Babish Culinary Universe

Babish Culinary Universe (BCU; /ˈbæbɪʃ/ BAB-ish)[2] formerly Binging with Babish, is a YouTube cooking channel created by American filmmaker Andrew Rea (alias Oliver 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, and the channel has over 8 million subscribers as of November 2020.

Babish Culinary Universe
Personal information
BornAndrew Douglas Rea
(1987-09-02) September 2, 1987[1]
Mendon, New York
NationalityAmerican
Websitehttps://bingingwithbabish.com/
YouTube information
Also known asOliver Babish
Channel
Genre
Subscribers8.42 million
(January 2021)
Total views1.72 billion
Associated actsFirst We Feast, Bon Appétit, The Chef Show
100,000 subscribers
1,000,000 subscribers 2017
Updated: 3 October 2020

History

The YouTube channel was created by Rea as Binging with Babish on August 21, 2006;[3] his name was inspired by The West Wing character Oliver Babish.[4] 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.[5]

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,[6] which is released weekly on Tuesdays.[7] 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.[6]

Rea posts recipes for the dishes on his website[8] 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.[9] 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.[4]

On March 19, 2019, at the end of a video that involved recreating the iconic cake from the Portal series of video games, Rea premiered a trailer for his new show, Being with Babish, which premiered on March 22, 2019.[10][11]

For April Fools' Day 2019, he released a video titled "Binging with Babish: Brock's Donuts from Pokémon,"[12] where he made rice ball-shaped doughnuts to make fun of 4Kids Entertainment changing rice balls in the original Pokémon anime into doughnuts. This was immediately followed by a video where he "corrected" his error by making proper onigiri.[13]

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.[14]

On September 24, 2020, Rea introduced a new series, Stump Sohla, hosted by Sohla El-Waylly, as well as the channel's name change to Babish Culinary Universe.[15]

Shows

Binging with Babish

During each episode, Rea prepares step-by-step instructions on the preparation of film and television-related meals.[6] 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, NY,[16] with a voiceover added in post-production. When Binging with Babish premiered on February 10, 2016, Rea used the opening lines of the Frasier theme song; "Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs", performed by Kelsey Grammer, and was used during the first 20 episodes of season 1. Eventually, the Frasier theme was removed entirely due to copyright issues, and beginning with the 21st episode of season 1, Rea started monetizing the videos. The show began with a clip of the food item being recreated, followed by Rea entering the kitchen while welcoming the viewers. Each episode contains dry humor[17] and is paced at a fast speed. After creating the dish as it originally appeared, some episodes include Rea's interpretation of the recipe.[7]

The show has featured many guest appearances from other YouTubers who cook alongside Rea, such as Cocktail Chemistry's Nick Fisher,[18] Ashwin Ramdas from Ashwin Enjoys Nature,[19] You Suck At Cooking,[20] Brad Leone, Floyd Cardoz, Joshua Weissman and Sohla El-Waylly from Bon Appétit,[21][22] and First We Feast's Sean Evans.[23] Rea has also appeared as a guest star on Evans's series Hot Ones.[24] Rea's 4 million subscribers video featured a special guest appearance by Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, who assisted Rea in creating the Death Sandwich from Regular Show (achieved by adding fugu).[25]

On some episodes, Rea hosted actors from the shows and films the recipes are sourced from. As part of production on their cooking series The Chef Show (on which Rea appears in multiple episodes), filmmaker/actor Jon Favreau and chef Roy Choi appeared in an episode to make chocolate lava cakes from Favreau's film Chef, one of Rea's favorite films which he has featured numerous times on the show. Favreau ended the episode by presenting Rea with the carving fork prop used in a prominent scene from the film.[26] Maisie Williams of Game of Thrones fame appeared in an episode where she and Rea attempted to recreate Direwolf Bread.[27] Williams, a fan of Binging with Babish, arranged her guest appearance after messaging multiple YouTube food channels (including Bon Appétit) about appearing on one of their shows while she was in New York.[28] During the COVID-19 pandemic, actor H. Jon Benjamin appeared over video call to make margaritas from Archer.[29]

Basics with Babish

Basics with Babish focuses on basic recipes. The videos are numbered, typically include a sponsor spot, and have a theme song. The series is in a video cookbook format for beginners.

Stump Sohla

Stump Sohla is the third regular show added to the Babish Culinary Universe and features Sohla El-Waylly. The series aired for 10 episodes [30] airing on Saturdays and features Sohla making dishes in a randomly chosen format or theme.

Biography

Andrew Douglas Rea (born September 2, 1987) was born in Mendon, New York and raised in Rochester, to parents Annie and Douglas Rea. He has an older brother, David. His nephew, Christopher, made an appearance in one of his videos portraying a younger version of himself. He is of Polish, Italian and Welsh descent. Rea was taught to cook at a young age by his mother, who died when he was 11.

