Binging With Babish

''Babish Culinary Universe'' (''BCU''; ), formerly ''Binging with Babish'', is a YouTube cooking channel created by American cook and filmmaker Andrew Rea (alias Babish) that recreates recipes featured in film, television, and video games in the ''Binging with Babish'' series, as well as more traditional recipes in the ''Basics with Babish'' series. The first video in the series was uploaded on February 10, 2016.

History

The YouTube channel was created by Rea as ''Binging with Babish'' on August 21, 2006; his name was inspired by ''The West Wing'' character Oliver Babish. Three videos unrelated to ''Binging with Babish'' were uploaded to the account, two in 2007 and one in 2010. The first episode of ''Binging with Babish'' aired on February 10, 2016, which is about a '' Parks and Recreation'' burger cook-off.

Its first video to be widely circulated aired on November 14, 2016, making the "Moistmaker" sandwich from ''Friends''. The channel's growth has been driven by fans promoting its videos on Reddit and other social media platforms. Rea created a Patreon account to earn an income, and after reaching a monthly $10,000 goal, quit his day job to work full-time on ''Binging with Babish'', which is released weekly on Tuesdays. He spent $6,000 on a Sony digital camera, lights and editing software, and does the production, editing and narration for the videos. The cost of each episode, according to Rea, "varies wildly" because of the ever-changing variety of food and ingredients used.

Rea posts recipes for the dishes on his website and on October 3, 2017, he published a cookbook titled ''Eat What You Watch: A Cookbook for Movie Lovers'', containing 40 recipes featured in film. He started the series ''Basics with Babish'' on October 12, 2017, teaching preparation of basic recipes, stocking up on and using essential tools and equipment for cooking, as well as a variety of cooking techniques. On October 22, 2019, Rea published his second cookbook titled ''Binging with Babish: 100 Recipes Recreated from Your Favorite Movies and TV Shows'', containing 100 pop-culture recipes from his series.

Shows

''Binging with Babish''

During each episode, Rea prepares step-by-step instructions on the preparation of pop culture-inspired meals. When ''Binging with Babish'' premiered on February 10, 2016, it was filmed at the kitchen of Rea's New York City apartment. Beginning with the "Meat Tornado from Parks & Rec" in August 2020, the show moved to his home studio in Brooklyn, with a voiceover added in post-production. Each episode contains dry humor and is paced at a fast speed. After creating the dish as it originally appeared, some episodes include Rea's interpretation of the recipe.

Others

The first of Rea's side-shows was ''Basics with Babish''; as many of the movie-accurate food dishes required expensive equipment and ingredients to make them accurate, this series is instead focused on making various dishes as simple as possible, often with multiple variations. This series is also notable for featuring guest star chefs from different cultures and ethnic groups when tackling dishes from those regions, most notably the late chef Floyd Cardoz for several Indian-centric episodes.

Another show, ''Botched by Babish'', focuses on Rea correcting food dishes that he received backlash for in the past due to his methodology, such as the pumpkin pasties from Harry Potter (as British fans pointed out how since they're pasties, they're implied to be savoury and not sweet), or the episode on poutine (due to Rea lacking access to cheese curds - an integral ingredient to the authentic version of the dish.). The series is more comedy-driven, with much of the humour derived from the dichotomy between Rea's normal personality and his more off-kilter side, as well as the interactions between him and his crew. In addition to the original format, newer episodes examine basic recipes and tackle what mistakes can be made, how they affect the final product and how to avoid them.

A third show, ''What's in the Fridge'' is an impromptu show that occurs when Rea and his crew are either out of video ideas or they have too many leftovers in the show's fridge that are close to expiration. Rea then does his best to come up with a dish that incorporates as many ingredients as he can.

In 2024, Rea began to produce other shows: ''Can Babish Beat?'', where he compares two versions of the same dish from prestigious New York restaurants and tries to create a better version, and ''Ranked with Babish'', where he compares different products in the same category and ranks them on a tier list (such as ranking Trader Joe's homebrand frozen pasta or ranking different types of instant ramen.)

The final Rea-centric series on the channel is ''Being with Babish'', which focuses on Rea giving back to the community and his fans, as well as other miscellaneous subjects such as his weight loss journey.

In addition to these series, there are other series posted on the channel that are run by different chefs, cooking content-creators, behind-the-scenes staff and Rea's personal friends. These projects include:
* ''Stump Sohla'', featuring Sohla El-Waylly, which featured Sohla making dishes in a randomly chosen format or theme.
* ''Pruébalo'', hosted by chef Rick Martinez, follows him exploring Mexico and its authentic, regional cuisine.
* Alvin Zhou, a senior manager for Buzzfeed's food channel, Tasty, hosts ''Anime with Alvin Zhou'' and ''Arcade with Alvin Zhou'' -which are focused on food from anime and video games respectively. The latest addition, ''Anything with Alvin Zhou'' generally focuses on recreating dishes seen in viral food videos.
* ''The FundaKendalls'' and ''Kendall Combines'' are hosted by Kendall Beach, Rea's Kitchen Producer. The former follows a similar format to ''Basics with Babish'' albeit with a focus on technique, and the latter challenges Kendall in creating dishes that combine two ingredients that normally don't pair well together, such as kimchi and cottage cheese.
* ''Street Foods with Senpai Kai'' is hosted by food YouTuber Senpai Kai, where he attempts to recreate absurd, yet viral, street food.
* ''Soy Boys'', hosted by Rea's frequent cameraman and editor Brad Cash, focuses on vegan dishes that are designed to help his friend, Chris Creasy, lose weight.
* ''Football Fusion'' is hosted by Sawyer, Rea's close friend as well both the general counsel and business manager for the Babish company, who lacks experience with cooking. The series is centered on creating dishes that are fusions between two dishes from regions with prominent NFL teams, such as Skyline Chili Cakes, based on Cincinnati's skyline chili and Baltimore's crab cakes.

Episodes

Main series

Source:

Spin-offs

Awards and nominations

See also

* List of YouTubers

References

General references

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{{Streamy Awards Winners CSS

2010s YouTube series
2016 web series debuts
2020s YouTube series
Cooking web series
Food and cooking YouTube channels
Mass media in New York City
Streamy Award-winning channels, series or shows
YouTube channels launched in 2006
American non-fiction web series