Who needs Food Network?
Here are the most-popular YouTube cooking channels:1. Rosanna Pansino (RosannaPansino) — 4.27 million subscribers, 872 million views2. My Drunk Kitchen (MyHarto) — 2.15 million subscribers, 177 million views3. Tipsy Bartender (TipsyBartender) — 2.01 million subscribers, 273 million views4. RR Cherry Pie (RRCherryPie) — 1.92 million subscribers, 1.75 billion views5. Laura in the Kitchen (LauraVitalesKitchen) — 1.86 million subscribers, 237 million views6. MyCupcakeAddiction (MyCupcakeAddiction) — 1.84 million subscribers, 228 million views7. How To Cook That (HowToCookThat) — 1.70 million subscribers, 194 million views8. Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube (JamieOliver) — 1.70 million subscribers, 125 million views9. Sorted Food (SortedFood) — 1.25 million subscribers, 136 million views10. Cookies, Cupcakes and Cardio (CupcakesAndCardio) — 1.14 million subscribers, 209 million views
Whether she's watching cooking programs on TV, streaming them on Netflix or eating out while on vacation, Stephanie Clark is constantly absorbing culinary inspiration.
When it comes time to act on her foodie muse, however, the 30-year-old physical therapist is far more likely to turn to her MacBook than a cookbook.
"I wouldn't say that I have chucked the whole idea of cookbooks, personal creativity or recipe cards passed down by family members. I still use all of these things," White says. "But usually [I use them] in conjunction with technology.
"I make my weekly menus and shopping lists using a document I have created on Google Docs, and [that] is usually linked to all of the recipes I'm going to use if they can be found online or have page number references for cookbooks."
For many 21st-century chefs, easy access to the smorgasbord of recipes online has made tablets, smartphones and laptops nearly as indispensable to have in the kitchen as a sharp knife and a good sauté pan.
According to the results of a survey published in June and conducted by Google, Kraft Foods and New York City-based advertising agency McGarryBowen, about 60 percent of millennials - those ages 25 to 34 - cook with their smartphones or tablets handy.
"We see through secondary research that millennials are cooking more," Anna Conroy, McGarryBowen's planning director, says in the study. "It isn't a chore as much as an ability to create an experience."
Perhaps the growth of interest in cooking is no surprise given the glut of apps, websites, blogs and streaming video channels dedicated to offering cooking instruction, clever kitchen workarounds and other aspects of foodie culture.
In 2012, cooking apps were becoming so popular that Apple launched a separate "Food & Drink" subcategory in the App Store with an initial crop of about 9,000 apps, according to AppleInsider.com. On the Google Play app marketplace for Android devices, culinary apps are still folded into the Lifestyle category.
Apps that are available on either platform, however, offer home cooks access to a suite of tools that would make any sous chef envious, from smart timers and home grocery delivery services to interactive digital versions of classic cookbooks such as Irma Rombauer's "The Joy Of Cooking" ($8, iOS) and "The Betty Crocker Cookbook" (free, iOS/Android).
Outside the app ecosystem, the always-on, instant-access nature of YouTube has turned it into a digital font of culinary knowledge. The site's channels serve as storehouses of information that runs the gamut from basic cooking techniques, such as properly chopping vegetables or sharpening knives, to advanced recipes for dishes such as honey-glazed char siu pork or triple-layer lemon meringue cake with marshmallow icing.
Food-related videos are among the most popular content category on YouTube, and some of its streaming celebrity chefs have become bona fide TV stars, such as Laura Vitale, whose popular YouTube channel, "Laura in the Kitchen," spawned a Cooking Channel series, "Simply Laura," last fall.
In June 2014, Google, Millward Brown Digital and Firefly released the findings of a study that found that subscriptions to food-centric YouTube channels increased in 2014 by 280 percent over 2013 - 75 percent of that growth due to viewership on mobile devices. According to YouTube data, the site's top 10 most-viewed food channels have garnered more than 4 billion video views and wooed about 20 million subscribers.
According to the Google study, about half of all adults watch food videos on YouTube, with millennials watching 30 percent more often than other demographics.
But looking to digital sources for culinary inspiration and salvation is not solely of interest to younger users. Vickie Carey, 54, says the App Store helped her solve the dilemma she and other diabetics face in planning meals that are both delicious and safe to eat. After narrowing down possible apps through online research, the Johnson City native found "Fooducate," a free diet planning app that offers healthy recipe suggestions and a bar-code scanner that gives products a "nutrition grade."
"[It's] been a godsend to me," says Carey, who now lives in Virginia. "I tried a few others, but they're nowhere near as helpful. Now all the charts and health info is right there in my hand.
"Because I can make better choices [at] the store, what I do in the kitchen has been significantly impacted, not only with what I cook or prepare, but the way I cook it and prepare it. In the past six months, I've brought my A1C [glycated hemoglobin] down just over 2 percent. That's big for a diabetic over 50, and I give all the credit to 'Fooducate.'"
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.
