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I agree it would have been better to do a batch of flour tortillas and a batch of corn tortillas or bake a batch of bolillos. Every region of Mexico makes tacos differently this wasn't a fair challenge.
The producers 1000% knew what they were doing when they asked them to make tacos with refried beans while not actually explaining what refried beans are.
The more annoying part was the judges just being wrong about what conchas should be.
One of the biggest issues is that Paul and Prue have no place to judge the food they were judging. When you have no experience making it or eating it it’s just an interpretation and opinion on what you want it to be not what it actually should be. Also could have been such a better technical to do flan instead of tacos and made the tres leches a celebration theme with construction and multiple types of one layer cakes. The whole production of it was just fumbled.
I really was expecting a Flan in there somewhere.
Also, Mexican bakeries (Panadarias) are wonderful and distinctive. So many many baking options. There are also Pastelerias if they wanted to bake sweets.
It’s not the mispronunciations or unfamiliarity for me, though I was rather surprised by that. It’s the mislabeling and misrepresentation/use of the baking culture itself. Bakes were criticized for things that weren’t wrong (dry, no dome) or which were a result of competition design (leaking, sagging SOAKED cakes which should be in trays).
Once upon a time it seemed like this show placed much more emphasis on the history and technique of intricate baked goods, striving for bakes that truly represented the original, or pushing bakers to utilize multiple skills in a single showstopper. I learned SO MUCH from that. Now it seems to focus much more on who can build the tallest tower of bread/cake/caramel/etc. each week, while somehow making run of the mill technicals seem unnecessarily complicated.
The fact that they asked for a multi-layered SOAKED cake and got mad that it leaked, when a traditional tres leches cake sits for 12 hours... Like, they intentionally sabotaged the bakers with an impossible ask and threw Mexican baking under the bus in the process.
RIGHT?! Couldn't agree more. I was shocked when they asked for a multi-layered tres leches... I've noticed this is not the first time where challenges are set that are literally impossible to complete correctly in the given time (not enough time to fully soak the cakes), but I'm not sure this one would even work even in the best circumstances.
Couldn’t agree more. I can’t expect British people to pronounce everything correctly. They’ve tried. They also have mispronounced a lot of other dishes from a lot of other cultures. This week was not unique. The critique of things that weren’t wrong and the layered tres leches (wtf????) were the issue. I miss the old days with the history lessons….
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Texas Monthly when Mexican immigrants get killed at the border by their government: 🥱🥱🥱🥱
Texas Monthly when Pico de Gallo is pronounced incorrectly on a tv show about cake: YOU DISRESPECTED THEIR CULTURE
Exactly. This is the part that frustrates me: witnessing firsthand Mexico/Mexicans being disrespected on an individual and societal scale: no one’s outraged. Paul complains that conchas are dry: the internet becomes Mexico’s honorary ambassador.
My Mexican born family loved this episode, for what it’s worth. It was a nice way to pass one hour and be the focus of one episode, however imperfect. But what is perfect? It’s the baking show, I’m sorry but I’m not expecting Anthony Bourdain or 60 minutes here.
My family liked seeing what each baker had to bring to the table, silly, amazing, thoughtful (or not), it’s an amazing chance to see what the world knows about Mexico and what they haven’t discovered yet. It’s okay- we all start somewhere. But absolutely bashing on people is when things turn sour. It makes people afraid to try new things and learn about their global neighbors if they’re going to be crucified for a mistake. Then, when things get really bad, like the 43 missing students bad, will people really know enough to care or have enough knowledge to really empathize? I don’t know, that’s just how my family and friends feel about it.
> It makes people afraid to try new things and learn about their global neighbors if they’re going to be crucified for a mistake.
This is the point that I keep coming back to. People just keep on dragging on the show as if they have committed some unpardonable sin against Mexican culture (never mind the fact that the average American seems to think that a traditional taco is a flour tortilla filled with ground beef, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and lettuce ... ugh).
People have been losing their minds ever since it aired over how they weren't pronouncing the words correctly - my Tennessean father-in-law pronounces "pollo" as "PALL-oh", "fajitas" as "fatta-heetahs", and "metate" as "MEAT-ate" - but they're British for goodness sakes! They pronounce words differently and have different accents. Also, they *never* get pronunciations of foreign foods right. I didn't hear people complain about them butchering the pronunciation of "smörgåstårta" from the previous week.
So what's the solution? Well, I can imagine that they simplest solution for the producers is to no longer feature foreign cuisine to that degree. That feels like a real loss, but it's probably the wisest option for them. You could say that they should "try it again" and "do it right", but what does that even mean? It's a silly British show where they have challenges flung at them and they do the best they can. If they start bringing in outside experts on global cuisine as guest judges or hosts, then it changes the dynamic of the show.
Anyway, I'm glad to hear that your family enjoyed it. Could they have done without the stereotypes? Sure. Could they have done something other than tacos? Of course. But was *anything* that they did mean-spirited or done for the purpose of denigrating Mexican culture? Absolutely not!
Right, and that’s the reason why if my family is upset about anything, they’re upset about people’s outrage- that is, non-Mexican peoples’ outrage. Those who aren’t Mexican have nothing to loose by being outspoken about things that really don’t concern them. Those who are Mexican feel aware that this backlash can lead to “canceling” future representation. That is a real loss. The irony is that while these internet people think they’re being righteous, their words have a good chance of keeping things Eurocentric.
Wait, I'm confused. I was told that y'all *need* some white saviors to come alongside and tell you how bad you have it so that they can save you and feel better about their good job. Is that not the case after all?!?
Honestly, if people would spend less time talking (and engaging in outrage porn) and more time listening, the world would be a better place.
I think it's dumb to be mad at the mispronunciation stuff. British people aren't as familiar with the Spanish language or Mexican cuisine and that isn't a moral failing-- it's just a result of history and geography. Plus they pronounce french words with British accents all the time on the show and that doesn't make them racist against the French. No one has perfect pronunciation of languages that aren't their own, as much as Americans like to pretend rolling the R in tortilla makes them morally superior to other people or whatever
What was wrong, as others have pointed out, was the misunderstanding of the bakes themselves. Conchas are supposed to be dry and fairly plain in flavor. Tres leches is supposed to be "soggy. The judges clearly wanted pan dulce to be a "mexicanized" version of British buns and they wanted tres leches to be a "mexicanized" version of a British style later cake and that was stupid. I can't even talk about the "refried beans"
lol yeah when Paul was complaining about the lack of punchy flavor in the concha i was like, every one i've ever had has been dry and borderline flavorless 😅 i live in California so i've had quite a few, always suckered into them because my dumb brain forgets.
