The way writers express their ideas about food is extremely dependent on the audience they are trying to reach. I think the way that these ideas are understood have completely shifted in the past five years. About five years ago, the most common, easiest to consume food writing was found in magazines and on the Food Network. Now, you’re seeing restaurant reviews in the forms of videos and GIFs and the same for recipes. Audience’s attention spans are becoming shorter and quality food content is hard to identify in a massive sea of clutter. The ones that do stick out have drastic affects on what food we consider to be normal and what food we consider to be “ethnic” and “exotic,” which can affect people’s perceptions on cultures as a whole.

I will be examining the genre conventions of GIF/Video recipes made popular by sources like Tasty. These pieces of media are usually less than three minutes and showcase at least one way to cook a dish, including visuals and text in the recipe. For me, The first necessary component is that the content is made up of at least some GIF or video content; it cannot exist as solely text, although text is an essential part of the genre. As it’s a recipe, the video or GIF must list all of the ingredients necessary for the dish, and the video or GIF should also include the proper proportions or measurements of those ingredients. It must show a clip, or at least a picture, of each step of the cooking process and generally show the dish coming together. For nearly all videos in this genre, most shots of the cooking process will come from the top down. Finally, the video or GIF will almost always show the dish in its completed form.

In my genre analysis, I will be writing about Tasty’s one minute long “Easy Butter Chicken” recipe, their most viewed recipe on YouTube, and Tastemade’s 35 second long video, “The Slacker Shake – a.k.a Best Milkshake Recipe EVER.” It is the most viewed video on Tastemade’s YouTube page.

Without getting too specific as to limit creativity and diversity within the genre, I think these conventions are what makes up a GIF/Video recipe (or a Tasty video, as it’s come to be known at this point). I know nearly everyone reading this has watched a video or GIF recipe before—what do you think defines the genre?

Tasty. (2017, February 4). Tasty-Cheesy Garlic Bread Meatball Ring. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com

Every time we talk about these GIF/video recipes we see on Facebook, we call them “Tasty Videos,” even though many of these videos come from different outlets now, such as Delish. I picked this particular video because it is the “featured” video on Tasty’s Facebook page—the video that Tasty themselves chose to be the star of their Facebook page. It is the classic video recipe formula. It shows you what ingredients are used, in what portions, in what order, all in a succinct ~1-minute-long format. At the very end of the video, it shows the dish being enjoyed. I think this is a perfect example of the emerging GIF recipe genre that is so popular on social media.

Tasty has over 83 million likes on Facebook, 226 of which are made up of my college-aged Facebook friends. I see a Tasty video on my Facebook every single day. This Tasty video has over 15 million views and over 181,292 shares. For one reason or another, these videos gain absurd amounts of views and more notably, shares—which makes every piece of content they make go viral. Nearly every time I see one of these videos, I stop for a minute and watch the video. I don’t know what exactly is so appealing about these videos and why my friends feel the need to share them, but I do know that these videos are social media hits. I was surprised to learn how many of our classmates had actually made a dish from a Tasty recipe, which shows that these videos are actually encouraging cooking in our generation.

I have decided that I want to analyze food in digital media. Specifically, I am interested in powerful forces in food media, such as social media accounts like Tasty and Delish, which have amassed tens of millions of followers. I am also interested in websites like allrecipes.com, specific food subreddits on Reddit, and the most popular food accounts on Instagram. I would like to analyze what type of content—gifs, recipes, videos, news—garners the most attention, the most reaction, and the most shares. I want to compare and contrast that popular content to see similarities that make for a viral food media post.

I hope to find information about the monetization of these resources in respected publications such as The New York Times, Business Insider, The Economist, Forbes, and other reputable publications that may have delved into the increasing trend of food on social media. How are these accounts being monetized? I may run into an issue in my research in the fact that I am researching social media accounts—this isn’t a usual project, and social media is a tough source to deal with. While content might be hosted on one page, it may have been provided by another user. Since this is a relatively new topic (food and social media), traditional and reliable research about this subject might be hard to come by.

By the end of this project, I will hope to have come up with a thesis that examines how food media can gain massive popularity. What does this media have in common with each other, and how might others emulate the same success with food in digital media?

I’ll be honest: I’m not making much progress. I’m at somewhat a complete inertia in trying to decide a topic. I don’t want to commit to a topic I am not passionate about, or at least would have trouble writing a lot about. One topic that particuarly interested me was comparing celebrity chef’s cookbooks. I forgot who mentioned it in class, but someone mentioned that 2 Chainz has a cookbook, and if that isn’t worth researching, I don’t know what is.

The main tool I have been using to try and find exemplary sources is Google. I am best at evaluating and utilizing digital sources, and I think I will keep it that way. It’s 2017, so I shouldn’t have a problem finding a plethora of relevant information online. One topic I was also thinking about was recipes in the digital space, such as websites like allrecipes.com, where individual users can submit and rate recipes. I think it could be promising to investigate how professional chefs and culinary celebrities are beginning to be overshadowed by strangers on the internet, who just have a really good recipe to share. Another topic I have looked in to is investigating GIF/Video recipe makers like “Delish,” which have amassed tens of millions of followers and inspired much of our class to cook.

