I never knowingly turn on or turn over to BBC MasterChef. But sometimes I become collateral damage as my wife seems to be quite addicted to it. This hyped-up nonsense which presents the competition as if the contestants are in the midst of a war zone, and never fails to extract some tear-jerking backstory from them about who influenced their concoctions (sniff, my dear old grandmother, sob), seems to bypass the glaringly obvious: IT’S ONLY COOKING! At which point my wife dismisses me to bed.
But it also leaves me feeling as if I have been participating in a disgusting spectacle of microaggression and cultural appropriation. The microaggression is apparent throughout and the cultural appropriation was beautifully demonstrated in the recent final. It is surely time for the BBC to act. If you think I’m exaggerating, read on.
The microaggression is apparent in the early stages of the series when one of the two oddball presenters—one an increasingly hairy Antipodean chef and the other a follicularly challenged Cockney greengrocer—sidle up to the stressed contestants and ask the ethnically ambiguous ones about their culinary influences. This is clearly code for ‘where do you come from’. This is a blatant act of microaggression which conveys the message ‘you’re not from around these parts are you?’ In some kitchens this type of unacceptable behaviour would be met with a smack on the head with a rolling pin. But such is the overwhelming ambition of the contestants and their competitive spirit that they just suck it up and get on with their cooking. This kind of ritual humiliation is disturbing to watch.
The cultural appropriation in the final episode was shocking. Not only was it a prominent aspect of the show but the most persistent serial offender, who had form from previous episodes (my wife assures me), was declared the winner. I am not sure if I am strictly allowed to describe the nature of the cultural appropriation as this itself may be stepping over some microaggresive red line, but I feel that its true nature needs to be exposed. If you are of a woke or merely sensitive disposition, please skip to the final paragraph. Here goes. The finalist, who was English, only went and cooked three courses of ‘Japanese-inspired’ food. I was shocked and even more so that this gross insensitivity passed without comment by the presenters. Not only did this aspect not receive any adverse comments it was complimented, and as I have said, achieved the prize of MasterChef 2021. Have these people not received the memo about White people presenting food from other cultures?
It is hard to believe that this kind of thing persists in 2021 and I can only hope the BBC will do better and clamp down on it. I was heartened to see that their Diversity Chief is taking a stand and has noted that Idris Elba who, last time I looked, was Black is—apparently—not Black enough and does not eat the right kind of food to play a Caribbean character. Well said Miss Diversity 2021 Miranda Wayland, this kind of vigilance and attention to detail augurs well for the future of British broadcasting. And I was just on the verge of cancelling my subscription.
Opinions from the Unity News Network (UNN) editorial team & various contributors. | UNN always clearly distinguishes between news and opinion pieces and as an open minded outlet we publish views from a variety of people and organisation that do not necessarily reflect the views of UNN or its writers. Articles published under UNN Opinions are always opinion pieces and if published on behalf of a contributor will contain that authors name at the start of the piece.