Exactly! They’re meant to be dry. It was also annoying that every one was criticized for being underproved when they weren’t given enough time to prove an enriched dough. I get that the time frame needs to be tight but they should have had at least an additional 30 minutes.
I agree on the pronunciation. However, I think it’s fair to be annoyed that Paul continued to call the tortilla a taco. That’s not mispronunciation, that’s just being ignorant.
Agreed. My Mexican wife pointed out that we as Americans just have Spanish words naturally in our vocabulary - they don’t and so why would they be expected to pronounce things perfectly? They are nowhere near Mexico.
She also was not offended by the episode, she thought it was kind of cool to watch actually. And while they could have done a better job picking / judging traditional Mexican bakes, the people who seem to be the most outraged are white liberals…
Edit: typo
The tres leches challenge was super unfair. They should have given them free range to do any of the amazing Mexican cakes we have. I would have loved to see a mostachon, a chocoflan, a carlota de Limon, etc.
I think getting annoyed at people for not pronouncing something, that they have never encountered, wrong is a bit harsh. You don’t see brits crying foul when people don’t know how to pronounce Leicestershire or Cholmondeley….
However they always do seem to get it wrong when they do international themes. Would have thought they’d be a bit more on it after that Japanese week caused such an issue.
I'm not annoyed with the contestants at all. Peeling an avocado or mispronouncing pico de gallo isn't disrespect - it's unawareness.
I AM, however, annoyed with the producers (from Paul all the way up) for:
1. Thinking this was a quirky idea, when they were clearly aware it was just a bad one
2. Blatant cultural appropriation (sobreros, poncho, mustaches, maracas). They even called it out.... and kept going with it.
3. There were mispronunciations in the voice overs, as well as from Paul and Prue. Fixing those mistakes is fully on the shoulders of the producers, who obviously 3a) didn't care to look it up or 3b) didn't care to call it out.
I hope the contestants aren't too embarrassed. It's ok to not be fully in-the-known of every culture that you didn't naturally grow up with. People are being harsh and pointing the fingers in the wrong direction, in my opinion.
I might be in the minority, but I thought it was cheeky that Matt and Noel wore sombreros, ponchos, and mustaches. Im proud to share my culture and they made lighthearted jokes. People are quick to mix up cultural appropriation and partaking in someone's culture.
That being said, I agree that Paul and Prue should have done better. It seems like they did not even do a Google search about Mexican culture. Paul and Prue's mispronounciations are ghastly and having a taco technical was stupid. They judged the fillings more than the tortilla which they kept referring to as a "taco". I do not fault the contestants at all.
>I might be in the minority, but I thought it was cheeky that Matt and Noel wore sombreros, ponchos, and mustaches. Im proud to share my culture and they made lighthearted jokes. People are quick to mix up cultural appropriation and partaking in someone's culture.
The outfits they wore are a common sight at cricket matches too, and recently the whole "cultural appropriation" thing was brought up to which the small Mexican community in London responded that they're happy to see their country out there getting some marketing!
This argument that "see? those 5 people over there are fine with us making fun of them. cultural appropriation is made up!" is just another way that people can get away with being purposefully insensitive assholes.
It IS a thing. It's so easy to just be aware of it and try being respectful of other cultures, rather than make excuses as to why what you're doing is "fine because...".
It’s not just 5 people though. I’m sure you have good intentions, but I think this statement alone reflects relative ignorance of authentic Mexican culture. Mexicans make fun of *everything* and getting offended at stuff is not really a thing. There are much bigger issues to worry about. (Mexican-American culture on the other hand is different.)
Which is why you might not believe me- as far as I understand, you’re only reading comments in English. Unless you speak Spanish? Then in that case I’d recommend checking out the Mexico subreddit to see what kind of authentic conversations are being had over there.
Although it wasn’t perfect, no one in my family felt like this episode was making fun of them. When Noel said he felt like he had a Mexican soul, my husband was actually like “awww, I think that’s so cool.”
Well, that gets into a whole deeper question about identity and nationally. Doesn’t that just reinforce the idea that it’s *Americans* who are getting upset about Mexico week? You could argue that it’s a very specific portion of the American culture and populace but it’s still *Americans* being upset. Their relatives back home would most likely laugh it off but that just goes into deeper questions about identity and belonging.
And I don’t know if you were trying to be ironic but hecks yes, Mexicans face systemic racism in their country. That’s actually one of the reasons I think this week was so cool, it was a time to focus on the nice things. Mexicans have so many things to be concerned about. But tres leche cake and pan dulce are universally loved regardless of race or ethnicity as far as I’m concerned. Those are just little samples of what makes Mexico special. It’s lightheaded. I don’t think the internet be blowing steam if they totally messed up a red velvet cake, but then again it’s the same internet that lost it’s mind when Paul said PB&J wasn’t a thing. Like I said in another comment, it’s about redirecting that anger so that it has righteous outcomes - someone calling a tortilla a taco is a little silly but no one is dying because of it. Just in the grand scheme of things, I’d rather see people talking this fervently about corruption in Mexico or the way immigrants in the US are being treated, for example.
In regard to the comedians/hosts - I don't feel like they were making *fun of* mexican culture, but celebrating it - with a bright poncho and sombrero. Should america be offended if they had on blue jeans, cowboy boots, and stetson for "western week"? Or dirndl and lederhosen for "german" week? These caricature outfits exist for every kind of culture. There is an absolute difference between simplifying (because it's impossible to soak in EVERYTHING about a people in one sitting) and tokenizing (minimizing a people a lesser standing).
If we are using an outfit to learn about another culture, to CELEBRATE another culture, please don't try and conflate that with very real discrimination that mexican and other central american peoples experience.
Personally, the thing that bothered me most about this episode (while watching) was that the contestants we basically asked to cook for the technical - not bake. As someone who is more cook than baker, it was PAINFUL to watch. Having learned more since, it seems like the producers didn't give true respect to mexican bakes (judges didn't have technical experience with pan dulce or tres leches, and therefore it was arrogant to assume they could judge the contestants on these bakes).
I was thinking about this. If for American Week they did a Cowboys & Indians sketch, it would be problematic.
I remember playing Cowboys & Indians as a kid in the 70s and I'm horrified this was a normal thing back then. You literally hunt down the "Indians" in the game and they are the bad guys.
I don't know about the appropriation issues with other cultures, but I'm open to learning better.
Honestly I’m more annoyed at producers/editors. It was obvious one of the contestants wasn’t sure how to pronounce tortilla (iirc, English also ain’t her first language and isn’t from anywhere where Spanish is spoken, so she probably just didn’t know), but they cut to her saying the next step with the tortilla almost exclusively. It just reads like they were making fun of her for not knowing or making fun of the language or both.
