In the first and only episode of The Frack-free Bake Off, actress Emma Thompson and her sister Sophie turned baking into a new form of environmental activism.
They filmed The Great British Bake Off parody on land leased for drilling activity in Lancashire, England, where activists were banned after a 2014 protest. Thomspon, a longtime Grist crush, held the event in collaboration with Greenpeace to bring attention to the British government’s inconsistent commitment to the climate (“Lancashire voted for its favorite cake. But the government won’t let them have the final vote on fracking”).
In the process of whipping up confectionery feats — scrumptious renewable-energy-themed cakes — the sisters’ operation was sprayed with manure by a retaliatory local farmer.
So whose cake won: Emma’s wind-power cake or Sophie’s solar? Watch the video above to find out — and remember that in the game of fracking, really, none of us win.
