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Looking for food related YouTube channel recommendations
I've really enjoyed Kenji's channel as I find it informative and not oversensationalised like the vast majority of food YouTube channels.
Are there any others that have got that magic mix of giving the food science and practicality, while avoiding the clickbait and sensationalism stereotype?
We watch a lot of food Youtube in my household, so here's a list of what we're subscribed to. No click-baity, sensationalized stuff, usually just the history, science, or culture of the recipe they're making.
Aaron and Claire, a Korean couple focusing on traditional Korean meals.
Adam Ragusea, more food science, why does this do that, where's this come from, etc.
Beryl Shereshewsky, various food-related things, usually traditional multi-cultural meals with recipes submitted by viewers. I like her content in particular, very sweet and warm vibes.
Chinese Cooking Demystified, authentic Chinese cooking, this channel will make you buy a wok (highly recommended, dear reader, btw).
Insider Food, this feels more streamlined, being a magazine outlet, but they have a lot of good long-form content, highly recommend their Regional Eats series.
Internet Shaquille, per his description, he can teach you how to cook. If he comes off as a bit of a "bro" at first glance, it's because he's trying to pick on that side of food Youtube, and imo he's pretty good at it while also showing legit methods of preparing meals. I can attest to the validity of his most recent video on tortillas, it's good stuff.
Jacques in the Garden, "Low-cost gardening techniques, harvest to table recipes, sustainability and low-waste." I like his vibe a lot, just seems like a nice guy while having really informative content. So many tomatoes though, like dude.
Middle Eats, "We're Obi and Salma, home cooks who want to share our love of Middle Eastern cuisine! Our Egyptian heritage and upbringing has allowed us to try food from all over the Middle East, things that you've probably never heard of, but need to try. Every week we show off a dish from the region, showing you exactly how you can make it at home, and translating the recipes into an easy to follow set of steps. We hope you like the videos and have a great time eating the food!" Wife watches him more, but she has great taste in everything so I know it's good.
My Name is Andong, various food stuff from a gentlemen who was born in Russia, grew up in Germany, and lived in China for a time. It's all over the place, and I'm a big fan.
Tasting History with Max Miller, the one and only, Max Miller. We watched this channel blow up during the Pandemic, and I'm so stoked that it's doing well. An amateur chef trying out recipes from as far back as recorded history allows, it's amazing content if you like history and food intertwined. Turns out, no, Thomas Jefferson didn't invent macaroni and cheese, he just took credit for the enslaved chef that he took with him to France.
Townsends, this one is more history focused (specifically 18th century colonial America), but every other video is about food. He has really good guest appearances as well, including some people whose cookbooks we own!
Hope this helps! It was fun to write up.
+1 for Tasting History with Max Miller. His videos are just so enjoyable and fun to watch. He's such a positive guy and it makes me happy to hear him talk. His content is very informative and fun to watch.
Very good recommendations, I'd in particular like to second Chinese Cooking Demystified, Middle Eats, and Andong. For other cuisine-specific recommendations, I'd add Hot Thai Kitchen for Thai food, and Maangchi for Korean food (Aaron and Claire's recipes tend to be solid, but I think they focus more on convenience and accessibility than authenticity).
Big +1 to Internet Shaquille. He posts sporadically but the videos are all quality content.
Adam Ragusea is not to be grouped on this list though. Very much a home chef who thinks his way of doing things should be taken as gospel. He also doesn't season his steak. Very odd.
Internet Shaquille is delightful. He makes easy to understand and follow videos that explain why things are the way they are. I've learned a lot about mexican cuisine, though that's definitely not all of what he does.
Brad Leone was on Bon Appetit for a long time, and he has one of those personalities that most people just love. He's another one who is easy to understand, and if you're ever interested in fermenting things, you can follow him and learn everything you'll ever need. My love of home made hot sauces stemmed from an old video from Brad.
Babish has a whole slough of videos; it's not just pop culture foods anymore, but Basics with Babish is a great series for learning how to do specific things. He's another one who is easy to follow and fun to watch.
Ann Reardon - How To Cook That is a channel that goes beyond just cooking things, but still does a fair amount of food-based shows. Her whole family is delightful; they exude positivity, and the content that they make is great wonderful.
Edit: I'll add Alex - French Guy Cooks because he's also got some great information, and seems like a lovely person. My favourite is his videos on fried rice; I learned things that changed how I cook fried rice.
Along with Alex French Guy Cooks, add Anti-chef to the list. He has a long-running series called Jamie and Julia where he makes Julia Child's recipes and he's branched out to do other chefs too. He's really funny, but also learns a lot as he goes.