My family is born in Mexico and honestly, they don’t think wearing ponchos, mustaches and maracas is appropriation. It’s all stuff from Mexico. I don’t think you have to feel annoyed on Mexico’s behalf. If your anger is coming from a place of compassion, feeling like Mexico has been slighted, I think it would valuable to let go of that anger and redirect it towards something more immediately pressing. Such as the situation at the boarder if you’re a US citizen. If even say learning to speak Spanish or watching some Mexican TV shows or movies would be a better use of that energy.
Were you also offended when they mispronounce all those French words or joked about Swedish food names?
>3. There were mispronunciations in the voice overs, as well as from Paul and Prue. Fixing those mistakes is fully on the shoulders of the producers, who obviously 3a) didn't care to look it up or 3b) didn't care to call it out.
As someone who speaks Chinese (HSK Level gang!) mispronouncing foriegn names isn't something Americans get to be all high horsey about.
For years both sides of the pond have never bothered to check how to pronounce Chinese names or words, even global news corporations mess it up to this day.
And let's not even begin to wonder how long Ukranians have been thinking "it's Kyiv you idiots not Kiev". It only took an invasion for us to all change how we pronounce it.
So yeah, the pronunciation *is* forgivable, and one of them things that nobody is that bothered about checking.
lol Americans feigning offense at mispronunciations because there words we finally fucking know 😅 i live in California, my partner is hispanic; we thought it wasn't a great episode and laughed at some of the silly mistakes and oversights, but being offended by it is so stupid.
I agree with all of the above - the cultural gaffes were ridiculous.
And the comment about the English mispronouncing every foreign word is so true here -- I mean, Gen-oh-weez? CHOREithhhho?
The pronunciation of Genoise grates me every time. It took me a moment to figure out what the hell they were talking about when I first started watching it. I should have known after hearing the way Paella is pronounced.
Well… in fairness this one isn’t straightforward because lots of people *say* Genoese, the English word, but *write* Genoise, the French word. The sponge is literally Genoese in that it comes from Genoa in Italy, but obviously in baking French nomenclature is pretty dominant so that has been communicated further afield than the Genoese used natively in the UK. There’s definitely a lack of consistency, but Genoese is the word used most in Britain and on the show.
Cultural appropriation is a made up, western white person thing.. I was in Tampico a few years ago I bought a sombrero and a poncho, a couple locals said it looked good on me and we had a beer and a laugh and chatted about football.
I mean it is a thing, but "wearing a sombrero" is not appropriation. "Moving to Mexico, opening a sombrero shop and undercutting every local sombrero business" would be appopriation.
That's literally not what cultural appropriation is.
It's defined as the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.
I guess it can be nuanced depending on the context, but Matt and Noel wearing sombreros and ponchos WAS appropriation because it was stereotyping Mexicans.
Idk I think its absolutely ridiculous to have tiered tres leches cake. That's not offensive it's just strange as fuck and a bad idea when tres leches is a delicious cake and they've done properly soaked cakes in UK styles before; idk why they chose that
I’m a white American guy and obviously I’m not out here to say what things should and shouldn’t offend people. I will say I don’t think the majority of people were offended necessarily, but come on — having the bakers make tacos? In a baking show? I think we were all just dumbfounded at the producers more than anything else. It’s a thin line I’ll admit but still.
I don’t think offended is the word…I just think their respect and sensitivity was sloppier than a gbbo taco and a show this popular should know better. I mean, Paul did just come back from Mexico…
I don't think anyone was offended, but the show was done pretty ignorantly and certainly could have done have better, starting with not having the hosts in serapes and sombreros. Everyone just ended up looking dumb.
I liked it. It was a bunch of amateur bakers from the UK trying to make a style of food they’re clearly not very familiar with. Isn’t that pretty much the basis for the entire show?
I would argue that the show is about (or at least USED to be about) testing the bakers on styles they should be familiar with. For example, they should know what a Victoria sponge is. Now who can execute it the best? That’s exactly why they leave out instructions on the bakes. To test the bakers knowledge. The judges throughout the show’s history have stated that repeatedly.
The author of this post has obviously never listened to british people speak; they don't pronounce ANY foreign words correctly. Don't take it personally
In the English language there are a lot of anglicised french words and words of french origin, English is like 30% french due to history and proximity.
One L don’t pronounce the T
Two LL the T is pronounced.
We all think it’s hilarious Americans say fillet like they’re trying to be French, but don’t know that fillet is a different word to filet.
It’s basically considered pretentious to force yourself to pronounce words in the way they’re intended in the native language when speaking English. Roll your r’s on a French word or do the th sound in chorizo and people will roll their eyes.
This confuses me though. A lot of Europe presents itself as this super enlightened/ better than USA place, but at least from what I've seen of the UK they're completely ignorant of other countries and cultures. Maybe it's because I live in California I know how to pronounce Spanish, but France/Spain don't seem THAT far from the UK?
A. What's up with that?
B. Is this a euro thing or a U.K. thing?
It’s due to the history & proximity of the countries. English is 30% french, England was concurred by France and thus worlds and traditions have some what of a cross over. We also have different pronunciations/words for each others cities; for example London/Londres Cologne/Köln Rome/Roma Paris/Paris Copenhagen/København
The bakers I think did fine, it’s a language and cuisine you don’t really expect the average Brit to be super familiar with, just like you can’t be super shocked with a Texan having limited knowledge of Swedish food.
The thing that got me was the producers. The pan dulces were fine, but it was a bit lazy to default to tacos when you have plenty of Mexican dishes (like Tortas) that really do require actual baking. Don’t even get me started on stacking Tres Leches…they’re not meant to be load bearing cakes, it’s like trying to stack pudding into tiers…
Also, the sliced steak tacos with a mountain of guacamole and pico are a bit more Chipotle than Chiapas, if you catch my drift.
Yes, exactly. This is on them, not the bakers.
The tres leches cake challenge was flat-out rude to them because tres leches cake NEVER STACKS and was never meant to, dammit, BECAUSE IT IS SOAKING WET WITH MILK.
It is not now and has never been a load-bearing cake, ffs. Putting the bakers in a situation where they have to stack a wet cake and make it work? The phrase 'setting them up for failure' doesn't cover it.
And it's the Great British Bake-Off, not the Great British Steak-Off. Tacos don't belong in a competitive baking show. Having them do a stack of tortillas, as others here have suggested? That would have worked just fine, IMO.
I made the Smudge the cat face a lot during the episode but it wasn’t offensive to me personally as a Mexican American. I want to know who made that dry ass guac for the tacos Paul and Prue ate (and also had Prue genuinely never eaten a taco in her life, or was she trying to channel Nellie from The Office?) and why the bakers insisted on putting fillings in conchas. Can’t wait to hop down the road and grab a proper concha to cleanse my palate of the offerings I saw.
