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Hello 2025! Discussing the World of Stunt Food || Chowtsunami
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Hello Pandalorians and a happy 2025! To kick off the new year, Satsunami is joined by fellow PodPack Collective member Marie from the 2 Girls 1 Reusable Cup podcast as well as co-host to the We Needed Roads podcast to discuss the world of stunt food.
From broccoli haired TikTokers to fast food companies, we dive into the impact that these types of foods have. But is there more to this topic other than the mess it leaves behind? Is there a cultural impact of altering one's food to make it more palatable? And is our need to collect memorable experiences encourage unorthodox dishes? Let's find out!
This podcast is a member of the PodPack Collective, an indie podcasting group dedicated to spreading positivity within the podcast community. For further information, please follow the link: https://linktr.ee/podpackcollective
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Transcript
Lunch Invitation and Restaurant Talk
00:00:02
Speaker
If you know what, Mary, we've known each other for a while now, and the very least I can do is take you out for lunch. Aww, thank you. Wait, why does this sound familiar? You're gonna love this place. Dan actually recommended it after I took him to that restaurant in space called the U.S.G. Tempura. At least I think it was called the U.S.G. Tempura. I don't know, Satsu. This place looks a little odd. Wait, did you say space? Anyway, the menu looks great. Who would've wanted a 20 cheese pizza served on a sustainable brick? Or a triple chocolate cheesecake the size of a red bander? I'm going to kill Dan. And I'm about to kill the food on this menu. Just to clarify, this is being paid by the Podpack, right? Wait, the Podpack earns money? Ow!
Introduction to Chatsunami 2025
00:00:49
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami.
00:00:53
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to the first episode of Chatsunami in 2025. My name's Satunami and joining me for this a brand new episode of our sub-series Chatsunami is none other than the sustainable guru herself, it is Marie from the Two Girls One Reusable Cup Podcast. Marie, welcome back.
00:01:14
Speaker
Thank you. I'm honored. And thank you for me. that I can't talk. Let's just leave it there. Thank you. I'm honored. We're off to a great start. Totally not hungover from last night's New Year's festivities. Oh, yes, of course. All that recording. and I'll have to have a word with the rest of the Podpack Collective because they are just party animals,
Wild New Year Stories
00:01:39
Speaker
aren't they? Yeah, especially Dan. You know, he likes to tear it up. Luke, never trust a ginger. They're wild. Well, I mean, to be fair, out who knew that you could combine a yeager bomb with a tin of beans? Well, I guess he saw it on TikTok. Yes, of course. That topic that totally won't be coming up later.
Stunt Food Phenomenon
00:02:00
Speaker
Seismic cinema silently judging in the corner.
00:02:05
Speaker
the Game Club pod regretting their life decisions. You know, a wonderful bunch of people, essentially. But speaking of horrible food choices, which was such a great segue, part in the back for me today, we are indeed going to be talking about, oh, a very interesting yet infamous topic that I have to say, I was really surprised that not many people have been talking about it. So when I was researching this particular topic, which I'll address in a minute, keeping the suspense up here, but when I was looking it up, only a handful of creators were talking about this. And other than the old video or two on it, there wasn't really much on it. And that topic, of course, is the whole world of stunt food. Now, before we go on and start talking about this weird and wonderful topic, Mary, what is your experience with this? Have you ever heard of this term or is it just something that's popped up out of nowhere for you? I mean, I don't think I've heard the term before, but I definitely can like place it. It's definitely something that's really big on social media. Unfortunately, TikTok, I think, is where I see it the most. And also, I am just so privileged that you asked me to do this episode with you because you all know that I love a good rant.
00:03:19
Speaker
And there will be plenty of brewing on this one, because it's just, yeah, it's one of those ones. I think it's why we decided to do this, because we just send these things to each other and went, go, why? Why does this even exist? Why are these people even doing this? This is just such a waste. It's always just why. Because I have to say, TikTok is, and I probably echo the views of a million politicians here to say TikTok is bad for the youth and bad for the brain. But whether be honest, probably is.
00:03:47
Speaker
I mean, well, I mean, I can weigh in on that side. It's not worse than any other social media statistically. I think it's more of a generational thing. I think the people who use TikTok are mainly Gen Z. Millennials are with meta and then YouTube shorts as well. So it's a generational thing where people are just overly impressionable. And also when I was doing my own research in a way, they don't have, I want to say a backstory or like context.
00:04:15
Speaker
especially I'm obviously talking of people in the Western world. So they grew up in a world of abundance. They're used to going to the supermarket and it's always been fully stocked. They've been never, I think the majority never experienced food insecurity or I think the closest that it has gotten is during 2020 when everything was sold out. But I think even then for that, the majority of Gen Z was too young, which oh God, That depresses me to say I was going through that in my mid-20s, but it's that running joke.
Stunt Food Origins and Evolution
00:04:43
Speaker
How many earth-shattering events can a millennial live through? I think that's why TikTok is the main suspect here. I mean, for legal reasons, in case TikTok hired a hit out on me, for legal reasons, that is indeed a joke. But on the other hand, as much as I'm ragging on TikTok for making this particular content, we're going to be talking about accessible to the masses. This definitely, you're completely right, this definitely predates TikTok.
00:05:07
Speaker
And it goes as far back and it could even go further because I'm not really taking into account real life examples and things. The earliest example I could find in terms of it was social media because you probably did have idiots like making massive burgers and back then it used to be for the Guinness World Record too, you know. Oh god, that thing. I mean it still exists but everyone has forgotten about it. Pretty much, yeah. Because one channel that I remember, and I don't know if you grew up with this, was the Epic Realtime channel. Basically the premise of it was, it started in October of 2010, and it was a Canadian YouTube channel that it was basically focused on making the most successive types of food.
