Binge baking

Last week, in between the towering pile of things that needed doing, I galloped through Season Six of The Great British Baking Show . On Netflix. I had forgotten how exciting it can be to watch 12 amateur bakers sweating, weeping, fretting and wringing their hands over, as one them says, “Just a cake!”

Three of the 12 in this season were of Indian origin. There was tall, handsome Anthony with the dazzling smile; beautiful Ruby with her gorgeous mop of chestnut-brown hair; and anxious, bespectacled young Rahul, who seemed on the verge of tears throughout, despite his obvious skills.

The format is simple. Each week focuses on a different area of baking, and each week the contestants get three challenges of increasing difficulty. The first is called the Signature challenge, the second is the Technical and the third is the Showstopper. The contestants are able to prepare for the first and third, while the middle one is a surprise. Each week, one of the contestants is named “Star Baker” and one is eliminated. As the weeks go by and their numbers dwindle, the difficulty of the challenges increases. Amazingly, the contestants seem to remain kind and sympathetic towards one another all through the struggle.

The judges are Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, both startling to look at: Hollywood because of his ice-goddess blue eyes and Leith because of her sparkly personality and the heart-stoppingly bright colours she wears. Alongside them are a pair of jester-hosts, Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig. They’re both well-established performers in their own right and completely different to look at: Fielding is a mascara-wearing super-sized Goth while Toksvig is a pocket-sized Nordic lady with a fire-cracker personality. The four of them make a wonderful team, offering a warm but always professional backdrop to the extreme tension in the foreground.

Watching these amazing amateur cooks pound and stir, knead and roll, while constantly trying to beat the clock is to be reminded of the quiet violence that underpins all food preparation. Dairy products involve the deaths of bull calves. Eggs? Battalions of unborn chicks and cruelly imprisoned hens doomed to a neverending cycle of ovulation. Even wheat and other grains involve the ruthless subjugation of plant and insect-life in the pursuit of perfectly uniform and bug-free flours for our breads and pancakes, cakes and cookies.

Really, come to think of it, even as we champion the rights of human females, how many of us stop to think of the rights of female animals? In this light, it was especially exciting to see a Vegan Week in which all three of the challenges had to be made without eggs or dairy. This included meringues made of channa-water! The results looked fabulous and judges said they were absolutely delicious.

The final week involved three superlative chefs, cooking their hearts out. Plenty of tears and near-disasters but, at the end, sweet, mouthwatering success. Go watch! You won’t regret it.

Manjula Padmanabhan, author and artist, writes of her life in the fictional town of Elsewhere, US, in this weekly column

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