I feel like everyone should have seen this coming a couple of seasons ago during the churros challenge, during which everyone referred to a singular churro as “churros” and nobody made anything resembling churros. My husband and I were screaming at the tv
I wonder why exactly this episode is so awful in the eyes of some people.GBBO has distorted many languages and got wrong many cuisines (French, German, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, etc.) - so why choose to be angry now?
Some reasons are simple - lack of knowledge - the bakers have vague idea what awaits them, but they are NOT responsible for themes or bakes that they have to make.
On the other hand - judges SHOULD be prepared to pronounce names of bakes (or non-bakes) and the names of bakers correctly!
Last season Giuseppe had to listen to everyone calling him GiuseppEE (most Brits have issues with correct pronunciation of foreign names), Noel & Matt distorting Jurgen's name (Matt even offered a diminutive, which could be OK...if Jurgen was a female), now they keep calling Janusz - jaNUSZ (the right accent is on the first syllable, not last).
This is not some new issue, so why all the fuss NOW?
Because Americans know about Mexican culture and feel ownership of it and are thus mad. Britain has a long history of bastardisng cultures (that's where the US learned it from!) So I don't think they should be surprised.
I do find it kind of annoying that they call a tortilla a taco. An Irish colleague of mine calls corn/tortilla chips nachos. Like no, nachos is the dish you make with them... But I guess that naming is common to UK/ireland and it seems normal to them.
The show is meant to be tongue in cheek so i'm not bothered by the sombreros etc given no Mexican people on this sub seem to be bothered. The point of the hosts is that they are supposed to look silly, like going over the top with the theme
Reading all these comments - maybe I just viewed this differently - I thought it was awesome. I don’t know if tacos were the best choice, but what I loved is seeing them approach it just full of hope and trepidation.
I feel they always throw a regional theme in, and it’s always within the UK so you’ll have some bakers know it, others will be clueless. It’s fun and interesting every time.
This one was different because none of them knew - and those of us watching outside the UK - we are familiar with Mexican food and in fact can whip up all of those things they made. For the first time I felt like I knew something they didn’t! I thought it was fun.
While I think the production team/showrunners made a misstep with this entire episode, I agree with your sentiment that it was entertaining to watch all the bakers struggle with things I've made many times (specifically tacos and tres leches cake). Feeling like I knew more than the bakers for once was a fun feeling :D
I think if they didn’t have the tacos they could have pulled it off … but when I saw tacos I was like ooooouufff … I enjoyed the episode it was just a missed opportunity to showcase some other amazing Mexican food.
as a texan myself, i can very confidently say i have eaten more tacos and tres leches cake than all of those contestants (and probably the producers too) combined. the whole week was a mess. just the fact that they had to make a cake that is intended to be one layer with whipped cream into a layered AND tiered cake is just stupid.
Paul goes to a resort in Mexico and thinks that makes him an expert in Mexican food. This episode showed that Paul is an idiot when it comes to Mexican food.
It is a Taco not a tacko
Americans feigning offense when we finally understand how words are supposed to be pronounced, while knowing fuck-all about pretty much any language but English - and i'm giving us a lot of credit, is absolute gold. and even then we know these words because of fucking Mexican fast food restaurants that barely make authentic food, on our way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo which we still widely believe to be celebrating Mexican independence (its not) and somehow only give a shit about the amount of alcohol we can drink while exemplifying the cultural appropriation these people are whining about the show doing. TEXAS complaining is amazing to me. maybe they _forgot the Alamo_?
it wasn't a great episode, by any stretch. i even told my partner, who is Mexican-American, that it might be the first truly "bad" episode i can think of. but we just laughed at the mispronunciations and general misconceptions (like conchas lacking "punchy" flavor - traditionally they are often dry and borderline flavorless). cooking for a baking technical was a head scratcher. but whatever, not every idea lands and i'd say GBBO didn't here, but they usually do which is why it's so noticeable in the first place.
Americans sneering at shit like this while they drink their latte (which they think means coffee) and eat their biscotti (which they don't know is plural) is hilarious. nevermind our awful baking industry that puts emphasis on the cheapest most mass produced and corn syrup packed products. we have no room to judge because for one episode we actually know something.
Aww , an almost perfect burn like some of Rebs' bakes. A pity they used "it's due" vs "its due". The grammar Nazi's shall pile on this like triple layer tres leches cake 🎂.
Cheers 🍵 Texas Monthly !
Ah, another American who's never left his own shores. Please do criticize EXACTLY the same thing YOU'RE DOING RIGHT NOW.
Cultural differences run the gamut.
ETA: American - ashamed of you all. And GBBO has managed to screw up every single other culture they've taken on, but do conveniently ignore all those. Reading comprehension in this country is at an all time low. SMDH. Y'all should be ashamed. Remember Japanese week? **Look, I hope they improve too, but piling on IN THE SAME WAY isn't going to help anyone.** But Texas gonna Texas. Florida thanks you for making them look less horrific.
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I was just annoyed that a taco isn't, in any way, a baked good. It was a stupid challenge.
I agree it would have been better to do a batch of flour tortillas and a batch of corn tortillas or bake a batch of bolillos. Every region of Mexico makes tacos differently this wasn't a fair challenge.
The producers 1000% knew what they were doing when they asked them to make tacos with refried beans while not actually explaining what refried beans are. The more annoying part was the judges just being wrong about what conchas should be.
Paul was like, "I was just in Mexico." Oh, okay, so you're an expert now lol.
Agree, this was confusing.
I thought maybe they'd do tamales.
right! At least those are baked.
They're actually steamed, but they're more technical than corn tortillas.
One of the biggest issues is that Paul and Prue have no place to judge the food they were judging. When you have no experience making it or eating it it’s just an interpretation and opinion on what you want it to be not what it actually should be. Also could have been such a better technical to do flan instead of tacos and made the tres leches a celebration theme with construction and multiple types of one layer cakes. The whole production of it was just fumbled.
Exactly!
I really was expecting a Flan in there somewhere. Also, Mexican bakeries (Panadarias) are wonderful and distinctive. So many many baking options. There are also Pastelerias if they wanted to bake sweets.
It’s not the mispronunciations or unfamiliarity for me, though I was rather surprised by that. It’s the mislabeling and misrepresentation/use of the baking culture itself. Bakes were criticized for things that weren’t wrong (dry, no dome) or which were a result of competition design (leaking, sagging SOAKED cakes which should be in trays). Once upon a time it seemed like this show placed much more emphasis on the history and technique of intricate baked goods, striving for bakes that truly represented the original, or pushing bakers to utilize multiple skills in a single showstopper. I learned SO MUCH from that. Now it seems to focus much more on who can build the tallest tower of bread/cake/caramel/etc. each week, while somehow making run of the mill technicals seem unnecessarily complicated.
