Bake Off Israel
At the beginning of April this year, the first season of Bake Off Israel aired. The reality TV show The Great British Bake Off has came to the holy land to find the best amateur bakers couple. Three expert judges are examining the Israeli contestants’ cooking skills. Among them is Mrs. Carine Goren, a well-known pastry chef. With food articles, cookbooks, and a baking TV show of her own, every Israeli baking fan is familiar with her sweet work. A regular on prime time national TV, almost every Israeli is now familiar with her look as well. And lots of them have opinions to offer. Chef Goren is a beautiful 42 year old, but one episode of Bake Off Israel was enough for some judgmental viewers to critique the baking judge. Instead of focusing on the recipes, the baking techniques, and the contestants’ dynamic, social networks were immediately flooded with pungent mocking about Carine’s weight. During the first days after the broadcast of the first episode, Carine was the unwilling star of memes and jokes about her body shape.
Social networking promotes freedom of speech. Unfortunately, this freedom of speech sometimes results in a repulsive outcome: shaming. In this case this specific shaming also encouraged interesting discussion about social diktat, and mostly about feminism. Because while Chef Goren was a target, none of the naysayers criticized the two male judges’ bellies, bald heads or double chins.
Several days after the first episode of Bake Off Israel, the Israeli press was still busy discussing Carine Goren’s shaming. The press kept contemplating this issue, in articles (such as Ha`aretz newspaper), on TV shows (such as the morning show of channel 10), and beyond. And Carine? You can read her response on her Facebook page.
Text Vocabulary
Food = אֹוכֶל (O-chel)
Baking = אֲפִיָּה (A-fi-ya)
Baker = אוֹפֶה (O-fe)
Chef = שֶׁף (Shef)
Pastry chef = קוֹנְדִּיטוֹר (Kon-di-tor)
TV show = תָּכְנִית טֶלֶוִיזְיָה (Toch-nit Te-le-viz-ya)
Discussion = דִּיּוּן (Di-yun)
Social network = חֶבְרָתִית רֶשֶׁת (Re-shet Hev-ra-tit)
Feminism = פֶמִינִיזְם (Fe-mi-ni-zem)