In 2009, Rea graduated with a BA in Film Studies from Hofstra University [31] and later worked as a visual effects artist for SwitchFX Inc.[7][32]

Rea was married but has since been divorced, something that he avoids talking about out of respect for his ex-wife's privacy. As of December 2020, he is in a relationship with Jessica Opon, who is also a producer on the channel.[33]

Episodes
Main article: List of Binging with Babish episodes

Main series
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
182February 12, 2016May 15, 2018
278May 22, 2018Present

Spin-offs
Series Start Date End Date
Name Seasons Episodes
Basics with Babish 2 92 October 12, 2017 Present
Being with Babish 1 9 March 22, 2019
Stump Sohla 1 6 September 24, 2020

Awards and nominations
Year Title Award Result
2017 7th Streamy Awards Food Nominated
Breakout Creator Nominated
2018 10th Shorty Awards Best in Food Nominated
2019 9th Streamy Awards Food Won
2020 10th Streamy Awards[34] Show of the Year Nominated
Food Nominated


See also

References
  1. Andrew Rea (October 27, 2017). Livestream #1 | Basics with Babish (video). New York: Binging with Babish – via YouTube. I'm a Virgo, I'm not a Libra. September 2nd.
  2. "The Book Tour | Being with Babish". Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  3. Rea, Andrew. "Binging with Babish". YouTube. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  4. Fuhrmeister, Chris (May 5, 2017). "'Binging With Babish' Turns Dishes From TV Shows Into Real Food". Eater.com. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  5. "Binging with Babish - Videos". YouTube. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  6. Downes, Larry (August 4, 2017). "One recipe at a time, YouTube's 'Binging With Babish' is disrupting the content industry". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  7. Shaffer, Claire (June 21, 2017). ""Binging with Babish" Faithfully Recreates TV and Film Recipes for an Online Audience". Newsweek. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  8. Bonem, Mark (August 16, 2017). "How the Star of Binging with Babish Went from YouTube Star to Cookbook Author". Food & Wine. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  9. Gutelle, Sam (October 3, 2017). "Binging With Babish's 'Eat What You Watch' Becomes Amazon's Second Best-Selling Cookbook On Its Release Day". Tubefilter. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  10. "The Cake from Portal". Binging with Babish. Season 2. Episode 44. March 19, 2018. YouTube. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  11. "Giving Back to a Fan in Need". Being with Babish. Season 1. Episode 1. March 22, 2018. YouTube. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  12. "Binging with Babish: Brock's Donuts from Pokémon". Binging with Babish. Season 1. Episode 83. April 1, 2019. YouTube. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  13. Binging with Babish: Brock's Onigiri from Pokémon.
  14. "Cookbook makes it easy to dine like Buddy the elf or 'Seinfeld's' Elaine". Chicago Sun-Times. Associated Press. 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
  15. 18th Century Mac & Cheese: Stump Sohla. YouTube.
  16. "About: Binging With Babish". Binging With Babish. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  17. Feldman, Jamie (November 15, 2016). "This Is The Most Beautiful Thanksgiving Sandwich Video You've Ever Seen". HuffPost. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  18. Binging with Babish: Twin Peaks Pancakes & Coffee (feat. Cocktail Chemistry). YouTube. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  19. Binging with Babish: Carol's Beet & Acorn Cookies (feat. Ashwin Enjoys Nature). YouTube. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  20. Andrew Rea (October 31, 2017). Binging with Babish: Clay-Roasted Thigh from Hannibal (feat. You Suck at Cooking) (video). New York: Binging with Babish – via YouTube.
  21. "Binging with Babish: Lasagna from Garfield (feat. It's Alive with Brad)". YouTube.
  22. Rea, Andrew. How to Temper Chocolate (ft. Sohla El-Waylly) - Basics with Babish. YouTube.
  23. Binging with Babish: Arrested Development Special (feat. Sean Evans). YouTube. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  24. Binging with Babish Gets a Tattoo While Eating Spicy Wings. YouTube. July 18, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  25. Rea, Andrew. Binging with Babish 4 Million Subscriber Special: Death Sandwich from Regular Show. YouTube. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  26. Binging with Babish: Chocolate Lava Cakes from Chef feat. Jon Favreau and Roy Choi. YouTube. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  27. Rea, Andrew. Binging with Babish: Direwolf Bread from Game of Thrones (feat. Maisie Williams). YouTube. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  28. Maisie Williams Shivers Uncontrollably While Eating Spicy Wings - Hot Ones. YouTube. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  29. Rea, Andrew. inging with Babish: Margaritas from Archer (ft. H Jon Benjamin!). YouTube. Binging with Babish. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  30. https://junkee.com/sohla-bon-appetit-cooking-show/272146
  31. "How Much Money Binging With Babish Makes On YouTube - Net Worth". Naibuzz. January 18, 2018.
  32. Andrew Rea (September 18, 2018). Binging with Babish: Banana Pudding Pizza from Doug (video). New York: Binging with Babish – via YouTube.
  33. Binging with Babish Answers the Web's Most Searched Questions. YouTube. WIRED. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  34. Rosario, Alexandra Del; Rosario, Alexandra Del (2020-12-13). "The 2020 YouTube Streamy Awards Winners List: Charli D'Amelio, Will Smith & Sarah Cooper Among Honorees". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
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