Sarapes, sombreros and maracas: how difficult it is to be Mexican on British television

Just look for a few seconds to feel sorry for others.

The public television of the United Kingdom premiered last Tuesday an episode dedicated to Mexico of the famous

program , a

cooking show in which the participants compete to be the best cake cook.

The Mexican cuisine theme seemed like an excellent idea for

English, but it became a string of stereotypes about Mexicans that had very little to do with their culture.

Hosts Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding, for example, open one of the segments dressed in serapes from Guadalajara, hats and maracas in hand.

"I feel like we shouldn't do Mexican jokes, because some people might get upset," Fielding says as he dresses up as a Mexican supposedly looks.

At another point, the same presenter questions whether Mexico is a real country.

Criticism of the BBC network, in charge of producing the program, has flooded the networks after touching very sensitive fibers.

Beyond the

and the unfortunate comments of the presenters, the culinary content of the show also does not come close – not even a bit – to the richness of Mexican cuisine.

The selection of dishes that the contestants must prepare are meat tacos accompanied by beans and pico de gallo, sweet bread shells and a tres leches cake.

The participants demonstrate throughout the episode that they do not know how to cut an avocado or that a Mexican cake is not exactly a tower covered with fondant.

The British audience (also the Mexican and Latin audience in general) has already shouted to the heavens: making tacos in a program dedicated to baking is lazy, they say, since Mexican cuisine has hundreds of recipes suitable for the occasion.

The

over Mexico

it seems, more than anything, a missed opportunity to showcase true Mexican cuisine.

That which in 2010 was designated Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO;

the one that little by little has opened spaces in the main capitals of the world –first in the streets and then in luxury restaurants–;

and the one that has already been multi-awarded in the main international rankings.

The complexity of the recipes, the diversity of the ingredients and the degree of difficulty in their preparation have been ignored in favor of entertainment.

Who would want to learn how to prepare a capirotada, when there is a hard tortilla from the supermarket and avocado to make a mix for the camera?

Accustomed to seeing themselves in stereotyped representations around the world –there is Warner Brothers' Speedy Gonzales–, Mexicans tend to take cases like the English show with humor and even transfer them to the world of memes without much hesitation.

Some critics point out that the production of the

was able to take advantage of the idea to invite a Mexican chef, one of those that abound in Europe, to share original recipes with the participants, the kind that grandmothers teach.

A more accurate representation of a Mexican to get the British audience to know the reasons why cooking is essential for the country.

Mexico cannot be understood without a good breakfast with chilaquiles, a meal with pozole and a dinner with Esquites: the millenary diet of corn.

The famous chef Enrique Olvera says that "Mexican food tastes like Mexico" and there is no need to cross oceans to really get to know it, those who have emigrated have already taken it upon themselves to take it all over the planet.

One of the images promoting the

Dedicated to Mexico, it lists nachos, burritos, hard tacos and American quesadillas as examples of Mexican food.

It has been in the United States where Mexicans have undertaken a true culinary diplomacy that has already permeated –at least– in the main cities.

A few decades ago it was unlikely to find a tamale cart in New York, an exquisite plate of birria in Los Angeles or a generous tlayuda in Chicago.

The show has been released this Friday in that country and the networks, of course, are already burning.

Although misconceptions about Mexico persist among some Americans as well, it is undeniable that education about this culture has already made significant strides.

Food as a tool to understand other realities could also serve the best public television in the world.

subscribe here

to the

of EL PAÍS México and receive all the informative keys of the current affairs of this country