00:05:52
Speaker
They would always have massive burgers or massive pizzas or whatever. And because it was the 2010s, the running joke was they would slaughter at bacon. I don't know why that's a meme. I'm going to be honest, that was like a massive thing of, oh, bacon's the best thing in the world.
00:06:10
Speaker
and it's close. It's good, it's good, but it wasn't like this godly sacrosanct piece on your plate kind of thing, but the way they treated it, you're like, are we going to? You know, if aliens came down in the 2010s, they would have been taking back a goat statue, a bacon I think. how prepared it was at the time. Why? I don't know. It's great, but it was just like a weird thing. But basically, they would make burgers, big things, and then they would put ridiculous calorie counts on it. Don't get me wrong, I have no idea what they did with it because it was like a group of guys just having fun making the most ridiculous food type things. And I think tech
00:06:49
Speaker
they clearly they're still doing it, but again I think it's one of those things where their prime was the 2010s and now that they're keen to still going on it but they're also featuring them podcasts and things that they're not as prevalent but that was the earliest example I could think of online anyway or rather the most prolific example of someone doing that. So of course you had YouTube, you'll have stuff on Instagram, Facebook, pick your poison essentially. I think you're quite accurate around the 2010s. I mean, as the main example, the outside of social media that I think of is man versus food. Now, I don't know if you ever watched a show, but this was this guy in America just traveling around America and some restaurants in America would have a challenge. Like if you eat as many kilos of beef, you will get the meal for free. But I'm like, well, yes, but also a whole host of other issues if you eat that. So the show ran for a couple of seasons, but eventually he had to to step aside and no longer be the host. He stepped aside and started coaching other people who came on the show because of course, eating all the shit was so bad for you. His body couldn't physically do it anymore. The most interesting ones were when he was actually successful because it was actually a challenge that was within the merits. But then sometimes where it was just like not a single person has completed this challenge, I was like, yeah, no shit. That's just a mountain of food. What the fuck? Why would you do this? I remember recently when my friend sent me an image of quite possibly one of the most pathetic eating challenges. It was a cafe in Scotland somewhere and it was like, oh, this guy wasn't able to complete our eating challenge. Oh, better luck next time. 50% of his plate was just toast.
00:08:33
Speaker
really annoyed me to no end because I'm like well obviously you're not going to be able to finish that because you know that's half a loaf you just put on these plates and the other half is like oh two eggs two sausages while they really burst out of the bank for the same challenge yeah you're completely right there's always been these challenges. I always remember someone I used to go to uni with, they once told me that they went to Korea to teach English and they had their family over and they said to this day because their brother completed an eating challenge in this Korean restaurant that they've still got a picture of him up on the wall because they just completed eating challenge is like, I think they didn't expect someone from Scotland just to rock up and be like, that play right able now. I'm not saying we're big eaters, but we're big eaters. I was about to say that sounds so stereotypically Scottish. It does. When there's a challenge, a Scottish person will knock back down. We might be terrible at it, we might not win, but damn it all we tried.
00:09:33
Speaker
Yeah, because it's like sometimes I'm using this term as an in air quotes considered as a sport because there are champion eaters. I know like for a fact, at least in Japan, there's quite a lot of famous champion eaters because also Japan has a lot of food challenges. They even have a name for it, but it's like not off the top of my head. So it's interesting. But then the way we see it on social media, it's like almost completely different, but then you can kind of see the inspiration.
00:09:57
Speaker
Because I have to say, although we're obviously going to be focusing on the entire concept of stunt food, there's a lot of overlap with other genres and things. You know, you've got the creators who create the worst abominations ever, which of course fits into the category. But then you've also got people who use that excess into things like muckbangs, which I'm going to be honest, maybe this is the most controversial thing to start 2025, mukbangs is one of the worst things that's ever been created in terms of content creation because honestly, I could listen to an animal eat, I don't mind that, but see you listening to someone eating into a microphone. Yeah, they no, they're awful. I don't get it either. two hours I'm not an ASMR person at all. I never got into that. that I mean, it's still going on, but it was really big a few years back. I never got into that trend. I don't get the hype about ASMR. And yeah, and then muck bang, ASMR is just like a whole new level and it's really bad. And I also looked into it and what I discovered was the more unhealthy the muck bang, the more unhealthy the muck bang, I'm going to struggle saying this word throughout this episode. The more views was it just shocking that there's a coloration there. Oh no, a hundred percent because whoever is watching these videos, they don't really want to see someone eat a thousand, I don't know, salads or something like that. They want to see all of these products and things right there. I mean, it reminds me of the whole super seismic craze. Oh God, yeah. Again, that's a whole episode in itself. Especially for the guy who made it. So what I'm going to do, Marie, is add that to the list. What else to talk about? Add the long list to Marie Satsu's rants because I think that's going to be a new sub-genre on your show, just topics. Rantsunami, how is it? Rantsunami! This is nearly every conversation you and I have. Darn kids!
