The stars of Food Network and Magnolia Network’s competitive baking show “Gingerbread Land: The Biggest Little Holiday Competition” have been revealing exactly how much they know about gingerbread.
The competition is now in full swing, with three episodes having aired — the most recent of which was on Monday, December 1. It follows a talented group of bakers competing in gingerbread building challenges. Gradually, they build edible miniature worlds with increasingly complex additions, including lights and moving parts. They’re marked on factors like design, structure, and creativity.
That most recent episode was titled “Oliver’s Twist.” In said episode, the contestants were tasked with making their creations move for the first time.
The show is hosted by actor Oliver Hudson, while architect and professor Michael Ford and pastry chef Gale Gand are on judge duties. The likes of Christina Tosi and D’Arcy Carden have featured as guest judges.
Regular trio Hudson, Ford, and Gand have been answering questions about the core ingredient of the contestant’s festive creations.
Hudson, Ford & Gand Were Asked 6 Gingerbread Questions
In a 95-second video uploaded to the official Food Network Instagram account, Oliver Hudson, Michael Ford, and Gale Gand were asked six questions. The questions were all in the true or false format and the topic was gingerbread and its historical usage.
Of course, Gingerbread has been around for a very long time. Britannica says that some food historians suggest that an Armenian monk, Gregory of Nicopolis, introduced it to France as early as 992. Therefore, there’s a lot to know about it.
The questions about it were as follows:
- TRUE OR FALSE: Gingerbread cookies were one used as currency at European Christmas markets (Answer: False).
- TRUE OR FALSE: In medieval Europe, gingerbread was initially used for its medicinal purposes to aid digestion (Answer: True).
- TRUE OR FALSE: By the 17th century, Nuremberg, Germany was known as the gingerbread capital of the world (Answer: True).
- TRUE OR FALSE: Queen Elizabeth I once served her guests miniature gingerbread versions of themselves (Answer: True).
- TRUE OR FALSE: Queen Victoria enjoyed sharing gingerbread with her dog (Answer: True).
- TRUE OR FALSE: Gingerbread used to be sold as love tokens at fairs Answer: False).
Those are tough questions, admittedly — and they certainly posed a challenge to Hudson, Ford, and Gand.
Hudson Won the Gingerbread Knowledge Battle … Just
GettyIn the end, Oliver Hudson scored a respectable three out of six, while both Michael Ford and Gale Gand scored two out of six.
It looked as though Hudson was going to run away with the victory, as he answered the first three questions correctly, while Ford and Gand struggled, getting none of the first three questions right between them, prompting the latter to say, “It’s like, why am I judging this show again? I’m getting them all wrong!” In fact, Gand got all of the first four questions wrong!
However, Ford and Gand mounted a comeback, while Hudson dropped off. It meant the final scores were much closer than they might have been.
Episode 4 of “Gingerbread Land: The Biggest Little Holiday Competition” airs next Monday, December 8, on Magnolia Network and Food Network at 9 p.m. ET. It also streams the following day on HBO Max and Discovery+.
