Culture scolds ruin everything. A popular British baking competition television series, The Great British Baking Show, is feeling the wrath of viewers crying cultural appropriation. The national-themed weeks are being labeled as “casual racism.”

The charge of racism is used to shut down anything the woke among us do not like. In this case, the country-themed weeks are gone for the show’s 13th series. In 2020, for example, the show included a ‘Japan Week’, a ‘German Week’ in 2021, and ‘Mexican Week in 2022. The Mexican Week is the one that caused the kerfuffle. Some critics claimed that the dishes from each country aren’t sufficiently authentic. During Mexican Week, hosts Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas wore sombreros, used maracas, and spoke with Spanish accents.

If you are not familiar with the show, each week a group of amateur bakers compete to advance to the next week. Each week is themed. There are two professional bakers as judges and there are two hosts that are entertainers. The show includes a lot of silliness from the entertainers who keep things light-hearted as the bakers stress-out over the competition. I enjoy baking and I am a fan of the show. It’s all good fun, no one has bad intentions. Even the competitors form a good-spirited group who cheer each other on. In recent series, the entertainers have included comedians Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding. They usually open the show with a cheesy bit of some kind that touches on what the theme is that week.

That is why it is hard to take the critics seriously on charges of racism, casual or not. (I think this is the first time I’ve seen ‘casual’ in front of ‘racism’, but that’s neither here nor there.) No one means any harm. The opening bits and the dialogue during the show is silly, sometimes just dumb, but it’s no big deal. It’s hard to believe that a sombrero and maracas set people off. Maybe Matt Lucas’s attempt at a Spanish accent was in poor taste but it wasn’t malicious.

Executive producer Kieran Smith noted that the world has changed and the jokes fell flat so the show will return to its traditional baking themes.

“We’re not doing any national themes this year.”

Instead, Smith said, the show would return to its popular traditional roots. “We’re doing all the regular weeks: Cakes, biscuits, bread, patisserie, chocolate, plus party cakes is a new theme.”

Judge Paul Hollywood expressed his regret, saying: “I’d literally come back from Mexico about three weeks before we filmed the episode. I was all over the place, and we set the challenges based on what I’d seen there. The challenges were very good, and everyone did a good job.”

Fellow judge Dame Prue Leith added: “The thing about Bake Off is that it absolutely represents inclusivity and diversity and tolerance and togetherness. So the idea that we were set out to insult anybody is ridiculous.”

This year Matt Lucas is not included as an entertainer/host. He alleges schedule conflicts.

The show is called “The Great British Baking Show” in the US due to copyright issues involving Pillsbury. No more taking chances on alleged cultural appropriation or casual racism.

No more deviating into cooking during national-themed weeks. Mexico Week was the last.

The episodes saw contestants make tacos, which some viewers described as butchering the famous dish, while others complaining that the show was deviating from its baking premise toward cooking.

In an effort to hit two birds with one stone, “GBBO” creators will replace the culturally insensitive nationality week with a Party Cakes challenge, according to Smith.

The 13th season will also feature its classic weeks: Cakes, Biscuits, Bread, Patisserie and Chocolate.

“We chose this year’s challenges very carefully to be approachable,” said celebrity chef and “GBBO” judge Paul Hollywood.

“In a way, we’ve returned to the philosophy of the first three series. There are some beautiful classic ones and they’ve been a big success.”

Whatever happened to just having dumb fun? Not everything has to devolve into charges of racism. Perpetual outrage is way too prevalent these days, even in baking competitions.

‘The Great British Bake Off’ nixes nationality-themed weeks in Season 13 after racism accusations https://t.co/w6qsHC2fYn pic.twitter.com/Gyc2dRZrrX

— New York Post (@nypost) September 4, 2023