00:11:56
Speaker
i mean There'll be days where we're both busy and not talking to one another and then just all of a sudden one of us will send someone that's just out of the blue thing. I mean earlier you were sending me something about the joys of fried mayonnaise. We will get you worry about. This topic is honestly such a rabbit hole of information because, as I said, I went into this thinking, oh, we're just going to be talking about a couple of random TikTok videos of, you know, the very immature kids that have the broccoli haircuts and now, you know, putting chocolate all over the place and they're like, oh, look at me, Mum. I know exactly what you're talking about as well. as just Yes, yes, exactly. It is. Honestly, baffles me. You sit there and you think, why are you the way you are? But when you get deeper into it, when you look at the studies that have been done on, in particular, stunt food in the world around it, because I don't want to just, in this episode, focus on stunt foods, you know, just the typical, oh, someone made a big burger kind of thing, because the amount that you can actually find out about this topic when you dive really deep into it. And again, I'm and i'm just so shocked that not a lot of people were talking about it, which is why we're here today and the godly year of the red panda after 2025. Yeah, it's just absolutely fascinating. So before we get into this weird and wonderful history of this topic, we're gonna go away, we're gonna fill up our plates and we'll be right back after these messages. Welcome to Shatsunami, a variety podcast that discusses topics from gaming and films to anime and journal interests.
00:13:31
Speaker
Previously on Chatsunami, we've analysed what makes a good horror game, conducted a retrospective on Pierce Brosnan's runs James Bond, and listened to us take deep dives into both the Sonic and Halo franchises. Also, if you're an anime fan, then don't forget to check us out on our sub-series, Chatsunani, where we dive into the world of anime. So far, we've reviewed things like Death Note, Princess Mononoke, and the hit Beyblade series. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you can check us out on Spotify, iTunes, and all the podcast apps. As always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated. Hello, we are Two Girls One Reusable Cup, a podcast all about living a low waste lifestyle in your 20s, hosted by Beth and Marie. We are just your average consumer trying to make the best decisions for people and planet. And we mess up. A lot.
00:14:22
Speaker
And the next morning had a massive hangover and I was like, where's my reusable straw? No, my prized possession. You know, Too Faced is like the one of the jumping off points of this podcast. And it also was one of the jumping off points of my very large dentist bill. And they put it in just a standard plastic cup with a plastic lid. But don't worry, folks, they put a paper straw in it, which I think I slurped twice and then it disintegrated. Wait, you've never learned how to ride a bike? So kudos to my dad, he tried to teach me and I was just a pain. I love how unforgiving you are of the fact that this was 1800 meters above sea level. But where was my quiche? Grab a cup of tea, sit down with us and come and join the Sustainable Support Group.
00:15:08
Speaker
and we are back. So let's get into the world of stunt food because honestly and this is something that will be no pun intended but this will be your bread and butter Marie. I don't want to say it's the corporation's fault but they don't really help the matter do they?
00:15:27
Speaker
but No, I mean, when have they ever, if there's an opportunity to make more money, they're going to make more money. I mean, that is the sad reality of the world we live in. Going back to the somewhat history of stunt foods, related to it where we're talking about eating challenges and things like that, and this is something we'll get onto later because there's an amazing study and I genuinely felt like I was back in university when I was going this I was like, oh my god, I've got sources. How did you get the academic rabbit hole? And I just got the deeply disturbing one. It sounds like we went on two very different rabbit holes on the preparation of this episode. Yeah, because I was like, oh my god, look at this article. It's got qualitative and quantitative studies. Oh, look, it's amazing. And you're just like, hey, look at the study go back but right me and these and I was like, what?
00:16:16
Speaker
bigger part. It's honestly such a weird rabbit to go down. But when I was looking into this, you know, of course, you've got almost this idea of the exotic and different. So basically, when I was looking into starting this episode, I had to think of the why for this. And obviously, money is at the top of the list, as you were saying, because yeah, corporations are going to make money because, you know, a hundred billion dollars or whatever, you know, that's just not enough for a superyacht. So they have to think OK, how are we going to generate more money? How are we going to generate more buzz and influence? Some of the examples bar the, as we were saying, the eating challenges and creating a kind of weird experience. One that I saw that was in April of 2010 was something called the Double Down Burger introduced by KFC. And literally all they did was replace the buns of a burger with two pieces of chicken. Did you ever hear about this at the time? No, I did not. I always feel the need to remind people. I grew up German, so fast food was not part of my childhood. I mean, to be fair, you made walk judge it judging by this loss. But that's literally all it was. It was two pieces of chicken. They took the bun away, arguably the most healthy part of that burger.
00:17:31
Speaker
Oh, so instead of the bun, it was like chicken on the bottom and chicken on top and then... Pretty much. Yeah, just lettuce, tomato, whatever in the middle. Oh, but there was not extra meat in the middle? Well, I don't know. Because it's KFC. They wouldn't have a beef burger. They don't have beef burgers. But then does that constitute as a sandwich? Then if you've got two fillets of chicken, then you've got a chicken in the middle. Is that not just like a chicken tower? yeah Yeah, double, triple, decker chicken bus. No. Yeah. The questions we'll be asking each other tonight. Although I can cite a recent article about KFC because I just saw two days ago that KFC has now said that they won't. I think their wording was Frankenstein chicken. Oh, yes. Did you see that?