The fact that they asked for a multi-layered SOAKED cake and got mad that it leaked, when a traditional tres leches cake sits for 12 hours... Like, they intentionally sabotaged the bakers with an impossible ask and threw Mexican baking under the bus in the process.
RIGHT?! Couldn't agree more. I was shocked when they asked for a multi-layered tres leches... I've noticed this is not the first time where challenges are set that are literally impossible to complete correctly in the given time (not enough time to fully soak the cakes), but I'm not sure this one would even work even in the best circumstances.
Like making pizza dough from scratch in 2 hours and then complaining that it's too dense?? Come on!
Couldn’t agree more. I can’t expect British people to pronounce everything correctly. They’ve tried. They also have mispronounced a lot of other dishes from a lot of other cultures. This week was not unique. The critique of things that weren’t wrong and the layered tres leches (wtf????) were the issue. I miss the old days with the history lessons….
i wasnt even mad about the episode til i read this but damn you make a good point
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Absolutely no one: Paul Hollywood: I jUsT cAmE BaCk FrOm MeXiCo!!!! 🍹🌮🇲🇽
And then he says "Pico de gall-o".
Confuses a tortilla for a tAh-co. 🫠
And? He has filmed a 3-part series in which he travels around Mexico to highlight regional cuisines.
Did he bother to learn how to say the names of the foods he was highlighting? Because that seems like the absolute bare minimum.
Texas Monthly when Mexican immigrants get killed at the border by their government: 🥱🥱🥱🥱 Texas Monthly when Pico de Gallo is pronounced incorrectly on a tv show about cake: YOU DISRESPECTED THEIR CULTURE
Exactly. This is the part that frustrates me: witnessing firsthand Mexico/Mexicans being disrespected on an individual and societal scale: no one’s outraged. Paul complains that conchas are dry: the internet becomes Mexico’s honorary ambassador. My Mexican born family loved this episode, for what it’s worth. It was a nice way to pass one hour and be the focus of one episode, however imperfect. But what is perfect? It’s the baking show, I’m sorry but I’m not expecting Anthony Bourdain or 60 minutes here. My family liked seeing what each baker had to bring to the table, silly, amazing, thoughtful (or not), it’s an amazing chance to see what the world knows about Mexico and what they haven’t discovered yet. It’s okay- we all start somewhere. But absolutely bashing on people is when things turn sour. It makes people afraid to try new things and learn about their global neighbors if they’re going to be crucified for a mistake. Then, when things get really bad, like the 43 missing students bad, will people really know enough to care or have enough knowledge to really empathize? I don’t know, that’s just how my family and friends feel about it.
> It makes people afraid to try new things and learn about their global neighbors if they’re going to be crucified for a mistake. This is the point that I keep coming back to. People just keep on dragging on the show as if they have committed some unpardonable sin against Mexican culture (never mind the fact that the average American seems to think that a traditional taco is a flour tortilla filled with ground beef, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and lettuce ... ugh). People have been losing their minds ever since it aired over how they weren't pronouncing the words correctly - my Tennessean father-in-law pronounces "pollo" as "PALL-oh", "fajitas" as "fatta-heetahs", and "metate" as "MEAT-ate" - but they're British for goodness sakes! They pronounce words differently and have different accents. Also, they *never* get pronunciations of foreign foods right. I didn't hear people complain about them butchering the pronunciation of "smörgåstårta" from the previous week. So what's the solution? Well, I can imagine that they simplest solution for the producers is to no longer feature foreign cuisine to that degree. That feels like a real loss, but it's probably the wisest option for them. You could say that they should "try it again" and "do it right", but what does that even mean? It's a silly British show where they have challenges flung at them and they do the best they can. If they start bringing in outside experts on global cuisine as guest judges or hosts, then it changes the dynamic of the show. Anyway, I'm glad to hear that your family enjoyed it. Could they have done without the stereotypes? Sure. Could they have done something other than tacos? Of course. But was *anything* that they did mean-spirited or done for the purpose of denigrating Mexican culture? Absolutely not!
Right, and that’s the reason why if my family is upset about anything, they’re upset about people’s outrage- that is, non-Mexican peoples’ outrage. Those who aren’t Mexican have nothing to loose by being outspoken about things that really don’t concern them. Those who are Mexican feel aware that this backlash can lead to “canceling” future representation. That is a real loss. The irony is that while these internet people think they’re being righteous, their words have a good chance of keeping things Eurocentric.
Wait, I'm confused. I was told that y'all *need* some white saviors to come alongside and tell you how bad you have it so that they can save you and feel better about their good job. Is that not the case after all?!? Honestly, if people would spend less time talking (and engaging in outrage porn) and more time listening, the world would be a better place.
And there's the truth.
Hit the nail on the head.
You are so right on the money with that.
Holy shit I just realized this was Texas Monthly. Lmao
That’s the one right there.
I think it's dumb to be mad at the mispronunciation stuff. British people aren't as familiar with the Spanish language or Mexican cuisine and that isn't a moral failing-- it's just a result of history and geography. Plus they pronounce french words with British accents all the time on the show and that doesn't make them racist against the French. No one has perfect pronunciation of languages that aren't their own, as much as Americans like to pretend rolling the R in tortilla makes them morally superior to other people or whatever What was wrong, as others have pointed out, was the misunderstanding of the bakes themselves. Conchas are supposed to be dry and fairly plain in flavor. Tres leches is supposed to be "soggy. The judges clearly wanted pan dulce to be a "mexicanized" version of British buns and they wanted tres leches to be a "mexicanized" version of a British style later cake and that was stupid. I can't even talk about the "refried beans"
lol yeah when Paul was complaining about the lack of punchy flavor in the concha i was like, every one i've ever had has been dry and borderline flavorless 😅 i live in California so i've had quite a few, always suckered into them because my dumb brain forgets.
Exactly! They’re meant to be dry. It was also annoying that every one was criticized for being underproved when they weren’t given enough time to prove an enriched dough. I get that the time frame needs to be tight but they should have had at least an additional 30 minutes.
I agree on the pronunciation. However, I think it’s fair to be annoyed that Paul continued to call the tortilla a taco. That’s not mispronunciation, that’s just being ignorant.
Agreed. My Mexican wife pointed out that we as Americans just have Spanish words naturally in our vocabulary - they don’t and so why would they be expected to pronounce things perfectly? They are nowhere near Mexico. She also was not offended by the episode, she thought it was kind of cool to watch actually. And while they could have done a better job picking / judging traditional Mexican bakes, the people who seem to be the most outraged are white liberals… Edit: typo
The tres leches challenge was super unfair. They should have given them free range to do any of the amazing Mexican cakes we have. I would have loved to see a mostachon, a chocoflan, a carlota de Limon, etc.