I'm also a huge fan of how ridiculous mythical kitchen is. It reminds me of Epic Meal Time, but more polished and less gross, most of the time.
I also really love Barry Lewis who used to be my virgin kitchen. He learned how to cook and how he's making interesting time-saving and gadget-testing videos. And if we're talking British dudes. Sorted Food is another one I watch regularly. Oh! And How could I forget Atomic Shrimp? He's not just a cooking channel. It's a retired British dude making videos on things he feels like doing, from scambaiting to foraging, to slow TV, to cooking to whatever else he feels like doing. I love all of his videos too, even if it's not really something I'm into, like slow tv because it's interesting and he makes it all seem cool.
Emmymade is very sweet, but I mostly like watching her MRE taste tests.
I also wholeheartedly love and endorse Ann Reardon. I love H2CT and eagerly watch her videos when they release. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt has a restaurant where I used to live and I met him there once while he still lived in the area. I like his videos and how he makes cooking seem so normal and not fancy or crazy, just use what you have and it's fine. And ATK. I loved ATK and Cook's Country when I still had cable and would watch them religiously.
I have a confession about the Mythical Kitchen - I think I don't like Josh as a "main character". I love him as a side option on GMM, but after a full Josh-centric episode of Mythical Kitchen, I can't watch another for a while. That said, I think it's overall a great suggestion! Loads of people love it, and also "A Hotdog is a Sandwich" is a relatively popular podcast (though it has the same issue for me personally).
All your other recommendations are also great, and I forgot and should have added Sohla who is awesome.
Oh I love Sohla. I absolutely loved her series on history channel. I subscribed just for her and then unsubbed once her show seemed to be done. She was easily one of the best parts of BA and for them to have treated her the way they did makes me angry.
I get Josh being A Lot^tm. I think I resonate with him a lot on that front as and adhd mess, but I don’t blame you at all for not being able to stand him. I can’t stand Adam Ragusea or Josh Weissman and I know a lot of people really love both.
Recommend a lot of what’s already here, especially Townsends, Internet Shaquille, Babish, Adam Ragusa, Tasting History, and Kenji Lopez-Alt.
To all that I would also add Food Wishes.
I love Food Wishes. His delivery is relaxing and he never misses a good pun.
What I like is that Chef John with Food Wishes will show when the recipe he's presenting doesn't turn out that great, like with his garlic bread burger buns.
I've been binging Tasting History with Max Miller. Not so much food science, but more food history. Not sensationalist or click-baity at all.
Max and B Dylan Hollis are my top 2 favs for watching a show just for their personality and showmanship. Just wonderful shows!
De Mi Rancho a Tu Cocina is great. I was just watching her video on garbanzo bean soup and I had an idea for how to translate them.
All you need is a video with Spanish subtitles, which this one has. I used this site to download the subtitles to a text file, then ran it through DeepL. For some reason, it repeats words sometimes, but you can definitely get the gist. DeepL does a better job than Google Translate.
If you have a burning question about one of her videos, you're welcome to ask me.
Pasta Grannies is a similar channel for Italian food. The host speaks English and the grandmas speak Italian, but there are English subtitles.
I also appreciate Ethan Chlebowski's "system" types of videos, where he highlights an easy process or framework for recipes, which are easy to follow but give flexibility (rather than rotely following a strict recipe). I'm big into cocktails, where most drinks are riffs on a few basic patterns, using ratios of sweet/sour/spirit/bitters, and Ethan's videos remind me of that approach.
Here are some channels that I've been subbed to for a while that I don't think have been mentioned yet:
Flavor Lab - https://www.youtube.com/@FlavorLab/videos
Non-professional cook explores food through trial and error along with asides into the weird processes needed to make common ingredients.
Lovely pastel visual style and concise presentation. His videos regarding the nature of "creamy" textures and just how vanilla beans are fermented are particularly interesting.
ChefSteps - https://www.youtube.com/@chefsteps/videos
Originally created as a Gabe Newell-funded startup trying to get America on board with sous vide, ChefSteps have had to reinvent themselves multiple times over the years. Luckily, thanks to the large amount of talent on staff, they've also made some of the best modernist cooking content on youtube. Big personalities, big flavors, and lots of cool techniques you don't see very often.
ChainBaker - https://www.youtube.com/@ChainBaker/videos
A very bread-focused baking channel. I discovered it after reading about "Dough CPR" as Modernist Cuisine hyped up their next book about baking. Wondering just how far you could bend the rules on bread, my searches lead to Charlie's videos on the science of proofing/fermentation and his exhaustive experiments that challenge decades of common wisdom. His normal recipe videos are also really well presented, unpretentious, and cleanly narrated.