00:18:13
Speaker
like Lovely. Oh yeah, is that when they have the chickens that are the very grotesque proportions? And they're like, oh, wonderful. Let's fatten up these chickens in the worst conditions possible. Because ironically enough, and again, I don't know if these guidelines have been changed since, but the same guy who did the Super Sizemey documentary, he did another documentary. I can't remember what it was called. Did you ever see this where he raised chickens on a chicken farm? made his own restaurant. It's interesting, but basically the thing that he found out, and again, I don't know if this is just a US-centric thing or if it's globally applied, but they were basically told that you can have a minimum amount of outside space for the chickens to be considered rearrange. So it was like basically had them in a warehouse, they had kicking the semi-circle that barely got outside as it was, but they counted that as the chickens being free-ranged, even though they were getting trampled on in just terrible conditions. It was actually quite horrific to watch and realise that that's what they considered as free range because you know a lot of times you go into supermarkets and things and you see free range and the chicken with the thumbs up smiling saying I was treated great before I was slaughtered but I'm not gonna sit here and say oh I don't eat chicken because that would be hypocritical but at the same time you know you kind of think there's standards there when in reality and again the guidelines could have very well changed because it was a good couple of years ago but
00:19:44
Speaker
No, they haven't. Probably not. Which would be surprised. No, definitely not in the US. Not sure what's the case in the UK. In the EU, yes, the EU is cracking down more on more stricter guidelines, especially on what people can label as bio free range and stuff like that. But I don't know the specific details of it, but I know obviously they're the ones responsible for those guidelines.
00:20:05
Speaker
but Yeah, it's always like it's similar to the fashion industry where I'm like always question everything you know, there's always another side to it. There's always a different side to a story here. And labels you think mean one thing, maybe not do not mean that thing. So it's also important to do your own research. It's just frustrating because when you're running late and all you want to do is just have 20 minutes and at the supermarket before you run home from work. The last thing you want to do is Google stuff.
00:20:30
Speaker
But it is something to keep in mind. Much like fast fashion, unfortunately, when these kind of things happen, a lot of companies decide, you know what, I'm going to copy this exact thing. Or, well, maybe not copy it exactly, but do their own kind of spin on it. Because PR, and usually positive PR, is always welcome in these particular industries. And one of the ones that I was really surprised to read about, and again, as of this year that's been recorded 2025, I'm going to briefly touch on Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Taco, which is essentially just a taco that is a Dorito. That's how it is. And I have never been to a Taco Bell in my life. Same, same. I mean, there's a couple in the cities and kind of nearby, but again, Taco Bell wasn't really a thing in the UK. No, and it also doesn't have the best reputation, to be honest. Taco Bell is immediately followed with time on the toilet. Every time somebody mentions that to me, so I'm like, you're not making it sound appealing to me. And at least I can talk about UK, because I live in the UK and other parts. There are other better, decent Mexican or burrito places that you can go. Why would you go to Taco Bell? We have other better options. No, it's true. But would you believe, though, that this is me pulling the stats here? No, I wouldn't.
00:21:48
Speaker
but But would you believe that this particular product, the Locust Taco, apparently it quickly became the company's most popular menu item of the time, if not of all time, and it hit 100 million sales in an unprecedented 10 weeks of being sold, which is absolutely insane to think. Sorry, I'm just googling this thing. This is, I mean, it's just like a bright orange taco shell. Why would you put that in your body? Well, it came out in 2012 and as far as I know, it's still being sold. I could be wrong. There could be a Taco Bell enthusiast out there saying actually. As we make it very clear, we are not. To be honest, I'm not sure. No, this probably won't be the most controversial thing I ever say on the internet. I also don't get Doritos hype. They're alright. I think they're mid. People go crazy for Doritos. I'm like, meh. You see, I like them, but between the fact that they've been raised in price next to Pringles, which is another bugbear, but that's another thing.
00:22:48
Speaker
You know, I'm not going to pay ยฃ3 for a small bag of Doritos, I'm sorry. I'll buy the supermarket equivalent if I have to, but nah, I'm not paying that for Doritos, I like them. I think they're nice, but I don't think they're anything to lose your mind over. They're the best, or they're the worst kind of thing. But following on from that though, apparently, and I can believe this, about Taco Bell, that apparently during the time, and I don't know if this is still, I think, they created Taco Speakeases.
00:23:16
Speaker
in New York. This is what it says in Google, and I cannot believe this. Taco speakeasies in New York, Dallas and Los Angeles were fans, which kind of weird if you say you're a Doritos fan, could use social media to unlock the locations of places to try the new taco. On the one hand, brilliant PR move. I'm not going to lie, that is absolutely brilliant. On the other hand, how much of a Taco Bell extra Dorito fan do you have to be?
00:23:44
Speaker
to hunt for secret locations for a Dorito taco? I mean... I mean, okay, maybe that is something I would actually be into. Because it does sound like a lot of fun and the only times I would go through copious amounts of effort if I get food in the end. Which also I think they probably would do that now because this would be completely ruined by social media.
00:24:06
Speaker
oh yeah Easter eggs aren't really a thing anymore because people realize it really, really fast. Not in the relation of the food, so this is a bit of a tangent. But my brother works for a big car company. He just designed the entertainment system of this car. Well, just it took him like over three years. But anyway, it just came out and he included a little Easter egg in it. And people were like, we don't even call it an Easter egg because people discovered it within minutes after the car launched.
00:24:30
Speaker
And now it's just on the official website as a feature because they just suddenly learn. They're like, oh, okay. He did not take my suggestion that if you do a certain set of commands, my podcast would immediately play, which I mean, like, is he even my brother? So I was a bit upset about that, but I thought that was funny where he was just like, yeah, look at this. It's already on TikTok.