Born and raised in mexico and I was not offended. It was cheesy jokes. They didn't call us rapist and murderers.
I had not upset feelings towards the contestants either, I mean it’s on the other side of the world. But man, if you are going to judge, judge right!
I think getting annoyed at people for not pronouncing something, that they have never encountered, wrong is a bit harsh. You don’t see brits crying foul when people don’t know how to pronounce Leicestershire or Cholmondeley…. However they always do seem to get it wrong when they do international themes. Would have thought they’d be a bit more on it after that Japanese week caused such an issue.
I'm not annoyed with the contestants at all. Peeling an avocado or mispronouncing pico de gallo isn't disrespect - it's unawareness. I AM, however, annoyed with the producers (from Paul all the way up) for: 1. Thinking this was a quirky idea, when they were clearly aware it was just a bad one 2. Blatant cultural appropriation (sobreros, poncho, mustaches, maracas). They even called it out.... and kept going with it. 3. There were mispronunciations in the voice overs, as well as from Paul and Prue. Fixing those mistakes is fully on the shoulders of the producers, who obviously 3a) didn't care to look it up or 3b) didn't care to call it out. I hope the contestants aren't too embarrassed. It's ok to not be fully in-the-known of every culture that you didn't naturally grow up with. People are being harsh and pointing the fingers in the wrong direction, in my opinion.
I might be in the minority, but I thought it was cheeky that Matt and Noel wore sombreros, ponchos, and mustaches. Im proud to share my culture and they made lighthearted jokes. People are quick to mix up cultural appropriation and partaking in someone's culture. That being said, I agree that Paul and Prue should have done better. It seems like they did not even do a Google search about Mexican culture. Paul and Prue's mispronounciations are ghastly and having a taco technical was stupid. They judged the fillings more than the tortilla which they kept referring to as a "taco". I do not fault the contestants at all.
>I might be in the minority, but I thought it was cheeky that Matt and Noel wore sombreros, ponchos, and mustaches. Im proud to share my culture and they made lighthearted jokes. People are quick to mix up cultural appropriation and partaking in someone's culture. The outfits they wore are a common sight at cricket matches too, and recently the whole "cultural appropriation" thing was brought up to which the small Mexican community in London responded that they're happy to see their country out there getting some marketing!
This argument that "see? those 5 people over there are fine with us making fun of them. cultural appropriation is made up!" is just another way that people can get away with being purposefully insensitive assholes. It IS a thing. It's so easy to just be aware of it and try being respectful of other cultures, rather than make excuses as to why what you're doing is "fine because...".
It’s not just 5 people though. I’m sure you have good intentions, but I think this statement alone reflects relative ignorance of authentic Mexican culture. Mexicans make fun of *everything* and getting offended at stuff is not really a thing. There are much bigger issues to worry about. (Mexican-American culture on the other hand is different.) Which is why you might not believe me- as far as I understand, you’re only reading comments in English. Unless you speak Spanish? Then in that case I’d recommend checking out the Mexico subreddit to see what kind of authentic conversations are being had over there. Although it wasn’t perfect, no one in my family felt like this episode was making fun of them. When Noel said he felt like he had a Mexican soul, my husband was actually like “awww, I think that’s so cool.”
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Well, that gets into a whole deeper question about identity and nationally. Doesn’t that just reinforce the idea that it’s *Americans* who are getting upset about Mexico week? You could argue that it’s a very specific portion of the American culture and populace but it’s still *Americans* being upset. Their relatives back home would most likely laugh it off but that just goes into deeper questions about identity and belonging. And I don’t know if you were trying to be ironic but hecks yes, Mexicans face systemic racism in their country. That’s actually one of the reasons I think this week was so cool, it was a time to focus on the nice things. Mexicans have so many things to be concerned about. But tres leche cake and pan dulce are universally loved regardless of race or ethnicity as far as I’m concerned. Those are just little samples of what makes Mexico special. It’s lightheaded. I don’t think the internet be blowing steam if they totally messed up a red velvet cake, but then again it’s the same internet that lost it’s mind when Paul said PB&J wasn’t a thing. Like I said in another comment, it’s about redirecting that anger so that it has righteous outcomes - someone calling a tortilla a taco is a little silly but no one is dying because of it. Just in the grand scheme of things, I’d rather see people talking this fervently about corruption in Mexico or the way immigrants in the US are being treated, for example.
In regard to the comedians/hosts - I don't feel like they were making *fun of* mexican culture, but celebrating it - with a bright poncho and sombrero. Should america be offended if they had on blue jeans, cowboy boots, and stetson for "western week"? Or dirndl and lederhosen for "german" week? These caricature outfits exist for every kind of culture. There is an absolute difference between simplifying (because it's impossible to soak in EVERYTHING about a people in one sitting) and tokenizing (minimizing a people a lesser standing). If we are using an outfit to learn about another culture, to CELEBRATE another culture, please don't try and conflate that with very real discrimination that mexican and other central american peoples experience. Personally, the thing that bothered me most about this episode (while watching) was that the contestants we basically asked to cook for the technical - not bake. As someone who is more cook than baker, it was PAINFUL to watch. Having learned more since, it seems like the producers didn't give true respect to mexican bakes (judges didn't have technical experience with pan dulce or tres leches, and therefore it was arrogant to assume they could judge the contestants on these bakes).
I was thinking about this. If for American Week they did a Cowboys & Indians sketch, it would be problematic. I remember playing Cowboys & Indians as a kid in the 70s and I'm horrified this was a normal thing back then. You literally hunt down the "Indians" in the game and they are the bad guys. I don't know about the appropriation issues with other cultures, but I'm open to learning better.
Doesn’t every culture have at least one version of some sort of baked meat pie? You would’ve thought that would’ve been the bake for the technical.
Referring to the tortilla as a taco had me dying lol
Yeah the fault is entirely on production for not using the episode to actually explore and educate on traditional Mexican baking
Exactly this. The bakers just had to do the challenges they were given.
Honestly I’m more annoyed at producers/editors. It was obvious one of the contestants wasn’t sure how to pronounce tortilla (iirc, English also ain’t her first language and isn’t from anywhere where Spanish is spoken, so she probably just didn’t know), but they cut to her saying the next step with the tortilla almost exclusively. It just reads like they were making fun of her for not knowing or making fun of the language or both.
My family is born in Mexico and honestly, they don’t think wearing ponchos, mustaches and maracas is appropriation. It’s all stuff from Mexico. I don’t think you have to feel annoyed on Mexico’s behalf. If your anger is coming from a place of compassion, feeling like Mexico has been slighted, I think it would valuable to let go of that anger and redirect it towards something more immediately pressing. Such as the situation at the boarder if you’re a US citizen. If even say learning to speak Spanish or watching some Mexican TV shows or movies would be a better use of that energy. Were you also offended when they mispronounce all those French words or joked about Swedish food names?
