anxiety

What makes us anxious, keeps us awake at night, and leads us question our judgements and our lifestyles is of enormous interest to academics, politicians, sociologists. We often allow ourselves to be made anxious by all sorts of bodies, often those that have a vested interest in our maintaining those anxieties: the media, politicians, big businesses, cultural figures. One example is the pernicious current anxiety about physical appearance (dear me, if I believed what I see and read, I'd think that it' s an act of daring to go grey instead of part of the very natural, unavoidable, and irreversible process of ageing). The very prevalent anxiety about teenagers worries me even more, and I could name dozens more current anxieties which are far more damaging than the subjects themselves. But I never thought there would be cultural anxiety about baking.

Last year I started watching the Great British Bake-Off but stopped very quickly because I couldn't bear to see grown men and women crying about cakes or, more to the point, being reduced to tears by 'judges'.  To tell the truth, I was shocked. I'd spent many years naively baking for enjoyment, for relaxation, for the pleasure having something nice to eat with friends and family. And all the time, it never once crossed my mind that my amateur efforts could be classed as not good enough, that there might be a correct form of homely, gratifying, domestic baking. So to watch people who clearly enjoy baking for pleasure (and have many appreciative takers) being made to look like sad failures in the name of TV entertainment really isn't my idea of a good night in.

Last night the new series started, and I watched to see if anything had changed. Well, it seems to me that even more than last year the programme-makers have chosen a mix of people more for their personal variety and telegenic qualities than for their baking skills. So you know straightaway that there are going to be disasters, wrecks, novelty for the sake of novelty, and plenty of humiliating results. And sure enough, there's a grown man in tears about a chocolate cake, a sniffy judge telling someone their creation tastes 'disgusting', and the overriding impression that there is a correct way of making a Mary Berry Battenburg recipe (and the underlying message that Mary Berry herself is correct about everything to do with cakes).

It's all too predictably judgemental and laugh-at-them-talent-showish. Home-baking was never meant to be treated this way. I know the contestants have gone in with their eyes wide open, but why do programme makers think that the only way to have an entertaining programme about British baking is to make it a competition? Baking is one of the last bastions of gentle and creative domesticity, and even this is being turned into a heart-pounding, anxiety-inducing, competitive activity in which you can be judged a failure.

I'd rather be in the kitchen making anxiety-free butterfly cakes, especially today when there is understandable, inevitable teenage anxiety (have you seen the papers today??) about A level results and futures tomorrow.

 

Comments

[Milla]

Thank you. You've read my mind again. I long for the authenticity of a show like Julia Child's, which I can still find on my public broadcasting channel. When I was young, I couldn't for the life of me get a cake to rise high "enough." My friends joked about my flat cakes and my seven-layer (to get them high enough)special occasion cakes, but couldn't wait to taste the newest creation. Women and their creations are supposed to be perfect, but *we* certainly aren't allowed to define "perfection." (Also,I tell those misguided enough to urge me to "cover my gray" that if putting chemicals onto my hair and scalp would actually *make* me 10 years younger, I'd consider it,but probably wouldn't, anyway.)

[karen]

OOh we are in A level wait mode - the tension is hell. Good luck x

[Jane]

Here,here! And since when did Battenburg come in coffee and walnut - bring back the pink version at once. Not in A level expectation mode here, thank goodness - after years of husband chewing fingers about his pupils, me in an admissions office battling with prospective students, and daughter in an education department dealing with problems, we're all on the sidelines this year. Very best wishes for Tom and Alice though.
I'm off to bake a non-perfect sponge :)

[Gavin Collins]

Even at home, the contestants' fear of failed baking projects is proabably just as angst inducing, so if the Great Britsh Bake-Off is just a good way of caputuring those awkward kitchen moments so we can learn from their mistatkes.

[Michael]

Well I for one cannot wait to go grey; I just have to hope I will salt and pepper in a most dashing manner!

[Johanna]

I have never understood why so many women are so afraid of going grey. There is no way you can hide your age (and why would you, anyway?), because even after platisc surgery, botox and hair dye it's always obvious that you're no longer in your twenties. So why the desperate efforts?
It pains me to think we are so vulnerable, so dependant on how we look, on how others see and judge us. Getting older isn't a shameful thing, is it? Isn't there more to us than just our appearance?

Of course everyone is free to do as she pleases, and if somebody wants to hide the grey, who am I to blame them? But it would be nice to see some more women simply going grey, showing the world that grey is just a colour...

[Susan M.]