00:24:51
Speaker
I was just thinking of, you know, like a Knight Rider situation where instead of that voice, it's just you talking about sustainability tips. And Garris, of course. And Garris, oh, I need to. I'm sorry, this is a tangent now, but that just reminded me because I don't know how I'm going to cover this and maybe you you have an idea. But I don't know if you have seen the latest Mercedes ad with Antonio Banderas. Oh, no, not yet. No, because I've been going to the cinema a lot recently. So they keep playing this ad and basically he takes his daughter's car and it's the new Mercedes model, which has like this AI feature planned in. So when you're near the store, so basically if you drive past your coffee shop, there's an option to immediately put in an order. So the car is like fancy a coffee or like going down the store and it's like, this is your favourite clothing store. And I'm just like, that encourages consumerism to a whole new level. Just having your car constantly remind you, by the way, you can place an order. It's just, I hate this feature so, so, so much. I'm not going to lie. If my car did that, it'd probably turn round and go, oh, you fat bastard. You want a coffee again?
00:25:59
Speaker
No, here's a gym. Get to the gym, you. It's a new year. Get a gym membership. I am done with you professionally. Oh, wow. Thank you, car. To be honest, I think all Scottish cars would be very blunt to be like, do you need that fish and chips, though? Do you? I don't know. Honestly, never let a Scottish person program AI. I don't know about that. Yeah, speaking of my poor life choices.
00:26:27
Speaker
So, apparently in the same year going on to a different fast food chain, we have Burger King, which introduced a bacon sundae in 2012. Oh, good lord. Yeah, but supposedly there was a similar product introduced in 2011 at Denny's. And again, it's back to this bacon washer, which again, I don't get. It's nice. I like it. ah Is it the best thing on the menu? Probably. But I mean, with these particular things,
00:26:56
Speaker
It still goes on to this day because I saw an example, and these are just kind of cherry-picked ones, but the funniest one I saw was the real cheeseburger, which was released in Thailand in the summer of 2023, and literally all it is is just sliced cheese on the burger. Oh, like a grilled cheese. No, I don't think it's even that. I think it's just slices of cold cheese. oh ah like I mean, seriously, look at up the real cheeseburger Thailand. I've just baffled someone in Thailand like, you want a fancy just cheese? what You want anything else on it? The vegetarian option? Or anything like that? No, no, just cheese. No meat? No, no, just cheese. Like Wallace and Gromit, the worst version ever. ah
00:27:39
Speaker
I have seen this before, but I thought this was prank. What is it? I mean, I don't know. No, I see people eating it. So I know a while back, I think it was McDonald's. I think he did an April Fool's prank where they were like, I'm going to release a whole burger with just pickles. And everyone was just like, that's disgusting. And I was just like, actually probably would eat that. This looks ridiculous. is Yeah. I'm just really looking at it. Yeah. think I think that was Burger King. It was Burger King. 20 slices of American cheese.
00:28:07
Speaker
like ah I've actually no pun intended, but I do have a beef with Burger King, but there's a whole other thing. All I'm saying is, they owe me a parking ticket.
00:28:19
Speaker
Have I told you about this? No, you have not. You've mentioned that you have beef, but you never told me the source is the beef. This is, again, the side tangent for this episode, but long story short, my partner and I were going down south and we ended up more driving and we decided, oh, we're going to stop off at this service station. It was really, really busy, so I hopped in the queue for Burger King and long story short, their system broke because I put it in the machine and everything in their whole system just utterly buggered up and it took hours just to get it. By that point, I paid for the food and everything and I was really tired, everyone was getting there really slowly. But because I was there for a long time, what I didn't realise was you're only allowed to stay at the service station for a set amount of time before you can move on. So I ended up getting a parking ticket for this and I had no idea and I tried appealing and everything and the company are very shady and I don't like them. But but again, I had an episode for Rad Tsunami. Essentially, if they ever want to sponsor Chat Tsunami, they can pay me up front the value of that parking ticket plus whatever they want to sponsor me for, then I will sponsor them perfectly fine. Otherwise, no, I'll never do business there again, so unfortunately we will not be trying the real cheeseburger.
00:29:32
Speaker
ah that's jano But joking aside, that takes us on to the why of this particular topic. Exactly why? Why are we talking about Stanford? The reason for it, as we said, other than, of course, money is indeed it's all to do with, as we said, marketing, it's to do with creating product scarcity and utilising FOMO to push these products and say, oh, you're only going to get them for a limited time. It's like McDonald's and their Mcgrib, that only comes out every so often. Does it? I feel like the Mcgrib is a myth. I mean, does it even exist?
00:30:09
Speaker
I'm sure that's what it popped up saying. Oh, the big rubs coming back. I've never had a big rub. Even if it was, I think even when it was available, it's only ever been available in America. But again, I feel like this is some lie boomers tell us it's a conspiracy. I wouldn't be surprised. Going off of that, other than corporations being corporations, we also have this thing, and this is when I get into the academic side soon, but there is also a human desire as well to fill life with particular experiences. So, you know, as stupid it as it sounds, we as human beings, of course, I'm assuming you're a human being, Marie, not just a sustainability what a machine.
00:30:48
Speaker
but yeah yeah There's Lorde there, but we're not going to get into it. ah Next week, Marie's Lorde. You know, we want to create these core memories that, oh, we tried this really weird and blocky foods and we tried this, we tried that. I get what you're saying, but to me, because I value experiences and a lot of experiences are centered around food, but for me, it's centered around good food.
