‘I already hate Sam. He’s too chavvy.’
Can you imagine the outrage that would kick off if someone said that about a contestant on a reality TV programme? But that’s essentially what happened to Flora Shedden, a 19-year-old candidate on this year’s Great British Bake Off who was accused of being ‘too posh’ on social media.
So what triggered all of this? Simply forgetting to turn on her oven because ‘at home we’ve got an Aga, and I’m so used to having it on all the time.’ This one statement triggered a stream of abuse on social media, with many commenters hoping that she’d leave the competition first. For what crime? Being a bad cook? Having a soggy bottom? Nope; in fact, her Madeira cake turned out beautifully. Her crime was having the ‘wrong’ kind of oven.
First of all – there’s nothing wrong with an Aga. Yes, they’re expensive to buy and can be relatively pricey to run. But they are also an incredibly practical way of heating a house (especially in cooler climes – such as the Highlands, where Flora’s family happen to live), they eradicate the need for a kettle or a toaster, and they are extremely hardy, lasting for decades. Indeed, as Flora has since commented, the Aga (which is her parents’, after all, not even hers), ‘was in a house fire in the ’50s and we salvaged it for next to nothing. It is an old codger really’. So there you go – Aga does not automatically equal ‘posh’.
But secondly – even if Flora were deemed to be ‘posh’, why does that matter, and is that an acceptable reason to abuse her on social media? People would be up in arms if she was being abused for any other reason – her nationality, hair colour, accent, or, indeed, if she had been deemed ‘too common’ because what – she’d forgotten to turn the oven on because she was used to cooking with a microwave? Does it really matter what you bake with, as long as the end result tastes good? And after all, isn’t the Great British Bake Off one of the most middle-class television programmes of them all? Making jam, and baking ‘fougasse’ or ‘Apple, Walnut, Raisin and Cheshire Cheese Chaussons’ (yes, really) in a tent pitched in the back garden of an English country house all sounds pretty middle class to me.
Some might say that Flora should have kept quiet about her parents’ Aga. But then again – perhaps she shouldn’t. A new Aga might cost anything from £5,000 upwards, but if you’re willing to put in the effort – as Flora’s parents obviously were – a second-hand one is much cheaper, and will most likely have a long life ahead of it. I’d argue that Aga-owners should be proud of their Agas, and if any other Bake Off fans have issue with Flora’s Aga, I suggest they take their grievances to Mary Berry, author of Mary Berry’s New Aga Cookbook.
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