Yesterday I ate a twice-baked potato made by the chef at my sorority. Sadly I was underwhelmed by the potato-like flavor most Idahoans know and love so well.
I know, I know. I shouldn’t be petulant when I live in a place where hot food magically appears at mealtimes. But one of the chefs bounded out of the kitchen with the proud exclamation, “I got this recipe from Tasty!”
Oh. For most Facebook users, Tasty is the bane of their existence. I’m constantly watching these damn videos that have addiction qualities of a high-caliber drug.
The genius that lies behind Tasty is none other than the millennial Internet god itself, BuzzFeed.
For those of you who haven’t been on the Internet recently, these short recipe videos are less than a minute long, shot from an aerial view encompassing either a cookie sheet, frying pan, or in the rare case, a cutting board. They usually pre-chop everything, Rachel Ray style.
Mixing bowls are quickly filled with a combination of easy, staple pantry ingredients. These are then mixed, poured and cooked, although they do have no-bake options for the oven-less dormitory dwellers.
Then, a miracle happens. Boom. A perfectly symmetrical cheese-stuffed pizza pretzel appears sizzling and steamy in front of your own eyes.
The most torturous part is when the faceless person breaks apart the gooey creation and dips it in marinara sauce.
It’s cruel Apple hasn’t released its 4D Willie Wonka-esque laptop where you can grab the food you see on your computer and eat it, piping hot, without pushing a button.
The runner up to the aforementioned invention would have to be Tasty. One of my friends described the videos as “the representation of a utopian society.”
I’ve come to the realization that millennials hate the idea of idly wasting time, yet the crux of our waking hours are spent among the interwebs, providing us with pointless entertainment.
Our pure ambivalence might stem from laziness, but I think it also shows how captivating these little videos are — and how mouthwateringly hungry they make us.
Instead of creating our own media, we’ve fallen into the routine of regurgitating the mind-numbing, yet ever-so-pleasing, Tasty videos.
It’s as if Pinterest literally came alive. Unfortunately, we all know after watching these seemingly “easy” do-it-yourself recipes, we sadly will not be able to do it ourselves.
Instead we’d end up causing a fire or breaking the small amount of kitchen utensils we collegiate scholars pride ourselves on owning.
Gone are the simple days of “this is my great grandma’s recipe,” where food contained ingredients like Spam and cream of mushroom soup.
Now, us “hip” grandchildren make things like “Mini Carmel Apple Tarts” and “Pull Apart Garlic Rolls.” Pretty and probably delicious, these dishes do not disappoint the millennial eye.
jlkarl@indiana.edu
@jkarl26