00:31:14
Speaker
not wacky food, not like remember when we ate that thing and threw up. It's like remember when we ate that thing and we were in a food coma for the remainder of the week. I still don't understand the logic. Yeah, because I seek out good food, not wacky food. Well, funny enough, this is my final point for the why of this particular topic because I've actually wrote down that making memories does not necessarily equate to an enjoyable experience. Yeah. Because I'm completely with you there. For the most part, food that I remember is really enjoyable food that I've gone, this is absolutely incredible. For example, when my partner and I went to China in 2018, oh my God, the amount of food that I had over there, absolutely some of the most incredible stuff I've ever had, including a cube of bread with ice cream on top, trust me. it's better than it sounds. But conversely, you know, you've got the other things that might be slightly not as enjoyable. Like I remember having a very dodgy lasagna down in Borkham, and that cosy, ironical enough as well to throw up. And again, I know this isn't necessarily to do particularly with stunt foods, but it's that idea that there's almost branches that come out of this topic.
00:32:26
Speaker
It's not just this one thing you think, oh, again, it's the broccoli heads of TikTok making these things on their desk. It's something that has had longer reach than we give it credit for. The mill ground i I can pull from personal experience. Last year with my family and the family of my sister-in-law, we were in the northern part of Portugal in this tiny town, and this tiny, tiny town had this one restaurant And they were famous for basically a meat hat. We googled this, we found this nowhere. So this is not traditionally Portuguese. This is just something this restaurant decided to do. And basically it's this giant medieval looking cone thing. And then around the corner is this hot broth, similar to like a hot pot situation in Asia. And then what you would do is you have extremely thinly sliced meat, either pork or beef. I don't eat beef anymore, so it wasn't pork for me. And what you do is you dip it into the broth and then you basically almost fling it at the meat hat. And then the meat cone cooks the meat.
00:33:29
Speaker
And it was just such a bizarre experience. And I mean, I wouldn't maybe say stun-fit because it wasn't particularly wasteful because we had people in our family who prefer eating earlier. So we were there a little earlier than we was in Portuguese standards. And as the night went on, the restaurant got really, really full. So it was like a popular thing, but it was so bizarre. And yes, we talk about the meat hat experience, but I don't think we will ever again seek out the meat hat experience. This was a nice,
00:33:56
Speaker
One thing of us frying meat on this cone, and we finished it all, like one thing that I really like about Portugal, they don't encourage you to over order or over eat. We first did this, we were like, okay, we want some of this, you want some of that, and the waitress went like, no, I'm going to suggest you take this, you take that, and that's enough for your group. And we're like,
00:34:12
Speaker
Oh, okay. We were ready to spend twice that amount. And in the end, we did eat it. But yeah, it was an interesting experience. But yeah, we don't want a meat hat anymore. We're not going to seek out. We're not going to buy our own meat hat. I want to go back to that village because it was a very beautiful place in Portugal. But I don't think I'm ever going to go to that restaurant again unless I need to. Yeah, it was fine. And also, you're the one responsible for cooking the meat. So there was also the tendency to overcook your own meat. I mean, that's the whole point of going to the restaurant. They cook it for you. You weren't the one doing all the cooking. It was an interesting experience. I have to say there's a difference between something like hot pot as you were saying, don't get me wrong, I love a good hot pot, but there's that and then there's whatever that was. The meat had, yeah. I'll send you a photo later and you can... Well, speaking of photos, I think I told you this at the time, but my partner and I went down to London
00:35:03
Speaker
Oh, you know, you know what I'm going to talk about. I know, but share it with the group. The Dragon of the South incident. Let's just say, basically, I bought my partner tickets to see the stage show for Spitted Away. Absolutely wonderful show, by the way. That is the last praise that I'm going to give London after. Okay, well second last, there's one more I have, but we went to that show, that was amazing and of all people my brother actually recommended. He said, oh I found this really cool place that you should try. It's almost like an Asian fusion kind of tapas place where you've got touch screens at your table. The whole table's a touch screen and you basically order so many dishes at a time. You know, it was a really cool idea and I remember going in and I thought oh well it could be quite interesting. Long story short, if you've got an Asian themed restaurant and the best thing on the menu is the chips.
00:35:58
Speaker
Not a good sign. Do I have a word with yourself? Because it was awful. Oh, no. Well, it wasn't awful. It was edible. That's the best compliment I can give it. It was edible. And again, this isn't so much stunt food as it is the dining experience. But one of the things I saw, and I was so excited for it, it was like a kind of vegan sushi dragon. Guys, I knew the picture at the time and I will be posting the picture on all social medias to name a shame. But I took a picture of it and you know, it looked great. It basically just looks like a kind of traditional dragon. When mine came out, I don't know what they did to the dragon face. I think it maybe gave them lip before they came out and they just smacked it on the face because it looked nothing like a dragon. It just looked like a mushy pile of ri
00:36:44
Speaker
It was genuinely one of the most disappointing moments of my life. And everybody who gave it good reviews, by the way, they were like, oh, I love this. I was with a large group. We got this for half price because of this and that. And I'm like, of course, you got it in a coupon deal or whatever, which, you know, no shade to them for getting that. I'm just angry at myself that I didn't find the deals or anything. It was so bad. I'm also looking at this meat hat.
00:37:10
Speaker
wow wow that um that's a meat hut that's a meat hut i've no more words for that But ironically enough, after we were at that restaurant, we came out and we found this ice cream shop literally right beside it, and the place is called Amorinos, and I just want to shout out Amorinos because they make it into a kind of flower shape the way they think of the ice cream. Again, it was actually a lovely ice cream, and it was really well done. Again, London prices, but I shit on London a lot and it's well deserved. But there is one thing you can find pretty decent food in London. So it like kind of sucks that you went to like the one terrible restaurant. Well, not one. I'm sure there's multiple restaurants, but it's so ah sad because you've got Chinatown right there. yeah Yes, we went to Chinatown on the last day and we had a terrible hot pot there.
