Something to Chew On: 6 Food Web Series to Watch

Jun’s Kitchen

• What Is This? A supremely talented self-taught chef creates beautiful dishes in front of his cats. With the exception of a couple of the earlier videos, Jun syncs his step-by-step instructions with groovy background music, thus satisfying both your culinary and audio-visual tastes. Jun also has videos dedicated to his cats and deep-cleaning his equipment that are equally satisfying to watch.

• Who Is This For? People who like stunning visuals of food, Japanese nature, knife skills, culinary artistry, and/or cats.

• What Does It Do Well? Short & sweet snacks of #content (most videos are under seven minutes); jaw-dropping knife skills; beautiful visuals; harmonious audio and video; cats.

• What Should I Watch First? Depends what you're into. For knife skills: Sushi for Cats. For artistry: Crepe Suzette or A Japanese Take on American Sushi. For creativity: Blue Berry Cheese Cake (Homemade Yogurt) or Koi fish sushi. For cats: Any of them. Enjoy.

Tasty

• What Is This? Tasty is a BuzzFeed joint that teaches viewers how to create dishes from a variety of cuisines, from simple to complex, practical to indulgent. Tasty knows what it does well, and that’s accompanying tempting visuals with easy-to-understand instructions so anybody can watch a video and make something they’re proud of (even if it takes you a few tries). The channel also showcases some more ‘BuzzFeed-esque’ videos, with features ranging from taste tests to cooking challenges to novelty foods. Whatever you fancy, Tasty has got you covered.

• Who Is This For? Those who are new to cooking or are looking for new dishes to make and enjoy. Also, those who just want to click on a playlist and let the wave of satisfying food imagery roll in.

• What Does It Do Well? Easy instructions; visually pleasing footage; delightful background music; a wide variety of dishes to try.

• What Should I Watch First? The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies or How to Make Macaron Recipes To Become A Macaron Master.

Binging with Babish

• What Is This? Andrew Rea is the creative genius behind Binging with Babish. This channel features dishes inspired by film, TV, and pop culture – cannolis from The Godfather, Turkish Delight from The Chronicles of Narnia, as well as the titular dishes from Bob’s Burgers and Ratatouille. He also offers basic cooking lessons on his channel in his Basics With Babish series. Rea’s passion for filmmaking combined with his dry humour make every video a fun watch, even if you’re not familiar with the story behind the dish.

• Who Is This For? Fans of popular film and TV who want to see their favourite fictional dishes brought to life.

• What Does It Do Well? Witty instructions and commentary; fabulous editing and visuals; impressive fidelity of food from the (often-animated) source material.

• What Should I Watch First? From film: Grey Stuff from Beauty and the Beast and Shrimp from Forrest Gump. From TV: Rachel’s Trifle from Friends. How-To: Donuts or Chicken Breasts That Don’t Suck.

Hiroyuki Terada – Diaries of a Master Sushi Chef

• What Is This? Master Sushi Chef Hiroyuki Terada shows you how to prepare Japanese dishes from sushi to ramen to wagyu beef. Also on the channel are some tutorials on how to fillet or break down various seafood. (Sometimes he breaks down live animals, but these videos are labeled with a 'graphic' tag in case you want to steer clear.) The videos on this channel are filmed in your basic 'man-with-a-camera' style, so while they lack the visual flair typical of foodie videos, each one demonstrates Terada’s expertise in Japanese cuisine.

• Who Is This For? Those who like to watch someone cooking Japanese cuisine, or would like to learn how to make it themselves.

• What Does It Do Well? Expert knowledge and technique; authentic recipes, *and* wacky video ideas (their “Will It Sushi?” series will certainly make any purists weep).

• What Should I Watch First? Rainbow Roll - How To Make Sushi Series, Tuna Uni Chirashi From Frozen Tuna Block, How To Process Tuna Block For Sushi: Part 1.

Lofty Pursuits

• What Is This? Greg is an endearing candymaker from Tallahassee, Florida, and he makes sweets by hand, the old-fashioned way. These videos can be surprisingly therapeutic, and watching the candy-making process for the first time is fascinating. Most videos are voiced-over recordings of someone from the Lofty Pursuits team making sweets. Fans of the channel have told Greg they prefer a voiceover to only having background music, so Greg fills the space with anecdotes from his life. But if you came here just for the visuals, feel free to turn down the volume. The Lofty Pursuits crew don’t have a Tasty-like budget, but they do have a unique charm about them when they’re making their sweets.

• Who Is This For? People who like to watch candy-making, or simply enjoy relaxing.

• What Does It Do Well? Detailed descriptions of the candy-making process; inventive designs; folksy voice-overs.

• What Should I Watch First? #57 Relax and watch the Making of Crystal Rose Candies at Lofty Pursuit and #39 The making of Victorian Watermelon Image Candy at Lofty Pursuits.

The Great British Bake Off

• What Is This? A bastion of hope and joy that will bring light to the world until the end of linear time. Each series of this wholesome show begins with twelve amateur bakers competing for the title of Britain’s Best Baker. Though, we use the word 'competing' loosely since the bakers are known to help their 'competitors' complete their dishes. Guiding you through the baking challenges are two witty presenters and a duo of canny judges, depending on the series. For the winner – no cash, no prizes (except for a cake stand and a tasteful flower bouquet), just the honour and glory of being Britain’s best amateur baker.

• Who Is This For? Anyone with a beating heart. Or, people who like good baking, nice filmography, and/or perfectly-paired orchestral soundtracks.

• What Does It Do Well? Stunning shots of the English countryside accompanied with uplifting and stirring music; intermittent shots of bleating sheep or babbling brooks that are entirely unrelated to the show yet are immeasurably valuable; showcasing people’s kindness and authenticity; Mel & Sue’s humour; Paul Hollywood’s handshakes.

What Should I Watch First? Any episode, any series.