As everyone with a Netlifx account, I've spent hours binge watching tons of content during Covid. But no show made me more happy than the Great British Baking Show. I think at some point we all got the baking bug... no? just me? Watching GBBS made me believe in humanity during a particularly dark time in our history. As the Covid reality kept looming and the elections were polarizing, I turned to the one show where everyone seemed to really like one another. Where else on TV and especially a competition show, do you see people helping each other and giggling their own misses while giving high-fives (pre-Covid taping) to the praises of their competitors? Does that mean that there are genuinely nice people out there a humanity isn't doomed to burn ourselves in a pile of ashes?
I know I must sound very dramatic, but if you lived in the US for the last 2 years you know what I mean. And it doesn't matter what side of the "political fence" you choose to sit on, we were imploding with hate and resentment for one another in the most grotesque way. And to drown it all out, I turned to watching people bake biscuits. And not just biscuits, but bread and cakes and things I've never even heard of. And not just bake but create towers and stories with their creations that were truly inspiring.
So inspiring in fact it seemed that everyone started baking. And I couldn't go on TikTok... (another success built entirely by our total desire to mind-numbingly distract ourselves from the world around us while being locked in for months on end...) without seeing someone bake, shake, or slap a piece of dough. I'm looking at you hanabreadtok. And I love it! Here, in the midst of all the anger and hate, we found things to unite us. And we all literally started to break bread together.
And let me tell you one more thing. I was not immune to this craze? Fad? New way of life? I made my first ever sourdough starter and named her "Bubbles" after the character I love from AbFab. Because she's quirky and will likely fail, but I'll laugh with her anyway. Her first creation was actually not that terrible. I made a wheat sourdough loaf and impressed not only myself but my family too. (pat's myself on the shoulder)
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