My genre is food sampling videos, usually called “(Group of people) tries (type of food) for the first time”.  These are commonly posted to YouTube by a variety of digital media companies, including Facts., WatchCut Video, Buzzfeed, and many more.  These videos have gained extreme popularity, with regular view counts in the millions.

Food sampling videos commonly are between two and ten minutes long.  They often include a short interview lasting about a minute prior to the tasting, usually regarding what the tasters are expecting out of the food.  The videos then transition into the actual tasting portion, in which anywhere from one to six dishes are sampled one at a time and each of the interviewees gives their opinions on the foods.  Usually, about one to two minutes are devoted to each dish before moving onto the next one.  Occasionally, when addressing an entire cuisine, the video follows the setup of a normal meal, beginning with an appetizer, moving onto an entree, and finishing off with a dessert.  However, there appears to be no order when sampling different types of the same food (i.e. teas from around the world) or food from a particular establishment (i.e. Taco Bell).  After the tasting ends, these videos will sometimes include a reflective interview lasting about a minute asking whether or not the interviewees liked the foods or will eat them again.  Most of the time, after the video ends, the production company will include a brief slide regarding credits and promoting other videos the company puts out.

These videos serve many purposes, but they primarily function in the realm of entertainment.  Sampling videos are often humorous and lighthearted in tone.  Food tasting videos also ultimately serve as a type of food critique, placing them into the larger category of reviews.  In the case of digital media giants like Buzzfeed, these videos also serve to promote their company in its other endeavors by encouraging viewers to visit their website or watch their other videos about different subjects.  All of the distributors on YouTube who produce this type of content use it to promote their social media following by urging their viewers to subscribe to their channels so that they may receive notifications about when new content is posted.   

For my genre analysis, I will be focusing on the “Mexican People Try Taco Bell for the First Time” video produced by Buzzfeed, the “American Kids Try Tea from Around the World” video produced by WatchCut Video, and the “Irish People Try Surströmming (World’s Smelliest Food)” video produced by Facts.  I chose these three videos because they all have tasters from different regions, backgrounds and ages.  Each of these three videos are about a different section of food cuisine: one for a specific restaurant, one regarding how a food varies culture-to-culture, and one focusing on a single food with a notorious reputation.  These shorts have very different contexts, but they all ultimately fall into the genre of food sampling videos.