Who has the time to cook? Wouldn’t it be faster to just order something from a restaurant?
Well, maybe, unless you watched the YouTube channel Joshua Weissman, on which Weissman has a playlist full of videos where he shows you how to make food faster than said restaurants.
Fair, but isn’t food made at a restaurant generally tastier than homemade stuff?
You might think so, unless you then watched Weissman’s playlist. He shows you how to recreate and improve upon famous fast-food recipes.
Alright, alright, you got me. But what about cost? Does Josh also show you how to create meals for much cheaper?
I’m glad you asked. Yes, he does.
To summarize, Joshua Weissman helps you learn how to make faster, tastier and cheaper meals than you can get from your local drive-thru fast-food service joint, all from the comfort of your own kitchen.
Weissman often breaks down why he does the things he does to educate viewers on the cooking process, and he sprinkles humor into his videos too. Even if you’ve never touched a frying pan in your life, you’ll likely still feel a boost of confidence through the channel.
Though he is a good cook, Weissman isn’t a culinary snob. He appreciates the taste and value of things like instant ramen and fast food, though he personally prefers to spruce them up a bit. And to that end, on videos where he ranks items from various fast-food restaurants, he often sprinkles in as many compliments as he does criticisms.
Finally, Weissman often talks his friends into trying many of his creations. He’ll cook a steak several different ways, for instance, and add a variety of sauces to the menu, too. Then he’ll have his friends taste and rank how tasty each method is, using the data to learn how to make the meal even more appetizing.
While the f-word and s-word are used, they are censored. However, swears like “a–,” “h—” and “b–tard” are not. Additionally, God’s name, including in the form of “g-dd–n,” is not censored.
We also hear the very occasional sexual quip. In one video, the camera briefly focuses on a fridge magnet that’s in the shape of male genitalia that’s on a college man’s fridge. And in a video about eating spicy food, we hear a couple jokes about defecation. In one video, he briefly wears feminine clothing for a joke.
In some ways, when a cooking channel brings on a professional chef in a white jacket, viewers can be confident that they’re getting good advice—but it can also make some of their cooking methods feel out of reach.
Weissman is a professional chef, just as those white-jacketed cooks are. But his demeanor, humor and casual videos help to bridge that experience gap, reassuring viewers that his videos aren’t just for those with a few perfectly cooked pork chops under their belt. Furthermore, in making videos that appeal to cost and speed rather than just flavor, Weissman helps to address two often unaddressed factors that might discourage people from cooking.
That’s all great news for both new and…ahem…seasoned home cooks alike. But parents will also want to be aware of some swear words and a couple sexual jokes that are uttered in Weissman’s videos, too.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