I thought cake is what we do when we're under stress. Care to share? Yours looks delicious! :)

[m]

I'm fine with Mary Berry, but I wish someone would take a rolling pin to the truly awful Sue Perkins. They don't seem able to devise any food programme without her stuffing her face and slurping.

[Rachel]

Sending good luck thoughts to Tom and Alice for tomorrow...as well as sympathetic thoughts to you...I remember that day well - how can it have been 7 years ago?! I think my mum was more nervous than me! I very much hope they both get exactly what they want and need, which I am sure they will, and go off to university and have the time of their lives!

[janice]

I too watched TGBBO last night and found it hilarious exactly because it was so obviously over-tv-ised with the drama, the furrowed brows, the tumbling tiers. I would say I'm quite a functional baker. I use the same recipes and trusted faithfuls so I was a little tempted by some of the recipe ideas. I also got kit/mixer envy but that's another story...

[Christy]

...and I'd rather be in your kitchen, eating anxiety-free butterfly cakes!

Best wishes from Austin, Texas!

[Luisa Perkins]

Ah, Jane, how I've missed you. You are balm for a troubled soul. Thank you so much for doing what you do.

[Sara]

Bravo! I simply cannot watch any kind of "reality" TV. I couldn't agree with you more.

[Sue]

I'm so glad I didn't watch this programme. I had a feeling it would just be more reality tv, which is basically just about making people cry.

Best of luck to Tom and Alice tomorrow -think of me this time next week on the eve of GCSE results.

[PinkCatJo]

I can't help but love this programme. It's nice to have something on tv that recognises the cakes and cooking can be an artform and is highly creative.

It's like watching quiz shows, it's easy to think that you could do it sat in the comfort of your own home but much different when you are there stuck in front of a camera like a rabbit in headlights.

Good luck tomorrow - sure all will be great! x

[Annie]

I wonder how many people really concern themselves with the opinions of the cake police.
Good luck to Alice and Tom :)

[Fiona]

Yes, yes, yes! A wonderful articulation of my exact feelings. This endless competition in all things is not good for any of us, I fear. Exam results were out today in this part of the world, and we have the same gloom-sodden coverage as last year.
Good luck to Tom and Alice with their results, but more importantly, in remembering they are not the end of the world.

[Lisa G.]

Yes, WHY is it that being rude and making fun of people is thought to be so popular? I guess it must be - at least, enough to make them keep doing it.

As for the gray hair, at Christmas I heard two of my 30-ish cousins talking about wanting to do everything to avoid going gray. And there I was, 55 with long gray hair and no desire to cover it up.

[Marji]

Because "reality" shows are cheap and easy to produce and our society has gotten very mean-spirited (at least on my side of the Pond). It is always easier to destroy than to create.

MY frustration is that I am going gray in back, but not in front, so I look schizophrenic.

[Polly Hope]

Thought the same - wondered if they were all ecstatic when then the poor boy dropped his. Find myself wondering what "The Great" Paul Hollywood would think about my bursting bread :-/

[Helen]

Brilliant post. You've have tapped into my own slightly uncomfortable thoughts about it.

I like the programme (I agree with PinkCatJo that it's nice to have something on TV that recognises the craft of baking) and consider myself a good home baker. But when Mel's voice over told us how easy it was to fail at cupcakes (1 minute under or over could be disastrous apparently) I got a twinge of anxiety that *I* wasn't doing things the right way (and got straight onto amazon to buy Mary Berry's book before I caught myself in time).

How many people who haven't really baked before are put off a wonderful craft because they feel they have to be so very exact like this programme suggests.

Sometimes the nicest things can arise out of instinct, experiments and accidents. Just look at the Bakewell Pudding!

[Tina]

Same wavelength! I posted today about a similar topic. Like someone commented here, I think all this competition is making us more anxious than normal. There seems to be nothing left to do just for the sake of doing it; everything must be done to win something. Competition used to be mainly for advancing in school and work. My daughter is already off to start her first year at college, so I wish Tom and Alice all the best with their results, and hope they can continue to bake and knit and quilt for the love of it.

[Florence]

I completely agree - it's incredibly depressing and watching makes me feel as though I've been complicit in the bullying and humiliation.

I think that was what was so refreshing about Monty Don's Mastercrafts series - it was so rare to find a presenter of any kind of docu/reality series who simply treated the people taking part with kindness and respect. I wish there were more programmes undertaken with that ethos.

