Oceanside native and first-generation American Samoan, Mackenzie Rubish, will start competing May 25 to win the title of season 2’s “America’s Best Amateur Baker.”
Rubish will appear on ABC’s The Great American Baking Show with seven other contestants. She said she learned how to cook by observing her aunties and cousins in the kitchen as she comes from a large Polynesian family.
She also learned about the different traditional baked goods from her Samoan background from her father.
According to her bio, he sadly passed away when she was 19 years old, but she continues to celebrate his memory by making puligi, a traditional Samoan steam cake.
Rubish is known as “the jokester of her family, always ready with a smile and a laugh to help break the ice”. She is described as a very welcoming person where “no one stays a stranger for long around her”, as she considers anyone who comes around as family and will try to feed them something “comforting and sweet!”
“Baking is my love language. It’s how I share my affection, love, and comfort with all my friends and family,” Rubbish states. She also mentions how “growing up in the Polynesian community, a kitchen is the heart of the home.”
Rubish claimed that she was motivated to test her own baking abilities after seeing the amateur bakers on the U.K. version The Great British Baking Show.
She hopes her California community will enjoy the show and “laugh along with the shenanigans” that will unfold. Additionally, she hopes that she will be able to inspire others and encourage them to learn the art of baking.
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