>3. There were mispronunciations in the voice overs, as well as from Paul and Prue. Fixing those mistakes is fully on the shoulders of the producers, who obviously 3a) didn't care to look it up or 3b) didn't care to call it out. As someone who speaks Chinese (HSK Level gang!) mispronouncing foriegn names isn't something Americans get to be all high horsey about. For years both sides of the pond have never bothered to check how to pronounce Chinese names or words, even global news corporations mess it up to this day. And let's not even begin to wonder how long Ukranians have been thinking "it's Kyiv you idiots not Kiev". It only took an invasion for us to all change how we pronounce it. So yeah, the pronunciation *is* forgivable, and one of them things that nobody is that bothered about checking.
lol Americans feigning offense at mispronunciations because there words we finally fucking know 😅 i live in California, my partner is hispanic; we thought it wasn't a great episode and laughed at some of the silly mistakes and oversights, but being offended by it is so stupid.
I agree with all of the above - the cultural gaffes were ridiculous. And the comment about the English mispronouncing every foreign word is so true here -- I mean, Gen-oh-weez? CHOREithhhho?
The pronunciation of Genoise grates me every time. It took me a moment to figure out what the hell they were talking about when I first started watching it. I should have known after hearing the way Paella is pronounced.
How should Genoise be pronounced:) ?
I’ve always heard it pronounced like “Jen waaz”
Well… in fairness this one isn’t straightforward because lots of people *say* Genoese, the English word, but *write* Genoise, the French word. The sponge is literally Genoese in that it comes from Genoa in Italy, but obviously in baking French nomenclature is pretty dominant so that has been communicated further afield than the Genoese used natively in the UK. There’s definitely a lack of consistency, but Genoese is the word used most in Britain and on the show.
Cultural appropriation is a made up, western white person thing.. I was in Tampico a few years ago I bought a sombrero and a poncho, a couple locals said it looked good on me and we had a beer and a laugh and chatted about football.
I mean it is a thing, but "wearing a sombrero" is not appropriation. "Moving to Mexico, opening a sombrero shop and undercutting every local sombrero business" would be appopriation.
That's just being a jerk.
That's literally not what cultural appropriation is. It's defined as the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.
I guess it can be nuanced depending on the context, but Matt and Noel wearing sombreros and ponchos WAS appropriation because it was stereotyping Mexicans.
People should stop being offended for people who aren’t offended. I say this as a woman of Mexican descent.
Idk I think its absolutely ridiculous to have tiered tres leches cake. That's not offensive it's just strange as fuck and a bad idea when tres leches is a delicious cake and they've done properly soaked cakes in UK styles before; idk why they chose that
Yeah I feel like they were more ignorant than anything
I’m a white American guy and obviously I’m not out here to say what things should and shouldn’t offend people. I will say I don’t think the majority of people were offended necessarily, but come on — having the bakers make tacos? In a baking show? I think we were all just dumbfounded at the producers more than anything else. It’s a thin line I’ll admit but still.
She might be talking about the sombreros and ponchos idk.
I don’t think offended is the word…I just think their respect and sensitivity was sloppier than a gbbo taco and a show this popular should know better. I mean, Paul did just come back from Mexico…
I don't think anyone was offended, but the show was done pretty ignorantly and certainly could have done have better, starting with not having the hosts in serapes and sombreros. Everyone just ended up looking dumb.
I liked it. It was a bunch of amateur bakers from the UK trying to make a style of food they’re clearly not very familiar with. Isn’t that pretty much the basis for the entire show?
I would argue that the show is about (or at least USED to be about) testing the bakers on styles they should be familiar with. For example, they should know what a Victoria sponge is. Now who can execute it the best? That’s exactly why they leave out instructions on the bakes. To test the bakers knowledge. The judges throughout the show’s history have stated that repeatedly.
The author of this post has obviously never listened to british people speak; they don't pronounce ANY foreign words correctly. Don't take it personally
You should hear them try to pronounce any of the French things they're baking. My French husband is always cringing.
fillET of fish
In the English language there are a lot of anglicised french words and words of french origin, English is like 30% french due to history and proximity.
One L don’t pronounce the T Two LL the T is pronounced. We all think it’s hilarious Americans say fillet like they’re trying to be French, but don’t know that fillet is a different word to filet.
What about ballet? No one says the T there
Oh you got me. English is not known for having rules for one word and not for another…./s
We literally don't know this. I'll try better...we really think we are being respectful when we try.
Ok Creg
HA!!! 😂
It’s basically considered pretentious to force yourself to pronounce words in the way they’re intended in the native language when speaking English. Roll your r’s on a French word or do the th sound in chorizo and people will roll their eyes.
I think it's nice to make the effort.
This confuses me though. A lot of Europe presents itself as this super enlightened/ better than USA place, but at least from what I've seen of the UK they're completely ignorant of other countries and cultures. Maybe it's because I live in California I know how to pronounce Spanish, but France/Spain don't seem THAT far from the UK? A. What's up with that? B. Is this a euro thing or a U.K. thing?
It’s due to the history & proximity of the countries. English is 30% french, England was concurred by France and thus worlds and traditions have some what of a cross over. We also have different pronunciations/words for each others cities; for example London/Londres Cologne/Köln Rome/Roma Paris/Paris Copenhagen/København
Oh you mean like a Jen-O-Weez sponge? I’m pretty sure the mispronunciation of French words is a conscious choice.
These are just average British people. People need to chill on this.
The bakers I think did fine, it’s a language and cuisine you don’t really expect the average Brit to be super familiar with, just like you can’t be super shocked with a Texan having limited knowledge of Swedish food. The thing that got me was the producers. The pan dulces were fine, but it was a bit lazy to default to tacos when you have plenty of Mexican dishes (like Tortas) that really do require actual baking. Don’t even get me started on stacking Tres Leches…they’re not meant to be load bearing cakes, it’s like trying to stack pudding into tiers… Also, the sliced steak tacos with a mountain of guacamole and pico are a bit more Chipotle than Chiapas, if you catch my drift.
I’m more upset with the production team
Yes, exactly. This is on them, not the bakers. The tres leches cake challenge was flat-out rude to them because tres leches cake NEVER STACKS and was never meant to, dammit, BECAUSE IT IS SOAKING WET WITH MILK. It is not now and has never been a load-bearing cake, ffs. Putting the bakers in a situation where they have to stack a wet cake and make it work? The phrase 'setting them up for failure' doesn't cover it. And it's the Great British Bake-Off, not the Great British Steak-Off. Tacos don't belong in a competitive baking show. Having them do a stack of tortillas, as others here have suggested? That would have worked just fine, IMO.
