Cooking videos were one small savior of 2020 - The Verge

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Cooking videos were one small savior of 2020 - The Verge

Cooking videos were one small savior of 2020 - The Verge

Posted: 20 Dec 2020 12:00 AM PST

Early one morning, a week after the pandemic started, chef and food writer J. Kenji López-Alt strapped a GoPro to his head and filmed himself making breakfast. In the video, you can see López-Alt rummaging through his fridge, slicing and frying bacon, and peeling a bit of egg off a pan to give to his excited dog. There's no recipe beneath the video, no voice-over instructions detailing what we're seeing — it's just a guy in a kitchen making breakfast.

Videos like these became both much-needed entertainment and valuable educational resources early in the pandemic, as a world of people realized they would be stuck at home indefinitely with their own (not necessarily stunning) cooking, and a little extra time to put into it. Food and drink streams surged in popularity on Twitch, doubling in hours watched year over year in August, according to StreamElements and Arsenal.gg. On YouTube, "cook with me" videos more than doubled in popularity starting in March and maintained that growth through October, YouTube told the Associated Press.

"It gives [viewers] confidence to do stuff in the kitchen," said López-Alt, author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. His own videos lack the polish and perfect cuts of a professional show and include the slip-ups he makes along the way. "It gives them permission to make mistakes."

Cooking shows have been around for a century, but new formats online have revitalized the genre in recent years. On YouTube in particular, you can find step-by-step instructional lessons, personal "cook with me" vlogs, and stomach-churning food challenges like stuffing McDonald's burgers and nuggets into an oversized burrito. On Twitch, chefs and home cooks broadcast themselves live from their kitchen as they prepare meals. And on TikTok, you can watch videos teaching you how to make a new dish in under a minute.

Many hosts noticed a pickup in views and engagement as the pandemic went on. "It definitely has been skyrocket high with the views on things you can do at home," Zahria Harvey, whose YouTube channel XO. ZAHRIAAA is known for "cook with me" videos, told The Verge. Harvey says one viewer wrote in about making an affordable date night meal featured on her channel for an anniversary dinner because she couldn't go out to dinner. "It was like wow, these videos are actually helping a lot of people during this time," Harvey said.

The influx of new viewers has also meant more live interaction for hosts on Twitch. "I find that the community is way more vocal and involved past March this year," L.A., a photographer and former sushi chef who runs the channel The Hunger Service, told The Verge. L.A.'s streams typically run for three to four hours and show him preparing and cooking a meal, talking through his process as he's working. As he cooks, viewers ask questions about the process, like how sharp a knife needs to be or how to turn a recipe vegan.

For López-Alt, who's known for his Serious Eats column, his channel became a fun outlet for both him and his viewers. The format he locked into — strapping a GoPro to his head — is what made video finally click for him, and it helped him reach viewers who weren't familiar with his writing. "The food I cook on my channel is stuff I was generally making for lunch and for dinner," López-Alt said. "I could do it consistently, people seemed to like it, [and] I enjoyed making it." Viewers told him the videos were a bright spot and were helping them learn how to cook.

Some creators have found that the surge in interest in their channels extends beyond cooking. Remi Cruz, a popular YouTuber who frequently features cooking on her two channels, said that people have been more interested in basically anything you can do at home. For "vlogmas," she's been using cooking to fill the gap where she'd normally vlog about outdoor activities and holiday shopping. "I've just been implementing some sort of cooking-related thing every day, and people genuinely love it," Cruz told The Verge.

Viewers won't always end up cooking what they see, but these videos can still make their time in the kitchen a bit more fun — or at least, distract them while they think about the great meals they'll eventually go back out to a restaurant and order.

"People are looking for some sort of comfort," L.A. said. "Comfort food is a thing, and watching these shows can offer that comfort. You may not be making it at the time, but maybe you will."

Houston Texans' Brandin Cooks says he won't 'accept any more trades' - ESPN

Posted: 01 Jan 2021 02:05 PM PST

Jan 1, 2021

HOUSTON -- Texans wide receiver Brandin Cooks, who is playing for his fourth team in his seven NFL seasons, said he's "not going to accept any more trades."

Cooks, who has been traded three times, has three years left on the contract he signed with the Los Angeles Rams. He has a cap hit of $12 million in 2021, but does not have any guaranteed money left on the remaining three years of his deal.

"For me, [No.] 4 [Deshaun Watson] is a special player, and I would love to continue to grow with him," Cooks said of Houston's quarterback. "But as far as a team thinking they could trade me for draft capital, I would caution them to think twice, because quite frankly, I'm not going to accept any more trades. And so, for me, if you want me off your team, you've just got to let me walk and choose my destination.

"For me, I've got a newborn son at home and he's looking for someone to set an example. So I think it's, for me, starting to stand firm when it comes to my career. But when it comes to playing here and playing with Deshaun, I would love to continue that growth. But that's out of my hands. Those are decisions that I don't make. I hope that the team sees the growth that we've been having and continues to show that commitment and growth over the years."

In three games since wide receiver Will Fuller was suspended for the remainder of the season, Cooks has 25 catches for 265 yards and a touchdown. (He missed one game with a neck injury.) With 16 yards in Sunday's season finale against the Tennessee Titans, Cooks would become just the second receiver in NFL history to have at least 1,000 receiving yards in a season with four different teams, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Cooks was drafted by the New Orleans Saints and also has played for the New England Patriots. After being traded from the Rams for a second-round pick in April, Cooks has 70 catches for 984 yards and four touchdowns in his first season in Houston.

Cooks declined to say how he would block a trade, and when asked about whether he'd be interested in signing an extension that would give him guaranteed money, he said, "That's something my agent handles."

"I would love to continue to grow with Deshaun and have that commitment, however that looks," Cooks said. "I don't get into that. I'll leave that to my agent and the team, but playing with a guy like that -- who wouldn't want to play with a quarterback like Deshaun?"

The Texans have four wide receivers under contract for 2021: Cooks, 2020 fifth-round pick Isaiah Coulter and slot receivers Randall Cobb and Keke Coutee. Fuller was playing on his fifth-year option before he was suspended in November. Houston does not have a first- or second-round draft pick after sending them to Miami in 2019 for left tackle Laremy Tunsil and wide receiver Kenny Stills.

"I feel great about playing in this offense," Cooks said. "I think there's so much more room to keep continuing to grow together. Not just me, but just all of us as a whole. You think about not having the offseason, not having time to really jell. We didn't have that opportunity as a team, especially the new guys. And hopefully we get to have that opportunity, and I think there's so much room to grow, in a great way."


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