Rabbit hole. Research. Same difference.
The new freelance gig has me working remotely for the most part. This is a first, which might not be saying much considering I'm not even at the one-year mark in this new endeavor. But time passes in strange ways. On some days, eight months seems like three years. Other times it feels like days.
Time passage aside, the biggest hurdle to working remotely, or I should say my biggest fear about working remotely never happened. Left to my own devices, I was concerned about distractions. Then the emails and text messages from the office rolled in, and deadlines appeared, and the devil was unable to find work for my hands because they weren't idle long.
If anything, the opposite is true. I have to force myself to clock out, otherwise I won't. When it comes time to clock out, I usually spend a few minutes catching up on emails, or a half hour watching YouTube videos. Recently these are all falling into the food category. I have a sneaking suspicion this is more than just passive viewing, or even looking for new recipes. This feels more like I'm doing unconscious research for a yet-to-be-written story, but I can't confirm it as right now I'm in still in sponge-soaking mode.
One channel I've been watching is the Scott Rea project. He's an English bloke whose videos are like watching a master class on butchery. His asides are sometimes glib, sometimes pervy. He's hilarious. If he's being sponsored by the brands he mentions, it's not overt. As with all of these channels, it's a treat to watch how the production value gets better as the audience grows.
Often, he cooks things he's shot himself (or at least one a mate has shot) and I love his nose-to-tail concept of not wasting anything. His videos make me miss living in an area where game meat is much more prevalent.
The next two channels are more based in history. Townsends is a channel which describes itself as being "dedicated to exploring the 18th century lifestyle." This includes food preparation and historically accurate recipes but also lifestyle in terms of clothing, entertainment, camping, war, etc. Townsends is the most professionally produced of the three, feeling either like am old PBS show from the 80's or something you'd find on a local channel on a Sunday morning when there's downtime for cable-access-like shows.
Townsends is not without its idiosyncrasies. Everyone is dressed in historically appropriate garb. There's an incessant fiddle soundtrack throughout all of the videos that even buried in the mix starts to grate after ten minutes or so. The videos don't really give precise recipes per se, but are more for demonstration purposes. They do recommend books, and products. Even when it's clear they aren't fans of the recipe, they are never critical and always find something nice to stay about it. And while I'm sure this was a normal spice usage back in the day, the main presenter has what can only be described as a nutmeg fetish.
Now, the one I'm most obsessed with and have been binge watching, is an amazing piece of culinary history presented by Steve1989MREInfo. In essence, the guy eats MRE's or Meals Ready to Eat from all over the world, and from as far back as The Civil War.
That's right. The guy not only eats the stuff (if it's clearly not been compromised, and sometimes even when it is) and gives his culinary appraisal of such meals, particularly the freeze-dried coffee.
Beyond enjoying the historical tidbits, as someone in advertising, I love looking at the packaging. Cigarettes, chocolate bars, candies, and powdered beverage drinks are sometimes so perfectly persevered they look (and taste) like new.
As for the presenter, a YouTube commenter said it best. He's like the Bob Ross of MRE presentation. His voice is gentle and calming, his attitude always upbeat. It's amazing how much knowledge he drops in under a half hour. If I were in a survival situation, I'd want him in the camp, that's for sure.
Having binge-watched an absurd amount of these videos, I appreciate how consistent he's been. I don't think he's worked on presentation from the standpoint of attracting an audience; nor do I feel like what can only be described as a catch-phrase was "let's get this out onto a tray– nice!" seems like an affectation. If it is, it's the subtlest one ever.
Lately I've put these on about an hour before bed. I'll manage two and a half before his soothing voice rocks me to sleep. Then I have to pause and watch the following evening.
I was not at all surprised to discover he is not the only MRE reviewing channel out there. Of course, there would be multiple ones; they are an interesting community of collectors, history buffs, gold diggers, and in a weird way, foodies who also love nostalgia. In that last sense, they are kind of like they are LARPing, but in my opinion without the pejorative. Rather than play acting they are getting a better sense of how an army, navy and the like marched on their stomachs.
While these channels represent a range of passions from the practical to the most niche they all stem from a human desire to open a time capsule, understand our past, or preserve a way of life that is worth preserving.
Steve1989 in particular makes references to smells, tastes or packaging that take him back to times when he was a kid. If his handle is any indication, he's only 30 years old or close to it, which means he started this channel when he was in his 20's.
If this is the case, it says a lot about younger generations who have tapped into nostalgia. This is probably true of my generation, too, although I don't remember nostalgia being a part of the 90's. Even if this is a generalization, I can say with certainty we didn't have nostalgia-on-steroids that Buzzfeed's listicles ushered in.