[Jayne Croghan]

Here here!!! I baked a coffee and walnut cake a couple of weeks ago using a recipe I'd not used before. It was a little difficult to peel off the baking paper but tasted good. It wasn't until Thing Two opened the microwave to heat milk for hot chocolate that I found I'd omitted the butter. Ooops.Ahhhh. A major flaw but everyone enjoyed the cake and consumed far fewer calories!!!
Hope all goes brilliantly well tomorrow! My AS person is out at the Proms to avoid being twitchy at home. Then we have the GCSE results to look forward to next week .....

[http://lheureduthe-jennifer.blogspot.com]

Oh how sane you are Jane.

I attempted to colour my hair a few years ago to try and cover up very few grey hairs and ended up with excema on the back of my neck! Needless to say I haven't repeated that particular experiment.

You are quite right about The Great British Bake Off - I did watch the first series more for ideas and the enjoyment of watching people cooking than anything else. I watched last night and was struck by the seriousness of the judging - for goodness sake, most cakes taste delicious except those that are made with strange ingredients. The problem with these programmes is that they try to reinvent the wheel instead of baking tried and traditional cakes that we have all loved over the years.

I recently made a seed cake which I had never made nor tasted before, I was re-reading an Agatha Christie novel and it was mentioned in there. It came out beautifully, so moist and not too sweet, my eldest daughter and myself started having midnight snacks of cake and cheese - it went well with both gruyere and cheddar! We could be in for a midnight snack tonight - we too are awaiting AS results tomorrow! We're not too anxious - we will take it as it comes, she tried her best and if it wasn't good enough - she says she will try again. Maria Shriver once said on the Oprah show that her mother always said to her that life is a marathon not a sprint - there's always time to fit in everything (usually) it doesn't have to be done all at once. I often tell my children this - to which their reply is usually a big yawn "yes - you've told us this already".

Hope your children get the results they are hoping for.

[http://lheureduthe-jennifer.blogspot.com]

Mean to mention in my previous comment - on the subject of anxiety - have you seen the Soil Association website recently regarding "Not in my Load" - apparently there are going to be trials of GM wheat next year. The date for objections is 19th August so not much time to object.

[http://lheureduthe-jennifer.blogspot.com]

I really must try typing a little slower and checking my spelling before posting the comment - it should read "Not in my Loaf"!!

[Eliz. K]

Baking can be so relaxing and usually winds me down (unless something goes very wrong...). Life is too stressful.

[Jake at Dapper and Dreamy]

I just wrote a post somewhat along this line for my own blog. Mine was a bit more about our fear of food as related to our ridiculous body image problems. But... It became more of a rant than a post, so I scrapped it. You were able to find the right balance!

I remember years ago when Martha Stewart was just becoming well-known. Her show was really a great learning tool. I found out a lot of things about baking that I hadn't known. As the years have passed, these kinds of people have become less about the fun and satisfaction of the creating process, and more about perfect results. I must say that, sometimes, the "wonderful" things they are creating aren't even really that good! That being said, baking, and so many of the other domestic arts, should be about creating a wonderful, full, warm life for ourselves and others.

Thanks for your post, it was well-timed.

Jake
www.dapperdreamy.blogspot.com

[Anna Marie]

If the cake was not made with love, what good is it?

Cheers Jane for a wonderful post.

Anna Marie

[Lesley M]

Love the Moth Cakes!

[Oxslip]

What a shame, I quite liked it last year but felt that the nice blonde woman (can't remember her name) was experiencing the effects of unfair positive discrimination against her middle-classness. She was my favourite, perhaps because most like me.
Fings crossed the post brought what was hoped for today.

[Dawn Nelson]

Here here! Well done you! My opinion on baking is: who cares what it looks like so long as it tastes good and goes down smoothly with a nice cup of tea! I have had many successes and failures baking, but like you I do it purely for the pleasure and not how intricately it's done or how perfect it turns out. Perfection is not what baking is about. It's about taste, homeliness and pleasure. My favourite memory from childhood is coming home on a horrible winter's day to be greeted by my mother with a big plate hot pancakes and butter. THAT'S what baking is about! Dawnx

[Louise]

Couldn't agree with you more - I found the whole thing completely depressing and am off to spend the whole day with my thankfully pre-exam age children baking as my grandma taught me with all its delightful imperfections.

[Mrsbris]

Ha ha! I was till recently feeling smug about my genetics... my mum has not yet gone grey (nor resorted to the bottle!).. that is until she, charmingly, informed me i did have the odd grey hair! Ah well it happens to us all.