As I write this, I realize that I definitely want to focus my research about food media in the digital space. Hopefully, I will have narrowed down my research to a specific topic by the end of the day.

Recipe by Matthew Kimm

This is a simple, delicious dish. If you’ve never had carbonara, it may sound odd–breakfast food and pasta? It works, and it works well. The pasta soaks up the flavors of the onion, garlic, and bacon in a delicious cream sauce, best served with a hearty topping of parmesan cheese.

This is one of the first meals that comes to mind when I find myself really hungry. It’s a cheap meal that’s good and good for you. Well, no, it’s not exactly the healthiest meal but it is absolutely delicious and quite easy to make. It’s a hearty meal that should provide you leftovers for days. What it lacks in nutrition it makes up for in tastiness.

Ingredients (serves six):

• 1 pound (1 package) of spaghetti
• 1 White Onion
• 2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
• 6 slices of bacon
• 6 eggs
• ½ cup of Parmesan cheese
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of black pepper
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)

Instructions

1. Boil water for the spaghetti.

2. While the water is boiling, chop the white onion and the slices of bacon into small pieces. Mince the garlic. Separately, whisk the eggs and the cream and set aside.

3. Add spaghetti to the boiling water. Cook for the box’s recommended amount of time.

4. Add the onion, garlic, and bacon into the skillet or saucepan. Cook on medium heat until the onions are translucent and the bacon is at your desired crispness. This should take at least five minutes, but the cooking time is dependent on what type of pan you are using. If you are about to overcook the onions and bacon before the pasta is ready, turn off the heat.

5. After the pasta finishes boiling, drain the pasta and add the pasta to the skillet or saucepan with the garlic, onions, and bacon. Pour the egg/cream mixture on top.

6. With the heat on medium low, stir the pasta together with the other ingredients until they are spread evenly. Do not allow the eggs to cook and stick to the bottom of the dish. As soon as the eggs just begin to curdle, turn the heat off.

7. Add salt, pepper, and parmesan. Toss again. The dish is ready.

8. Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan and black pepper on top. Enjoy.

A recipe should at least include a list of portioned ingredients and instructions on how to properly use those ingredients to cook the dish. In my mind, a complete recipe should also include a name for the dish as well as a preface giving context to the dish, and serving suggestions. So, the ideal recipe for me follows this format: title, contextual preface, list of ingredients, step-by-step instructions, and finally a serving suggestion (how to serve the dish and what to serve it with). A low quality recipe may include a list of ingredients but not portions, or it may include the list of ingredients and a confusing set of instructions. I also believe that an ideal recipe has visuals to go along with it, whether it be a picture, a video, or a GIF. In fact, social media accounts that post GIF recipes have amassed tens and millions of followers.

The “Kung Pao Chicken” recipe from the Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees cookbook is an example of a perfect recipe, for me. Before the written part of the recipe even begins, there is a step-by-step visual of the cooking process, showing the reader the way the dish looks from the beginning to the end. The author then gives a short but succinct preface, giving cultural context by saying the “dish would not be recognized by anyone arriving in the United States from China” (Kho, 109). The recipe lists all the ingredients with portions, lists detailed instructions, and provides a serving suggestion as well.

On allrecipes.com, one of the most popular online recipes, one of the current top recipes is for a dish called “Easy Smoked Sausage Skillet.” The preface to the recipe simply reads “Dinner’s on the table in no time with this one-skillet sausage and veggie dish served over rice.” It’s not that this is necessarily a bad recipe because of this, but the recipe lacks a certain type of context and excitement because of the minimalist preface. However, you can find a great amount of information and variations on the dish from the user comments section.

While the “Kung Pao Chicken” recipe is the superior recipe for me, it all depends on the audience. The author of the “Easy Sausage Skillet” recipe wrote the recipe for a broader audience looking for a quick and easy dish to serve for dinner. The author of the “Kung Pao Chicken Recipe” most likely wrote the recipe for those more experienced in the kitchen, and those with the time, money and energy to make recipes from a unique cookbook.  It is much harder to find the “Kung Pao Chicken” recipe than it is to find the “Easy Sausage Skillet Recipe”; one is on the main page of a top recipe website, and one is on page 109 of a physical cookbook. It is important to note that this resource is a paid resource, as one has to purchase the cookbook to get access to the “Kung Pao Chicken” recipe.

The “Kung Pao Chicken” recipe may seem to be the better, more complete recipe, but for all I know, the “Easy Sausage Skillet” might just be tastier. At the end of the day, if a recipe gives you the right information to make a dish, and that dish is good, then the recipe has served a meaningful purpose.

Sources: Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees by Kian Lam Kho; http://allrecipes.com/recipe/245932/easy-smoked-sausage-skillet/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/245932/easy-smoked-sausage-skillet/?internalSource=rotd&referringContentType=home%20page&clickId=cardslot%201