The Golden Spoon

Bake Week, the fictional television show in The Golden Spoon, bears a resemblance to real-life competition shows, most notably The Great British Bake Off (or, as it is known in the United States, The Great British Baking Show), where a group of contestants from diverse backgrounds showcase their amateur skills in the kitchen, undergoing a series of challenges and attempting to survive regular eliminations. As in its real-life inspiration, Bake Week takes place in a tent and is filmed on the grounds of a large country house; however, in Maxwell’s novel, that country house is in Vermont rather than England.

The Great British Bake Off, along with its many spinoffs, is a relatively recent addition to a sub-genre of food reality television that also includes cooking-related shows such as Top Chef and Hell’s Kitchen. More broadly, these types of competition shows are part of food reality television, a category that focuses on the production, consumption, history, and sociology of food. The forerunners of today’s food reality shows are educational programs of the 1940s and 50s. Many of these early shows focused on demonstrating skills to viewers and providing commentary on homemaking. Studio sets mimicked the kitchens of middle-class Americans, while close-up shots displayed the cooking process and preparation techniques in real time.