NOT ANOTHER COOKING SHOW - https://www.youtube.com/c/NOTANOTHERCOOKINGSHOW/videos
A lifeline project by a rather intense New Yorker who leans over the counter to share his modern-grandma ethos of feeding yourself and those you love as a way to make the world a better place.
Intimate and hip presentation of Italian classics alongside whatever Stephen has discovered recently. If you want a stellar intro to his stuff, check out the documentary for the two night pop-up event he catered/hosted a while back; It's an amazing ride.
My diet change made me unsubscribe from a lot of food based channels, but most of the stuff @godzilla_lives recommended is absolute gold. I esepcially recommend Chinese Cooking Demystified; their content is almost more like a micro-documentary on the food they are making because it has so much background, ingredient, and technique information. Also Ann Reardon's How To Cook That show is excellent all the time and is worth watching just to hear her family's wholesome sense of humor (her husband makes so many dad jokes).
Now there aren't too many food channels I'm subscribed to these days, but there are two that I am subscribed to which I'd recommend.
The Whole Foods Plant Based Cooking Show is one of the few channels that is exclusively about the whole foods plant based diet, which encourages you to eat no processed foods (which also includes things like white flour and rice), salt, oil, or sugar. That being said, her recipes often cheat by adding liquid aminos / tamari instead of salt, blended nuts instead of oil, and dates instead of sugar. Honestly, I mostly watch because she gives off major Martha Stuart vibes.
Mary's Test Kitchen is a new add for me, I recently found out that she's actually doing keto WFPB, which is kind of mind blowing to me. I don't think she's been on that for very long, though, since she has tons of earlier recipes that don't appear to be keto, though everything is vegan. Many of her current videos are about processing different kind of tofu in a series she calls "Will it Tofu?" She doesn't appear on camera often but she has a very pleasant personality.
There are two other vegan channels that I am not subscribed to which I think others will like
Rainbow Plant Life has a ton of Indian recipes, including a adaptations of regularly non-vegan ones. She also has some really good non-Indian recipes. Sadly I can't have them because most of them use oil and, frankly, I'm just not patient enough for them.
Wicked Kitchen is as close to a celebrity chef as I can muster - though there are actually two of them. They are something of a lifestyle brand at this point, because their Youtube channel looks like it came after they started a packaged food company. They have some pretty amazing and innovative recipes - their "Italian" style sandwich, for example. The only reason why I don't follow them is because their food is too often full of the stuff I can't eat.
Pasta Grammer! Ava and Harper are fantastic! Ava is from Desa in Calabria and is a fantastic cook and is well versed in the food history of the whole of Italy. Lots of great recipes and explanation of techniques.
If you miss Claire from BA she has her own show on YT called Desert Person. She is an absolute delight and really gets into showing you the whole process of a dish. As a bonus, she in a recent episode went to a dairy to get milk and they got delightful B roll of her saying Hi to every cow. It was adorable.
iwdfcftbatk is a thing for a reason. before BA imploded i was always delighted to watch her videos. even though i've been following claire on instagram, i haven't watched the new show. any video you'd recommend as a starter?
In all honesty, any of them. But for sake of Vinny, Cal, and Claire hitting their stride I would say anything in the last 6 months. It's really come together.
I've focussed on channels that avoid sensationalism, and that provide good quality information.
Italia Squisita features high end Italian chefs walking through recipes. Sometimes they'll do original vs Michelin starred which is an interesting look at how they elevate their dishes.
French Cooking Academy is a calm look at using French technique in home cooking.
Helen Rennie teaches cooking, and she's excellent at looking at the evidence and science.
America's Test Kitchen is really good at testing and explaining the science.
I'd like to add Staff Canteen, especially the older videos, where they just interview high end chefs about recipes.
I really like Italia Squisita. I think most of the cooking channels on YouTube have the same narrow flavor pallet. Seeing real pros at work gets me excited about individual ingredients and good technique. It makes you feel adventurous.
I don't see Barry Lewis in here yet. He's not the most serious or professional cook but I do really like his videos. He often does silly things and makes many mistakes, but that makes it more enjoyable in my opinion. Funny and light-hearted content with some good food. I've been subscribed to his channel for as long as I can remember and I still watch his videos occasionally.
Brad Leone opened up his personal channel lately, and it's great, I've missed him since the BA stuff.
I've made his half sour pickles with chillis a couple of times, and they're fantastic.