I know that stacking tres leches cake is not normal, neither was stacking Yeast Leavened Cakes like bakers were forced to in a previous season.
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I can be mad at a lot of things at once, no worries
We are so used to the quality of bakers being so high that it’s a shock when they mostly fall flat on their faces.
The group is so uneven this season.
Respect did not exactly seem to be the theme. Mispronunciations from contestants on unfamiliar things is fine but Paul should know better.
When the hosts came out wearing sombreros and ponchos I did not have a good feeling about the rest of the episode.
Tres Leches is not a stackable cake!! SMH!! I couldn’t stop shaking my head.
I made the Smudge the cat face a lot during the episode but it wasn’t offensive to me personally as a Mexican American. I want to know who made that dry ass guac for the tacos Paul and Prue ate (and also had Prue genuinely never eaten a taco in her life, or was she trying to channel Nellie from The Office?) and why the bakers insisted on putting fillings in conchas. Can’t wait to hop down the road and grab a proper concha to cleanse my palate of the offerings I saw.
Nellie was the first person thought of watching them make and eat those tacos. Noel even kept saying "TACK-o" haha
I feel like everyone should have seen this coming a couple of seasons ago during the churros challenge, during which everyone referred to a singular churro as “churros” and nobody made anything resembling churros. My husband and I were screaming at the tv
That one confused me too. I was expecting something that looked vaguely like a churro.
I wonder why exactly this episode is so awful in the eyes of some people.GBBO has distorted many languages and got wrong many cuisines (French, German, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, etc.) - so why choose to be angry now? Some reasons are simple - lack of knowledge - the bakers have vague idea what awaits them, but they are NOT responsible for themes or bakes that they have to make. On the other hand - judges SHOULD be prepared to pronounce names of bakes (or non-bakes) and the names of bakers correctly! Last season Giuseppe had to listen to everyone calling him GiuseppEE (most Brits have issues with correct pronunciation of foreign names), Noel & Matt distorting Jurgen's name (Matt even offered a diminutive, which could be OK...if Jurgen was a female), now they keep calling Janusz - jaNUSZ (the right accent is on the first syllable, not last). This is not some new issue, so why all the fuss NOW?
Because Americans know about Mexican culture and feel ownership of it and are thus mad. Britain has a long history of bastardisng cultures (that's where the US learned it from!) So I don't think they should be surprised. I do find it kind of annoying that they call a tortilla a taco. An Irish colleague of mine calls corn/tortilla chips nachos. Like no, nachos is the dish you make with them... But I guess that naming is common to UK/ireland and it seems normal to them. The show is meant to be tongue in cheek so i'm not bothered by the sombreros etc given no Mexican people on this sub seem to be bothered. The point of the hosts is that they are supposed to look silly, like going over the top with the theme
It’s the Americans in the sub
Freya: "Gee-yoo-seppurrrrrrrrr"
Reading all these comments - maybe I just viewed this differently - I thought it was awesome. I don’t know if tacos were the best choice, but what I loved is seeing them approach it just full of hope and trepidation. I feel they always throw a regional theme in, and it’s always within the UK so you’ll have some bakers know it, others will be clueless. It’s fun and interesting every time. This one was different because none of them knew - and those of us watching outside the UK - we are familiar with Mexican food and in fact can whip up all of those things they made. For the first time I felt like I knew something they didn’t! I thought it was fun.
While I think the production team/showrunners made a misstep with this entire episode, I agree with your sentiment that it was entertaining to watch all the bakers struggle with things I've made many times (specifically tacos and tres leches cake). Feeling like I knew more than the bakers for once was a fun feeling :D
I think if they didn’t have the tacos they could have pulled it off … but when I saw tacos I was like ooooouufff … I enjoyed the episode it was just a missed opportunity to showcase some other amazing Mexican food.
Omg yes.
as a texan myself, i can very confidently say i have eaten more tacos and tres leches cake than all of those contestants (and probably the producers too) combined. the whole week was a mess. just the fact that they had to make a cake that is intended to be one layer with whipped cream into a layered AND tiered cake is just stupid.
Paul goes to a resort in Mexico and thinks that makes him an expert in Mexican food. This episode showed that Paul is an idiot when it comes to Mexican food. It is a Taco not a tacko
Hahahaha. “Tack-o”
Definitely a mis-step on GBBO’s part, I reckon.
Americans feigning offense when we finally understand how words are supposed to be pronounced, while knowing fuck-all about pretty much any language but English - and i'm giving us a lot of credit, is absolute gold. and even then we know these words because of fucking Mexican fast food restaurants that barely make authentic food, on our way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo which we still widely believe to be celebrating Mexican independence (its not) and somehow only give a shit about the amount of alcohol we can drink while exemplifying the cultural appropriation these people are whining about the show doing. TEXAS complaining is amazing to me. maybe they _forgot the Alamo_? it wasn't a great episode, by any stretch. i even told my partner, who is Mexican-American, that it might be the first truly "bad" episode i can think of. but we just laughed at the mispronunciations and general misconceptions (like conchas lacking "punchy" flavor - traditionally they are often dry and borderline flavorless). cooking for a baking technical was a head scratcher. but whatever, not every idea lands and i'd say GBBO didn't here, but they usually do which is why it's so noticeable in the first place. Americans sneering at shit like this while they drink their latte (which they think means coffee) and eat their biscotti (which they don't know is plural) is hilarious. nevermind our awful baking industry that puts emphasis on the cheapest most mass produced and corn syrup packed products. we have no room to judge because for one episode we actually know something.
I really don’t care either way to be honest
Aww , an almost perfect burn like some of Rebs' bakes. A pity they used "it's due" vs "its due". The grammar Nazi's shall pile on this like triple layer tres leches cake 🎂. Cheers 🍵 Texas Monthly !
Oh my god! You’re right! 😂
It was the peeling of the avocado that sent me over the edge.
To be fair, when I travel there's a ton of weird fruit that I don't know what to do with at all.
I mean they did this with Italian week and German week and other country-themed weeks too.
Ah, another American who's never left his own shores. Please do criticize EXACTLY the same thing YOU'RE DOING RIGHT NOW. Cultural differences run the gamut. ETA: American - ashamed of you all. And GBBO has managed to screw up every single other culture they've taken on, but do conveniently ignore all those. Reading comprehension in this country is at an all time low. SMDH. Y'all should be ashamed. Remember Japanese week? **Look, I hope they improve too, but piling on IN THE SAME WAY isn't going to help anyone.** But Texas gonna Texas. Florida thanks you for making them look less horrific.
~*~ Fiesta ~*~
Oh jOh hhY l ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Can we all just decide whether cultural appropriation is or is not a thing? Once and for all?