Watch: ‘Welsh Cake’ becomes most searched topic on Google in Argentina

Sometimes, just sometimes, Twitter (or X or whatever Elon Musk is calling it this week) can be a force for good, not just a fetid swamp of over argumentative people.

Take the Mayor of Barry, Cllr Ian Johnson for example. Not only is the Plaid councillor adept at wearing the sort of blingtastic gold chain that would make Newport rap crew Goldie Lookin’ Chain green with envy, he’s also rather good at unearthing stories for Nation Cymru.

Here is a tweet he wrote copying us in on what he thought would make for a good tale.

Ian wrote: ‘Yesterday’s most searched Google item in Argentina was ‘torta galesa’ (‘Welsh cake’, actually bara brith) after a primetime tv game show featured a question on the recipe. @NationCymru do your thing.’

Yesterday's most searched Google item in Argentina was 'torta galesa' ('Welsh cake', actually bara brith) after a primetime tv game show featured a question on the recipe. @NationCymru do your thing 🤣 https://t.co/zf5Wq6IkRt pic.twitter.com/ITtagzqKJT

— Ian Johnson (@ianjamesjohnson) August 17, 2023

Always up for a challenge and with Google Translate primed and ready we jumped into the mix to get to the (soggy) bottom of this story.

It transpires that Ian has a friend in Argentina who retweeted a message highlighting Torta Galesa high on Google search and asking why. Someone in the comments was explaining the question came from the TV programme ‘Los 8 Escalones’ (The 8 Steps) where there was a question about the ingredients of Bara Brith.

Handily the quiz show was available on YouTube. The full title of which is Los 8 Escalones de los 3 Millones (The 8 Steps of the 3 Million).

The show features a number of contestants who have to answer a series of questions. They are slowly whittled down to a final two and whoever answers the most correctly wins Three Million Pesos. Sadly, the winning contestant doesn’t become an instant millionaire. Three million pesos is around £6-7,000.

The final two contestants Juan Cruz and Johnathan battled it out but both were stumped when it came to a question about Bara Brith, known in Argentina as Torta Galesa.

When they were asked: ¿CUÁL DE ESTOS INGREDIENTES ES FUNDAMENTAL PARA LA PREPARACIÓN DE LA TORTA GALESA? (WHICH OF THESE INGREDIENTS IS ESSENTIAL FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE WELSH CAKE?) they were given four options.

A. AZÚCAR NEGRA B. CACAO C. MANZANA D. HARINA INTEGRAL

A. BLACK SUGAR B. COCOA C. APPLE D. WHOLE FLOUR

Juan Cruz chose D. Whole flour, while Johnathan chose C. Apple.

They were both incorrect – and the correct answer was not given.

For the viewers watching at home this then prompted a mad scramble for the answer on Google, prompting ‘Welsh Cake’ to become the number one trending subject on the global search engine in Argentina.

It also prompted an outpouring of love for Bara Brith, which is very popular in the South American country thanks to the Welsh settlers in Patagonia who introduced the recipe to the country.

“That cake is my obsession,” said one. “By God yes my obsession the Welsh cake,” wrote another. “The best cake by far,” added a third.

As we said god bless Twitter/X, it can be a force for good.

And if you were wondering, the answer is… available on Google!