Written by Nina Earle
As a kid I watched all the cooking shows on the Food Network. I watched in awe as shows had bakers completing works of art in sugar and cake. Unfortunately, all shows have their faults. My least favorite part was watching the teammates yell at each other or other teams. Like in Bobby Flay’s show, “Beat Bobby Flay”, there is so much back talk and sassing. That can be fun and all, but when the challenges are hard and in a time crunch it is unnecessary and annoying.
One show that I loved was the “Great British Baking Show”. This show has twelve home bakers in a tent to see who will be crowned the champion. The judges, Paul Hollywood and Marry Berrie (now Prue Leith), are firm, but also encourage the bakers to reach for the sky. With fun and different challenges, they are not there to remove the weakest, but to find the best. As in all cooking competitions, it comes time to send someone home they all envelop the person with hugs and well wishes. The bakers themselves are also amazing. Forget the fact they are all homemakers, with lives of their own, they are good bakers. They can prepare for most of the challenges except for the technical challenge each show.
My favorite thing about watching this show is that the bakers are such nice people. In most cooking or baking shows there is often a dynamic of people at each other’s throats. If someone finishes early, they are most likely to stand there and watch their competitors or clean up their stations. On the Great British Baking show, you have some people that will clean up when done, but most walk over to a struggling fellow contestant and help them finish. They care about the people in the competition with them. This is something I long to see more of out of baking and cooking shows in the future.
