GBM 2024 - The Fish Course Discourse

The Tuesday 19 Mar 2024 episode from Season 19 of The Great British Menu included a section which could easily have been ‘disappeared’ from the final cut. Whichever editor, director or producer decided to retain and broadcast this moment from ‘The Finals: Fish Course’ should be congratulated.

The clip involves a contretemps* which is now forever preserved in aspic. Well, it’s shrouded in glorious Technicolor as long as BBC iPlayer keep it in their lists.

Andi Oliver sets the scene:

“In the kitchen Ajay is adding shallots to curry leaves to start a spicy coconut broth. And there’s spice in the air as Kate rolls her pasta and Corrin preps his mackerel…”

The ‘spice in the air’ starts around 6 minutes 15 seconds into the iPlayer episode and lasts a further painful half minute. You should be able to view it as long as the link on the ‘playstrip’ below lasts.

You perhaps prefer a graphic novel? OK. The pictures which follow give an alternative blow by blow account of events with subtitles for those who find it hard to believe the evidence of their own ears.

Graphic? Most certainly.
Novel? Certainly not.
Sadly, Corrin’s involvement is nothing new and, unlike a celebratory banquet, offers absolutely nothing to be celebrated.

Spice

Slice

Whine

Not fine

Response incoming

I’m sure you can understand my point

Does she have a point…

Nah. No point

I’m on a roll…

Let’s make things worse

Admirable calm

Yeah. Let’s make things much worse

Appealing to the crowd

Comfort from an unexpected quarter

At which point a grimacing Kate Austen pats Corrin Harrison on the back and rather gallantly refuses to alert him to the fact that he has been a complete and utter tosser.

Might be best if Corrin was preserved in aspic as well.
You know. As an example of something unpleasant, tasteless, and under-developed which is allowed to come out of a kitchen.

*contretemps

Definition: a minor dispute or disagreement.
an unexpected and unfortunate occurrence.

Perhaps contretemps was too weak a description. While writing this I’ve begun to formulate some headlines for news outlets.

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF IN THE GBM KITCHEN!

But we have a granddaughter. So I’m going with:

KATE AUSTEN QUIETLY KEEPS HER COOL AS SHE WITNESSES MISOGYNIST MALE IN HIS 32ND YEAR BEING A DESPERATELY POOR EXAMPLE OF BEING A MALE IN HIS 32ND YEAR - OR ANY OTHER YEAR

Yes, that’ll do.

Best to sign off now.
But I’ll leave with the acknowledgment that you have just read the words of a 72 year-old white privileged male who is hugely aware of being accused of virtue signalling.
And who also hopes that when our granddaughter is a little older than her present three years she will tell those accusers to sod right off!