Congratulations for your children. I have avoided the press today as i find their comments about exam results each year so depressing. My cousin has done amazingly well and bagged his first uni choice. He feels the hard work he put in truely paid off. And that is all that matters really, if you truely felt YOU have done your best. Its for noone else!

[patty]

I agree about the baking show - why such tension and meanness? Do people really enjoy seeing others reduced to tears and anguish? If so, that is very sad. This also happens so much in other competition shows right now - very few are kind to the less talented.

[MelD]

I can't abide competition cooking of any kind, too subjective for my liking - I'm hardly likely to love a chocolate cake when I prefer caramel or vanilla, am I?! Stupid idea!

Going grey, though - so happens I made that decision recently, too. Why should I cover my scalp in chemicals once a month? Being grey doesn't worry me in the least, it's the "going" that's bound to be tough. I'm hoping to have it sorted by the time I'm 50 (in 3 years!) and have started by having non-permanent colourant and going gradually a bit shorter, hoping to meet in the middle as the colour fades (though I may have to resort to lighter colours or mêches on the way, sadly). I'm looking forward to the result, though - perhaps a brighter lipstick, too!

Congrats to your kids on their A'levels - do they take 3 years now instead of 2??

[Elizabeth]

I heartily agree with every word and am spreading this post hither and yon.

[susan hall]

I too enjoyed the baking show (Pinkcatjo) and cannot understand why you are in the main taking it so earnestly and seriously. Those people beat thousands of others for their place at the stove and i would bet that they are loving every minute.
My son, age sixteen, took part in a so called reality show, "that'll teach'em" and had the best time of his life. His was quite a tough experience he had to live and eat fifties style and do O levels at the end of it.
He came home with friends from all walks of life that he will keep for life, full of self confidence and ambition to do well at A level and get a good degree, both of which he did.
So I don't feel sorry for the bakers at all it's a , bit of fun and they knew well what they were in for, though I do agree that we could dispense with the dreadful Mel and Sue double act.
As for grey hair I've got it and couldn't care less, in fact I love it having spent my youth and a ton of money dying it blonde it is a relief never to spend over 40 minutes in the hairdresser again !

[Susan Krzywicki]

I don't cook, bake or otherwise mess about in the kitchen, but agree with you completely. No need to over-competitivise (not a word, but should be) every single fun aspect of our lives. Leave a little room for just doing things for oneself and ones family!

[Crlwilkie]

Why are reality shows so nasty. It has even invaded the baking one. Good post

[Christine Pokorny]

Thank you for your post. I couldn't agree more -- about everything. But especially cooking and baking -- I have completely gone off Food Network here in the US because every show is now a "competition" which seems mainly to be made to make someone look bad, so others who are watching can feel superior somehow. I guess I'm from the old school, but if I want to watch a "cooking" channel, I want to LEARN something, not laugh at someone at their expense. I miss Julia Child!

[Regina Anne]

As my Southern Baptist Mom would say -- Amen! Baking shouldn't be a sport - it should be for the sheer enjoyment of baking (and eating too!)

[Lynne Gill]

Cake competitions are not new - see any village fete/WI etc etc. However, WATCHING cookery/baking programmes with an element of competition and humiliation is gruesome - so I don't.

I would add that I consider reality programmes and their emphasis on yobbery and humiliation, are part of the mixture of elements which culminated in the recent riots. TV programmers bear huge responsibility for the dumbing down of our society.

[Josefina]

I very much appreciate this post. We have similar programs in the US, and I think they are just awful.

I am seeing my very first grey hairs begin to emerge, and I am proud of them. To me, they are a symbol of something wonderful: the privilege of being alive for many years, and the experience and wisdom I've gained. Who ever decided I should want to hide that?

[Vicki in Michigan]

I have felt that my gray may be defiant, but hadn't thought of it as daring..... Or perhaps we mean the same thing, I'm not sure.

In any case, fie on 'em, for telling EVERYONE that they don't look "right," and shame on us for believing them.

Just say "no," people, to other people defining you. Physically, emotionally, politically, whatever!

I don't have to dye, bleach, color, straighten, curl, de-frizz, grow out, or cut, in order to be "acceptable." I don't have to paint, perfume, or accessorize. I certainly don't have to wear uncomfortable shoes that will cripple me in the long run.

And neither does anyone else.

ps -- I can't watch those competition shows, either. Baking, singing, or anything else. Except Iron Chef. Iron Chef America judges use "I" messages, almost always, and are gentle and constructive, almost always. In sharp contrast to other shows where contestants are deliberately humiliated, whether by being let on when they clearly are not competitive, or by judges being horrible and cruel.......