I’m doing a Tasty Video as my rhetorical piece. Tasty Videos are a new phenomenon that combine recipes, blogs, ~aesthetics~, and mindless TV into one quick and easy watchable and make-able piece. The purpose of Tasty Videos from a production standpoint is to have as many views, likes, and comments on Facebook.

The Tasty Videos make use of Facebook’s autoplay feature on videos by being short 30-60 seconds and being easy to follow. None of the videos have incredibly complicated recipes and most use basic ingredients that the novice cook knows how to use. It cuts out all the prep work of a recipe that is mostly time consuming in video format. The cuts to pre measured and time jumps to frozen or cooked foods lets the viewer follow the recipe without being fully engaged.

While food blogs and Tasty Video page both are fully about recipes the Tasty Video cuts straight to the chase. There is no ‘about’ section or intro; instead just straight video of the food being made. That is part of the appeal; you can watch it without looking for something to make. It pops up on the Facebook timeline after a friend has liked or shared it. Much like reality TV you don’t have to be fully engaged in the ‘episodes’ to understand and follow the recipe.

Most viewers and likes of Tasty Videos never really intend on making the food. It is the aesthetics of the video that appeal to most viewers. It is quick break to scrolling through timelines. The videos are short and the images clean. The viewer never sees chopping, dicing, or other prep work unless directly needed for the recipe. The indigent are neatly put into bowls and added to the pot or bowl as necessary. The background clean of debris and relaxing music playing in the background. To me at least this is the ideal cooking situation; most of the hard work done for you, and no mess. All together this makes for lots of views and returning viewers on the multiple posts a day.

Tasty Video as a corporation is under the Buzzfeed umbrella with different versions sprouting up both from the company and independent. Currently there is Buzzfeed’s Tasty, Tasty Junior, Proper Tasty, and Bien Tasty; all looking at different groups in terms of recipes. Outside of Buzzfeed other groups have propped up mimicking their recipe of Tasty Videos; some of these are Jewishlish, Delish, and Cooking Panda. Each of these groups have a slightly different market in mind in terms of audience; some are categorized by age, region, or even religion but they all aim to get views.

The video should have someone making the recipe, as you pour the ingredients say what and how much you are putting in. And be edited to be short with good music. The video I chose does all of these things and makes me want to make the recipe; and yes I did ‘like’ it.