonstrating an ignorance of Mexican culture that could so easily be corrected. The footage of the challenge is also peppered with clips of contestants’ mispronunciation of guacamole and pico de gallo. These missteps could easily have been removed from the final cut of the show, but they’re left in to make the same joke that lamely repeats itself. With the ability to choose exactly what the bakers produce for the Technical Challenge, the judges and show are presented with the opportunity to highlight a lesser known Mexican confection that exists outside of the cliché. They choose not to, opting towards some white guy’s (Paul Hollywood’s) Westernized refried bean and steak tacos instead. Just as the contestants and judges show apathy towards learning the correct pronunciation of Spanish words, the production fails to commit energy towards researching beyond the scope of tacos. Both actions innately devalue the country of Mexico, insinuating that Mexican culture doesn’t merit the Baking Show’s deeper attention.
The final event of the disastrous weekend is the Showstopper Challenge, where bakers are expected to pull out all of the stops and present something, well, showstopping. The contestants of Mexican Week are assigned to make tres leches cakes, “inspired by Mexico.” They do this to the best of their abilities, creating cakes that do really look delectable. Yet, one contestant, Kevin, exposes a further issue with the judges’ understanding of the cake chosen for the challenge. Contestants must have a minimum of four layers of cake, but, as Kevin points out, the nature of the soaked cake means that, “tres leches sponge is really not for stacking.” For the stability of their inaccurate cakes, bakers must undersoak their cakes, leading to dry sponges. The final display of cakes, “looks Mexican” with its “lots of bright colors,” according to Prue. The cakes include a ‘Mexican Tiramisu Wedding Cake’ (how’s that for inspired by Mexico?) and, because there had to be one bandito reference, a Jackson Pollock-esque splatter cake emblazoned with a big, black, mustache. At the end of the day, contestant Maxy wins Star Baker for her “Bella Naranja” conchas and “Cocoa Flower Fiesta” tres leches cake. Two bakers are sadly sent home, and the horror that is Mexican week is over.
Representing a country that is regularly overlooked in the culinary world, is mocked, and has its dishes bastardized is a fantastic idea and an honorable move on the part of The Great British Baking Show to decentralize the nation that gives it its name. However, when the show commits the second and third offenses of that list in trying to do so, it’s not such ‘jolly good fun,’ as former host Mary Berry might have said. It’s frankly disappointing to see the show understand that they need to do better, and fall very short. “Juan” jokes and bandito mustaches are one problem, but the real harm comes from the insinuated support for continued ignorance of non-Western cultures. The episode is cringe-worthy, and provides content for masochistic viewers to enjoy. It also exists as an artifact of Bake Off’s failure to make a meaningful or educational episode about a non-Western nation. There have been no more culturally themed episodes since the backlash that Mexican Week received, so maybe Bake Off has learned their lesson. Or better yet, maybe they’re making use of their time wisely, learning and educating cast and crew on the details of the heritages they might promote. I’m not holding my breath for Anti-Imperialist Week – who knows what they might bake next?
Bibiliography
“Mexican Week.” The Great British Baking Show, season 13, episode 4, Channel 4, 4 Oct. 2022.
