I think, as we are prone to do in times of panic, we’re all looking for some form of comfort and escapism right now. For lots of us, who aren’t still going out to work, are in the privileged position to be able to make time to finally make it through our ‘to read’ lists and watching the films we’d pretended we’d already seen. Alongside that (and my new watercolour habit) I’ve been soothing myself with Bon Appetit‘s YouTube channel. Don’t worry – the only C word in this article is Claire Saffitz.
The video section of Condé Nast’s food magazine, Bon Appetit, is an accidental viral sensation, switching from slick how-to style videos to character focused content, starting a few years ago when Brad Leone’s wacky It’s Alive fermentation video series took off. Since then, we’ve been let in on all of the test kitchen chefs’ personalities via other series. The internet favourite, Claire Saffitz on Gourmet Makes painstakingly creates our childhood snacks; Chris Morocco uses his incredible palate in Reverse Engineering to recreate another chef’s dish without seeing it, and Carla Lalli Music teaches celebrities recipes on Back to Back Chef. Then there’s the Infinity War style crossover episodes, where the chefs join together on Making Perfect to make the perfect Pizza or Thanksgiving Dinner, with each episode tackling a component, culminating in a finale where the perfect version is made.
There’s lots of reasons it’s been so successful, with over 5 million subscribers and more than 70 million views, as well as a vibrant fandom creating memes on twitter and videos explaining why they would die for Claire. Basically – it’s just really good! The videos hit the perfect spot between fun and genuinely useful cooking tips, with the chefs’ charisma and chemistry in their interactions with each other shining through effortlessly.
Not only this, but the realism is immersive. The genuine friendship between the co-workers and watching them excitedly try each other’s creations takes the word ‘wholesome’ to a new level. And they mess up! Things get burnt! Chris Morocco can’t crack an egg! It makes us feel better about our own kitchen disasters – one of the best parts of Claire Saffitz’s Gourmet Makes is coming back from failure and realising that learning to cook is a learning curve- even if Sattifz might regret ever agreeing to it on day 3 of attempting to make Skittles from scratch.
In a time where food can feel so policed and where discourses around wellness and clean eating have created anxieties about what we eat, it feels so important too to have this space where both cooking and eating are something to be enjoyed. Even their Healthy-ish section doesn’t add shame to food, nor shy away from enjoyment or class ingredients as taboo. Salt and oil are your friends here. Especially now, when we’ll all probably be spending more time cooking at home and less time burning calories, food should be something which we allow to soothe rather than stress us.
For me though, the best part is how nostalgic it feels. Both of my parents are big foodies and watching them spend time cooking every day was a significant part of my childhood – I learnt how to cook by watching over and over how they would cut an onion, sauté vegetables, or reduce a sauce. Bon Appetit takes us all back to our childhoods. There’s something incredibly Blue Peter and Art Attack about it – Gourmet Makes is often more arts and crafts than actual cooking and there was something very sentimental in Brad doing a ‘here’s one I made earlier’ for a miso paste that had been fermenting for three years. It’s a sitcom too – Chris Morocco himself has described it as ‘The Office, but in a kitchen,’- the ‘characters’ are both colleagues and friends and there are inside jokes. I’d go as far to say it’s even more wholesome, it will never reach that dreaded point of a long-running sitcom where the plot becomes more important than characters – the only angst here is if Sattifz achieves the perfect crunch on a homemade Dorito or if Morocco chooses the right cheese in his recreation (spoiler: he doesn’t).
Let’s face it, during these uncertain times, Bon Appetit is what we deserve – it’s our ideal background noise, and weirdly, a way to watch humans interact with each other when we’re all isolated away from one another. It’s providing me with inspiration for things to cook and finally having the time to pursue my Brad Leone inspired fermentation dreams is proving fruitful. And don’t worry, even though the chefs are in lockdown in New York, the videos will keep coming. They’ve been given tripods to make their own videos from their home kitchens and, while it might be the saddest thing to admit, I for one look forward to seeing the insides of their fridges and all of their dogs.