Binging With Babish

About

Binging With Babish is a YouTube series by cook Andrew Rea, who specializes in making the signature dishes from fictional movies and TV shows. The videos usually emphasize the more theatrical and impossible cooks from the media from which they are based and turning them into something edible and delicious.

History

Before starting "Binging With Babish, Andrew Rea, a visual effects artist, New York resident and pop-culture obsessive,^[1] began posting recipes and food on Reddit . On August 24th, he posted on /r/Food^[6] subreddit, "Wife's boss was coming over for dinner, so I really wanted to blow his pants off: whole grilled beef tenderloin with blueberry cognac sauce, ultra crispy potato gratin, and grilled pepper salad with basil and anchovy." The picture (shown below, left) resulted in more than 9,500 points (91% upvoted) and 1,300 comments.

Two weeks later, he posted in /r/shittyfoodporn^[7] "A single potato, sliced into one continuous ribbon, covered alternately in cheese, salsa, sour cream, onions, and ranch. Not to be eaten sober." The post (shown below, right) received more than 3,500 points (90% upvoted) and 240 comments.

After several successful posts, Rea took his cooking to the next level. With a desire to experiment with cooking, shooting and lighting, Rea decided to marry his life-long love of cooking with his obsession for TV and movies. The result was "Binging with Babish," an online cooking show that aims to recreate the many dishes of pop-culture. Rea, who had no formal culinary training aside (he learned to cook from his mother),^[2] named the show after Oliver Babish, a character portrayed by Oliver Platt on the television series The West Wing.^[3]

On February 10th, 2016, Rea uploaded the first episode of "Binging With Babish" entitled "Parks & Rec Burger Cookoff." The episode (shown below) sees Rea making the two burgers from an popular episode of the comedic television series Parks and Recreation. Within a year and a half, the episode has more than 1.8 million views.

On March 11th, 2016, Rea participated in a Reddit^[5] Ask Me Anything (or AMA) on the /r/Food subreddit to crowd source ideas for his next episode. The result (shown below, left) was an episode called "Reddit AMA: What's Your Favorite Healthy 5-Minute Snack?" which garnered more than 627,000 views as of August 2017.

Two months later, on April 30th, the first episode of "Babish" to surpass 2 million views premiered. The episode "How to Make New-York-Style Pizza – TMNT II: Secret of the Ooze" (shown below, right) received more than 2.3 million views in 16 months.

On February 23rd, 2017, Rea participated in a Reddit^[2] AMA to take questions on his career and show. The question and answer resulted in more than 11,000 points (82% upvoted) and 2,500 comments.

On March 14th, Rea uploaded his most popular video to date in which he makes a series of burgers from the animated television sitcom Bob's Burgers. The episode (shown below) received more than 3.3 million views in six months.

Several media outlets have spoken to Rea about his show, including Bon Appétit,^[1] The Daily Dot,^[8] The Washington Post^[10] and more.

On July 18th, "Binging With Babish" reached 1 million subscribers. In honor of this achievement, Rea hosted a special episode, in which he gave a behind the scenes look at the show's production. The video (shown below) received more than 2 million views in less than a month.

Fandom

On November 20, 2016, Babish joined Twitter under the name @bingingwithbabish.^[9] As of August 2017, the account has more than 12,300 followers.

On January 4th, 2017, Redditor Fl1pzomg launched the /r/bingingwithbabish^[4] subreddit. About a week later, Rea started a "Binging With Babish" Facebook page, which in eight months has garnered more than 99,800 likes and 106,000 followers.

In addition to the Facebook page, on January 16th, @bingingwithbabish^[11] Instagram account launched. The first post (shown below) was "Il Timpano: layers of meatballs, pasta, mozzarella, provolone, eggs, salami, and sauce baked into a pasta shell." It received more than 160 likes. The account has more than 29,500 followers in eight months.

As of August 2017, the official Binging With Babish YouTube channel has more than 1.3 million subscribers.

On March 3rd, Rea launched the Binging With Babish Patreon page, which, as of August 2017, has more than 2,400 patrons who donate more than $10,000 a month.

Related Memes

Mayo Squirt

On February 26th, 2019, Binging with Babish uploaded a video in which he makes a double battered King Size Ultra Krabby Supreme with the works and on a stick from Spongebob Squarepants" (shown below). The video has gained over one million views and 78,000 likes in a day. During the video Rea gets down on his knee and squirts mayo into his mouth. He then says, "Nobody is allowed to make a meme of this. Thats illegal."

A few hours later, Redditors turned the scene into an object-labeling meme and posted examples to /r/dankmemes (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References