00:38:01
Speaker
but what your yeah yeah but The one place we chose in the hotpot was just awful. And I felt so bad because my partner was like, oh, why don't we just go to KFC and everything? You know, just like a quick lunch before we travel back. And I was just adamant because I'm like, you know what? We've come down to London. I want to take you to a nice place and everything. thing Because we're in China, 10 lights, you know, go into a place. So it was me pushing for it. And yeah, by the time we got it, I just regretted it. I was like, I'm so sorry. I mean, there was a couple of nice places. There was a Chinese restaurant. I can't remember the name of it, but it was on route to Houston Station. but It's kind of between that and the main part of London on the Tuesday, but that was lovely. Well admit, that was gorgeous food. But again, it's picking and choosing your battles. in. Both will be expensive, but you either get something that is incredible, authentic, just amazing, and then you get touch screens and beating up vegan dragons. Which is, ironically enough, the name of my band, but... JG beat up vegan dragon. Yeah, it's a metal band, you know. Well, more of the story, go to Weatherspoons. Exactly, Weatherspoons, but love you, please.
00:39:15
Speaker
Before I dive into the academic rabbit hole, as is there anything you want to share about what you found about this particular topic? I mean, obviously I concentrated more on the sustainability side of it. And the thing that bothers me the majority of it is the amount of food waste. so And I think that is one thing that can be largely be attributed to social media where we spoke about mukbangs. I think that's the one of the main culprits or when they're like, let's try every single item off this menus type of stuff. I honestly. hate that stuff so, so, so much because all I think about is the food waste. But there's also the size of it's clearly rage baiting, like the broccoli haired person. It's clearly rage baiting. And that's another way, of course, to earn money on social media because the way the algorithm works, particularly the TikTok algorithm is any form of interaction. Doesn't matter if it's negative. The TikTok algorithm cannot tell the difference between negative and positive interaction. It can only tell that you're interacting at it. And by the way, all those people who are sending me shit on my gene videos, all you're doing it is boosting it further. So thank you for that. but I mean, that is true. You do send us messages onto the Podpack group chat and you're like, Oh, look at all the interactions I'm getting from these lovely people. And it's just the worst comment. You're like, Oh my God. But that's like the same thing with these videos on social media where there's even an entire subreddit. I don't know if you've heard of the subreddit that's called Stupid Food, where it's just like cataloging all of these ridiculous things where once again you just scream why and that's the whole point they want you to get angry they want you to interact they want you to comment and then they make quite a lot of money off these videos and that's what I find so so enraging and that's where the majority of my rants come from
00:41:02
Speaker
What annoys me about them as well? And maybe you're the same here as the fact that they're so juvenile. Oh yeah. The juvenile ones, I don't know, they arc something in me that I genuinely had no idea I had that level of rage and hatred.
00:41:18
Speaker
or something because I know that's the whole point of them. It's like people acting very childish and very out of character. If there's one thing it creeps me out is when you've got adults that are acting like children, especially in social media. But I mean in terms more of they're saying, oh look, we've got this big chocolate ball. Oh no, I dropped a shot. It's like really odd behavior. Obviously, if it's a children's show or something, that's different. but No, it's not because you shouldn't be encouraging bad behavior. And it's also something that I do forget often because you and I did not grow up with social media. So like I kind of forget that the majority of social media the users these days are kids, young and impressionable. There's then the other side of this where I also looked at the psychology of it and how it's linked to eating disorders. which I thought was very interesting, especially with mukbangs. Psychologists argued that one of the reasons mukbangs are not the main reason, but a reason they're so popular is many people are almost using them as surrogate eating, basically watching someone eat and then in a way tricking themselves into thinking that they're going to eat or on the other side, encouraging binge culture and encouraging to eat a lot of food that is really, really unhealthy for you. So there's also that side of it that I
00:42:28
Speaker
completely dislike. Then there's the people reacting to the content. Because as you said, there's so many different layers to this. And then there's the person reacting to the content where they're like, oh, don't waste food. Instead of wasting food, I made 100 hamburgers for homeless people and passing them out. But once again, they're doing that for content. They're not doing that for the goodness of their heart. And it's like a double-edged sword. Yes, someone is getting fed, but the money that they spent on those burgers is just like a fraction in comparative of the money that they're making off these people shooting these videos. And that's absolutely despicable. It's a bit crass to say, but it's like poverty porn in a way where they're just like, I'm going to film these, all these bunch of homeless people. Look at me being such a good person and then make millions off this video. And it's just, yeah, I honestly hate it so, so much.
00:43:14
Speaker
again it's all very performative you know you've got your and again you've got the creator who shall not be named i don't even know if i know this name what mr beast oh mr beast oh yeah no oh fuck what yeah very performative Very performative and yeah on that, that also speaks to my charity angle because recently when Rosanna Pansino did a breakdown on his assets, she discovered that the money that because he always claims like I'm the most charitable YouTuber and like the money that he gives to charity is less than 5%. It was a measly amount compared to what he earns.
00:43:50
Speaker
And it's just like, you bastard, just puts it into context that a little bit of a fuckload of money is still a fuckload of money. And yeah, the the percentage was just shocking and I just always knew he was shady. But still, finally, there's proof. Finally, we can make an episode on it. Add it to the list.