App-ertizers: What to download
Popular selections from the vast array of cooking apps available to smartphone- and tablet-wielding chefs.‘Allrecipes Dinner Spinner’› What you get: The app’s signature feature — which is exclusive to smartphones — combines random selection with the massive library of dishes on AllRecipes.com. When users shake their phones, the spinner randomly chooses combinations of dish types, ingredients and prep time to generate a list of recipes. Some combinations, such as beef cookies or shellfish beverages, might not yield results, but the app generally finds at least something to try. Less-adventurous types can lock down one or more categories and limit some of the randomness or use the super-search feature to find only recipes that include ingredients they have on-hand or for which they have a hankering.› Price: Free (Android/iOS)› In-app purchases: Add-on packs including a “Paleo Cooking Primer” and “Winner Winner Simple Dinners” are available for 99 cents each.‘Evernote Food’› What you get: The culinary-minded cousin to popular notetaking/archiving app “Evernote,” this app bills itself as “help[ing] you remember the food you love.” Users can browse the app’s existing library of recipes assembled from popular food blogs and websites, saving their favorites to try later with any notes for tweaks they’d like to try. New recipes also can be added from other sites using the app’s “web clipper” function. Through location-based data, the app can compile a list of nearby restaurants, and users can create an in-app log of their meals (at home and out on the town) to track their culinary experiences.› Price: Free (Android/iOS)› In-app purchases: Users can take advantage of greater cloud-based data storage, offline notes access and document search by subscribing to “Evernote Premium” or “Evernote Plus” for $3/$6 per month or $25/$50 per year.‘Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List’› What you get: The companion app to one of the Internet’s most popular culinary sites, “Epicurious” features slick design with a main page that greets users with series of curated categories of recipes from the site with titles such as “Hearty Sandwiches,” “Main-Course Salads,” “I Cook Like A Pro” and “I Can Barely Cook.” Each recipe includes prep/cook time and serving estimates and user reviews of the recipe. The app also offers hands-free voice navigation to avoid touching the device’s screen with flour- or grease-coated hands. A smart timer function sets timers based on the dish and quantity being prepared.› Price: Free (Android/iOS)› In-app purchases: None‘Look & Cook’› What you get: The brainchild of Israeli celebrity chef Meir Adoni, “Look & Cook” bills itself as “the most gorgeous cooking app.” Each of the 50-odd recipes is presented via an elegantly simple interface of swipeable cards packed with photos and beginning with an overview of the dish and its ingredients (the “look”) followed by a step-by-step list of instructions (the “cook”). A the end of each recipe, a “tools” section offers links to purchase the equipment the chef recommends for preparing the dish.› Price: Free (Android/iOS)› In-app purchases: None‘Appetites’› What you get: Although most cooking apps offer instructions in a static form, “Appetites” presents its comparatively limited selection of recipes as “cooking classes” with high-quality videos of a host teacher/chef performing each step of the preparation. Classes don’t simply discuss the preparation of the selected recipe but also dig into detailed instruction of oft-used techniques.› Price: $5 (iOS)› In-app purchases: While many recipes are free, premium add-on dishes and themed packs such as “Vegan Delights” and “Summer Pack” range from 99 cents to $8.‘BigOven’› What you get: After registering for a free account, “BigOven” offers digi-chefs access to a BigOven.com’s library of more than 350,000 recipes, many of which are presented in a rotating list of curated categories such as “Grilled Main Dishes” or “Camping Recipes.” Once a recipe is selected, users can add it to a calendar of meal plans and generate an automatic shopping list with the necessary ingredients.› Price: Free (Android/iOS)› In-app purchases: For $20 a year, a subscription to “BigOven Pro” removes in-app ads, lets users add their own recipes (including automatic digital transcriptions of paper recipes) and note alterations they make to the original dish.‘How to Cook Everything’› What you get: This app is the digital doppelgänger of the best-selling cookbook of the same name by New York Times columnist and food writer Mark Bittman. In addition to all 2,000 recipes and variations from the book, the app includes hundreds of how-to illustrations for tasks such as butchering poultry and julienning vegetables. When navigating recipes, highlighted links let chefs automatically set the appropriate timer at the proper time. On an iPad, the app features additional tutorials, photos, recipe annotations, voiceovers from Pittman and a constant-on function to prevent the screen from going dark mid-prep.› Price: $10 (iOS)› In-app purchases: None‘Food Network in the Kitchen’› What you get: Users have access to “thousands” of recipes from an army of Food Network celebrity chefs, including Paula Deen, Bobby Flay, Alton Brown, Guy Fieri and Rachael Ray. Select recipes are flagged as including video tutorials culled from the network’s broadcasts. All recipes can be saved as favorites, and their ingredients can be added to an in-app grocery list. The app also includes a multi-timer function and unit converter.› Price: Free (Android/iOS)› In-app purchases: None‘Weber’s on the Grill’› What you get: This app by one of the most-respected names in grilling hardware offers access to hundreds of “triple-tested, classic” recipes from the company’s cookbooks for on-the-grill meals, rubs, marinades and sauces. Users can tag their favorites and generate shopping lists for dishes they’d like to try. The app also includes a smart timer for specific cuts and quantities of meat and more than 100 reference tips and instructional videos to hone the technique of would-be burger kings and queens.› Price: $5 (Android/iOS)› In-app purchases: None