Though his channel is a bit on the fun side
For anyone who liked him at Bon Appetit, know that they were keeping him calm. I'm enjoying his content, but it's wild.
Brad and Claire content was the best content. I miss their interactions.
Chinese Cooking Demystified!
their most recent video is a good example of why i like them: they go into absurd depths on something that, if done badly, could've been as short as a tiktok video. a great mix of educational, inspirational (as in: i'll actually make things or play around with concepts they introduce), and fun. has been one of my faves for a long time.
as for silly nonsense: you suck at cooking is good for a short laugh.
i dont think what iam going to suggest matches the criteria but check them out if you haven't already:
one meal a day ( no dialogues just subs and gives me cozy feel)
travel thirsty( no dialogues here either but more realistic approach and "exotic")
can you link one meal a day? youtube is intent on serving me fasting videos instead of a channel
if you think this channel have anything to do with the omad diet,iam sorry.
check omad though
https://youtube.com/@ChefJeanPierre
Chef Jean Pierre is one of my favorites, makes a wide variety of fantastic looking dishes that anyone would be able to make at home.
https://youtube.com/@farmageddon
Jason Farmer also really nails Chinese-American restaurant food.
+1 for Brian Lagerstrom. I don't think I liked him right at first but now I watch every video he releases. I've made a bunch of his recipes too and they have almost all been good.
Lately she's gone into debunking viral hacks and stuff, but still has a lot of old videos of recipes (an add her own cookbook!). Anne Reardon. Her channel name is How To Cook That. She also does cake fails/saves where she looks at videos of failed cakes and starts with the state they're in, then saves it by fixing it.
She's gone into those, because most of them are food or cooking based, and they're a lot of science. Food science is her background, I think. She still does cooking or food videos, but she also lets the viewers dictate her channel and what they ask her for a lot is debunking videos. I wish she would start a second channel for those, but I understand how much work it is to run just one youtube channel.
In addition to the many great recommendations here, I'd like to mention Glen and Friends Cooking. I'm a big fan of their Old Cookbook Show series, where they cook recipes from the first half of the 20th century or earlier, often tracing the origins of the recipes as well. Their other videos tend to be fairly simple, but they do a great job of highlighting how a lot of them are mostly about techniques and not specific recipes, highlighting adaptability, which is a great mindset to have in come cooking.
English Heritage
Aside from Townsends, this is the only channel I enjoyed that demonstrated classic English cookery. It was here I learned that plum pudding didn't necessarily mean plums in the ingredients.
Keefcooks is good stuff, especially his long egg saga! Pro home cooks is great for all sorts of healthy and cheap type foods.
Didn't see her mentioned so thought I would bring up Carla Lalli Music. Her videos are pretty light & fun and she often recommends substitutions. Doesn't feel overly educational, but I think it does have plenty of pointers and is approachable.
If you were ever into MinutePhysics and the off-shoots, MinuteFood is really enjoyable
James Hoffmann initially comes across as a bit pretentious, but I've found his videos have really grown on me. Especially since playing around more with an AeroPress
I don't know that it delves a ton into the science side, but Brian Lagerstrom really clicks with me as far as his presentation style and the food he's making
bored is an interesting channel where recipes are shown with a RPG-like twist, I quite enjoy it.
Chef Buck and Jason Farmer are both great. I linked the first video from each that I watched of theirs. They are both recipe-based channels that describe techniques to get the result they did, and will talk about failures and pitfalls if they had them. Buck is less about the food science than Jason. I'd mention Adam Ragusea, Chef John, and the ATK family (America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Illustrated, Cook's Country) but they've been mentioned already.
Yeung Man Cooking is my favorite. It’s mostly plant-based Asian food. He was my main source of inspiration when I first started cooking vegetarian food. Also, he has a very calming demeanor.
Here are a few others that are less about the formal food science but have good representations of tried and true methods for Chinese style cooking. Made with Lau & Woks of Life
https://www.youtube.com/@WildernessCookingAzerbaijan
Really enjoy watching this guy work. Interesting techniques and recipes. Outdoor kitchen that is quite rustic.
i only have three cooking channels subscribed at the moment. Adam Ragusia and Babish have both been mentioned a few times already.
The third one is a retired cook from England. His videoas are very laid back. There are text overlays to his online store to sell the cooking utensils being used, but i dont find these overy intrusive. I would say the recipies are quite bread focused, but there are a good range of savoury and sweet recipes.
I have made the corned beef pasties he makes in one video, and they are amazing.
John Kirkwood
Lots of very practical cooks
https://www.youtube.com/@andy_cooks