Despite its rise in popularity as a quarantine show favorite, reality baking series The Great British Bake Off faced immense backlash this week, The Independent reports. The show’s Japan-themed episode deteriorated from an attempt at representation to cultural appropriation of Asian cultures.
Contestants were challenged to make a batch of steamed buns, Digital Spy reports. Fans said the task perpetuates the idea that all Asian cuisine is the same, as steamed buns (bao) actually originate from China.
According to the Independent, bakers also deviated from Japanese flavors and substituted elements from Chinese and Indian cooking. One baker appeared to make a Chinese pork bun. Another designed her buns to look like an American cheeseburger.
Naoko Mori, a Japanese actress based in the UK, expressed her outrage over the episode, calling it a ‘lazy bake of an out of date out-of-a-packet mix of ‘Chinese, Japanese, Whatever’ East Asian theme.’
“Not only was this insulting to us Japanese and our culture, you also likely insulted the Chinese, as well as the intelligence of a great many viewers…” Mori said via Twitter. “A tiny token sprinkle of Matcha powder on a pancake doth not a Japanese make. Nor bake. Please. Do better.”
According to Digital Spy, fans also posted suggestions for authentic Japanese desserts the show could have featured, including melonpan, furutsu sando, and mushipan.
“So disappointed with Japanese week,” one Twitter user said.
The culinary world’s relationship with diversity and non-Western cuisines has been fraught with mistakes, NPR reports. This year alone, Bon Appetit’s editor-in-chief Adam Rapport resigned after allegations of systematic racism at the publication and the surfacing of a brownface photo.
Brands including Aunt Jemima and Mahatma Rice have come under fire for mascots depicting stereotypical caricatures against various cultures. In the latter’s case, two Indian American teens petitioned and eventually convinced the brand to stop using its racist logo.
It’s also common, according to NPR, for a white chef working with non-Western flavors and dishes to receive far more attention and acclaim than a chef of color working with their own culture’s cuisine.
“What the food industry has been and restaurant industry has been reckoning and wrangling themselves over for the last few years is the appropriation of food,” Alex Abad-Santos, a Vox senior correspondent, said. “That’s kind of reflective of the media and what the hiring has been in the media.”
“Food media is predominantly white. Critics are predominantly white,” Abad-Santos continued, according to NPR. “White readers might think, like, oh, well, that’s a little bit too far for me. But then when it’s through this lens of a cool white girl presents it to you or a cool cutting-edge chef presents it to you… It becomes much more accessible, much, much more popular.”
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