#but I’ve been very VERY into the Foodtuber scene and the psychology behind it

[jane-friend]

I already reblogged this earlier today, but having seen this multiple times on my dash I actually went to watch the video because the full english in the image he makes looks… sterile? It’s hard to explain but it looks so *safe*. And sure enough, in the video, it IS just that. Food cooked more for color and visual appeal than flavor. He undercooks the mushrooms, the sausages don’t get enough color so that the one stripe of Maillard reaction pops more, in general everything is only lightly and purposely cooked in a way that does not lend well to flavor or mouthfeel. The resulting dish simply isn’t going to be pleasant to eat, or at least vastly less pleasant than an ordinarily, thoroughly prepared full english.

Now, I bring this up because, outside of being a self-absorbed foodtuber and cryptobro who thinks he can’t do no wrong, I’ve noticed all of his content is no longer about showing how to cook iconic recipes from shows. Initially in the VERY early years of Babish, his channel was built off of a fun premise: make weird dishes from TV shows. He was already pretty handy in the kitchen, but was less secure about his abilities, carried vulnerability, was very clearly genuine. But as he got more attention and people praised his handiwork, he quickly dropped his genuine behaviors and mannerisms and almost immediately doubled down on this new persona he had found, this Humble Kitchen Mastermind he now wants us to perceive him as. Any mess-ups in the videos felt less on accident and more scripted, his attempts at expanding content immediately jumped to “Basics with Babish” where he takes it upon himself to show you how to cook in a move that felt a little too self-indulgent for his ego. And after a while, he rebranded to “Babish Culinary Universe”, shedding any sort of perception that he was of humble beginnings and jumped on the opportunity to make what was once fun cooking videos into a Business.

Ever since then, his videos have purely become style over substance. While his skills were still sound, his presentation was sterile. He would do a dish from a show, then completely spit in the face of it and staunchly declare he’s now going to do a BABISH version, in which he takes this fun food concept and perverts it into something unrecognizable to the source material. In the past he had done this sort of thing, but it was sparingly. Now, it’s a common occurrence, and feels even more like performative reinforcement of his internet persona. Nothing feels genuine.

Which now brings me to today. I’ve been watching his videos sparingly over this year, less as a means of enjoyment and more as a case study. All of his videos where he makes food from shows are so unbelievably artificial. The Everything Bagel video is not a proper video on making The Everything Bagel, it is seven minutes of jarring editing and wasted seasonings all for an unfunny joke. His initial attempt at making the cheeseburger from The Menu was wildly half-assed, failing to capture why the scene from the movie was so powerful in the first place(appreciation of food for food’s sake, the simple joy of cooking) and he wastes no time in doing his BABISH version, somehow making a high-effort *fancy* burger that looks even worse than the simple burger in the movie.

And here we are, the Full English video sponsored by Hogwarts Legacy. After all this backstory, after all this text, what the fuck point am I trying to make? It’s this:

Babish is not in the business of making videos about food, not anymore. Babish is in the business of making videos about his character. Without a doubt, Babish knows the implications of aligning his character with this game and all the controversy it, and Harry Potter, bring with it.

And Babish chose to make the video.

uhh TLDR Fuck this guy he knows what he did

babish bigot embarrassment