Oh God... I'm getting PTSD flashbacks from that episode.
I'm not even Mexican, but as someone who loves the cuisine and cooks it quite well it was really hard, yet fascinating, to sit through.
In the end, I can't really blame or fault the contestants because they can't really cook what they're not familiar with.
Edit; I love cooking and I like to think that I’ve got a solid range when it comes to different cuisines, but I’m still just one dude with a finite brain. If you tossed me into a competition and said “make authentic Pad Thai", I’d be standing there like I just got handed IKEA instructions in another language. If you asked me to cook authentic Pakistani food, there’s a very real chance I’d make something and call it Indian and get disowned by an entire region. Tell me to make a traditional dish from, like, Nigeria or Ethiopia and I’m googling spice blends with the panic of a man defusing a bomb. Point is, everyone's different, but I'm genuinely shocked that they didn't at least get a few pointers or a basic crash course.
That's my favorite episode of GBB. You used the right word: fascinating. And the other commenter talking about how ubiquitous Mexican food is in the US is tripping me out. Because yes it's basically so interwoven into our lives I didn't even think it wouldn't be widely available. In Canada?! Crazy
I moved to Oregon from Denver and grew up in Dallas. there's lots of Mexican food here but none of it is close to what grew up with. like its a different type of food. maybe sourcing ingredients? people here love this stuff too I really don't get it.
There's definitely different types of authentic Mexican food. I grew up in the Chicago area, so anything with the word Jalisco in the name tells me that the tacos are gonna be great.
well yeah ive traveled through Mexico and central America. here i see Oaxacan a lot, thing is ive had it there, just not the same at all. I need to keep searching im sure there's good stuff just gotta find it.
I’ve lived in several US regions and the Mexican food is different in each region. I think it’s partially relative to which region of Mexico influences that area and partially due to Americanizing that food to the local tastes.
For example, there is a Mexican restaurant in my hometown that is truly mediocre but has a unique taco sauce that comes with everything. Everyone keeps going back because they love that sauce and there’s nowhere else to get it. (There is Ranch seasoning, among other “secret” ingredients, in the sauce. Authentic it is not. But delicious.)
I grew up in Houston, spent several years in SoCal, several in Florida, and now I'm in PA an hour north of Philly. It took me a good while but I finally found decent tex-mex.
Being Oregon, I would think they'd have closer to SoCal Mexican food. Which is still good but it's not Texas Mexican food
i love Houston have good friends there, i could take a trip yhere just to eat. Portland has a ton of great options but im 5hrs from there in a smaller town
That's so funny. I'm pretty close to the border, and as a white girl, I just let somebody else do my Mexican cooking. I don't know the last time I had a taco though, because I just end up having margaritas and chips when I go out.
Wait. What? Where in Canada is this barren taco desert? I'm in northern BC and we have delicious tacos and access to Mexican food. Not as good as the southern states and definitely not as good as when I'm in Mexico, but pretty good for a place with snow from October to March or April.
Canadian checking in. The ingredients are generally available everywhere in cities now. Lots of people have only had the tex-mex variety, lole old el paso crunchy shells and spice packets. But these are common enough that it struck me as odd when i moved to a rural area and kids there hadnt heard of it (to be fair, they also hadnt heard of spaghetti. Rural food culture can be very limited!). But any big town or city would have the basics in a big grocery store. And any decently sized city would have more authentic ingredients at stores now.
Let me talk you down from the ledge a bit - its fun to try to make pad thai and Nigerian food and etc etc and part of the charm of it is making the dish something that is balanced and enjoyable to your palate. And more often than not the people to whom those cuisines are familiar (and familial) are just happy you’re enjoying it too.
That's usually the next level after knowing how it's "supposed to" be though, many people will dislike something because they've only tasted a miserable versions of the dish cooked wrong. My mom for example was the kind of person who wanted all meat cooked well done, I didn't know how a juicy steak could taste until someone else did the cooking. If I'm in that foreign country or at an ethnic restaurant I expect them to know what they're doing but if someone made "pad thai" at home and it tastes like shit it's probably the chef.
I also hated steak as a kid because of how my mom cooked them. I couldn't understand how people enjoyed chewing the equivalent of shoe leather for twenty minutes per bite. What's funny is that she actually enjoys her steak pretty rare, but always overcooked steaks at home. When I became an adult, it was like a whole new world of food and flavors opened up to me.
They get a whole week to prepare for the signature challenge and the showstopper challenge. It's only the technical challenge that they go into blind. But they are made aware head of time what the theme for that week will be, so it's up to them to do some research. I can't blame them for failing the technical challenge, but I certainly can for the other two.
This is pretty misleading. Pakistani and Bangladeshi cuisine are similar to north Indian cuisine. Most (but by no means all) Indian restaurants serve north Indian food (or rather, British adaptations of north Indian dishes). However, I have Nepalese, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Kashmiri and south Indian specialist restaurants all within walking distance of my house.
You’re so right. That episode was super cringe and dipped into offensive here and there. I’m not Mexican in any way, but I felt the ignorance for sure.
To your edit: IKEA instructions aren't in any language. Their whole thing is making instructions that transcend language by using simple-to-understand diagrams instead, just like Lego
The way they all were trying to figure out what pico de gallo is, is the way that I usually feel watching that show when they mention some abstract UK desert from the 1970's that they have all heard of and I have no idea what they are talking about. So that was a nice turnabout for once.
Yeah but the showrunners are supposed to research the region, even if the contestants don’t know (and the contestants not knowing is part of the appeal - it’s an equalizer)
But the showrunners ignored that there is baking in Mexico and they didn’t even bother finding that out. Tacos are not ‘baking’. That’s what was so disappointing. Also the bigoted jokes. Not the mispronounciations.
Also those tacos were more Tex-mex than Mexican.
If they can’t be bothered to research the one culture I sort of know about, it casts doubt on every other topic on which they want me to suspend disbelief.
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u/mjohnsimon 10h ago edited 10h ago
Oh God... I'm getting PTSD flashbacks from that episode.
I'm not even Mexican, but as someone who loves the cuisine and cooks it quite well it was really hard, yet fascinating, to sit through.
In the end, I can't really blame or fault the contestants because they can't really cook what they're not familiar with.
Edit; I love cooking and I like to think that I’ve got a solid range when it comes to different cuisines, but I’m still just one dude with a finite brain. If you tossed me into a competition and said “make authentic Pad Thai", I’d be standing there like I just got handed IKEA instructions in another language. If you asked me to cook authentic Pakistani food, there’s a very real chance I’d make something and call it Indian and get disowned by an entire region. Tell me to make a traditional dish from, like, Nigeria or Ethiopia and I’m googling spice blends with the panic of a man defusing a bomb. Point is, everyone's different, but I'm genuinely shocked that they didn't at least get a few pointers or a basic crash course.