00:44:09
Speaker
but Oh, if you want, I will do. I will go there. like You know me, I do not care about making enemies and also that's not make me your enemy. I'm just like some idiot with a microphone. It's not an invitation. I've got plenty of bricks.
00:44:27
Speaker
That actually raises a very interesting point though because going back to what I was talking about with Epic Meal Time where it was just a group of friends who were throwing bacon on massive steaks and burgers and things like that and then of course YouTube at that time I wouldn't say it was considered as like a job or as monetizable. I think it was like the big beginnings of that because back then you had to be under a, I can't remember the official term, but a distribution company or something like that for gamers. There was the very infamous machinima. Again, another episode to another time, but you know there was people who had to get money through these companies and nowadays they are monetized for this particular content based on, as you were saying, the engagement and things. Do you think that this idea of this monetization culture on social media has strengthened this whole scene of stunt food and using food is basically just a prop, as it were. Oh, 100%. 100% is the case. People are just out to make money. And what I found interesting in my research, I came across quite a few instances that the most prominent creators on TikTok that are known for producing this type of disgusting content started off as normal food content.
00:45:44
Speaker
But then everyone was like insulting their cooking or it was already a toxic space and they're like, well, if people are going to get mad at me anyway, I might as well just lean into this. Or there was the case where they did one episode like that and then blew up. And then they were known for that and they kept doing and doing and doing. So it's definitely that. And it's like, as you said, there's the whole marketing angle from the companies as well who do this to know if they release a ridiculous item. It is again, rage bait. They know people are going to complain. They know they're going to go and try it out because social media and marketing, that they're intertwined. It's the same now. There's one, I don't even know if they came out because I think it was Doritos that over the summer, we're running a campaign for crisps that don't make a sound when you eat them.
00:46:27
Speaker
Yes. ahha I know exactly the ones you're talking about here. Did they ever come out? I don't know. I saw the campaigns for it and then I never actually saw the actual product. But even then it was just like, oh, I'm a little curious. Because I remember we talked about this in Europe.
00:46:42
Speaker
When I interviewed you in Bethford, there two girls want to use a book up podcast. Do you think it's like a Mandela effect that they are out in the wild, but we just can't hear them? We don't pay attention to them, they're just like the peripheries of our vision. If you eat a Dorito and it doesn't make a sound, did it even make a sound? Is there a Dorito there? Is there a Doritos?
00:47:05
Speaker
They might as well. I suppose the engineer for the quiet dirty tools getting quietly fired for making a product so silent that they can't sell it. But that's the thing though. And again, I don't want to pretend that you and I of course are immune to this particular marketing because everybody is to some degree, you're varying degrees of course, you get more people susceptible than others, so and that is the unfortunate thing as well that a lot of these things are targeted towards children. And as of recording this episode, to the Mr Beast scandal and everything, that is very fresh in the minds of a lot of people in the creator space where he released such a Lunchables clone or something. oh yeah with two of the, sorry, one of the most heinous content creators and another who seems to cry a lot about getting criticised. I mean, and he's working with them, so he can't be an angel anyway. But that is something that really, it kind of both upsets and angers me that it's something you brought up earlier perfectly there that we grew up in an age of, I mean, I don't know about you, but I had, I think it was a beable when I was in high school and that was kind of the mid 2000s, give or take? Maybe the latter half of the 2000s. Then eventually, when I got into the latter half of high school, I moved on to Facebook, reluctantly, because I just loved people so much. And unfortunately, as far as I know, I don't think it exists anymore, which is a shame. bomb no off offendse i have no idea what's wrong
00:48:34
Speaker
This is the thing, I think Beebo was very much a UK-centric thing, because I bring it up to Americans, I bring it up to other people and they go, what the hell is a Beebo? People were using MySpace, I was using Beebo, honestly. It was like a time of social media before social media was full of ads and corporations preying on you and things. Which, if you're listening to this and you think, that's not my company, you're probably the one doing it. But going back to that, the fact is that we grew up relatively late in the development of seeing these kinds of things. And I wouldn't say that it was still a problem. It was enough of a problem but for the adults in our lives to bring it up to say, don't believe everything you see in the internet. Oh, this is dangerous. I'm going to a chat room with a shady stranger, etc. But as time has gone on, the internet itself has evolved into this utterly unrecognisable entity compared to what it used to be, for better or for worse, but it has changed over the years. Companies have jumped on that, creators have jumped on that to get monetised, and at the end of the day it is extremely frightening. about the effects that it's had on younger people, especially kids that are going on. And as you said, they're going on seeing their favourite people in the whole wide world because they get to that stage where their mums and dads and older relatives, oh they're not cool. Let's see this guy screaming his head off and throwing milk at strangers and creating the world's biggest, I don't know, cupcake. and I mean, don't get me wrong, that still happens.
00:50:07
Speaker
when we were growing up with the internet, but it wasn't as monetizable, it was like self-contained, whereas now the floodgates have opened that you've got all these creators, um ironically enough, creating all this food, creating all this content of this very much a wasteful culture. You're a bad influence, or a good influence on memory, but ah You know, that sense of they just want to create all this waste as long as they get the money for it, especially for food. Food is one of these things that, genuinely, it's a very important part of life and an important part of culture as well where you can go out with someone and bond over a particular dish or it can be your love letter to someone. you know You cook a particular dish, not to pat myself in the back and I know you of course will have your particular dishes as well. But I mean, I have a lentil soup recipe that I absolutely love making for people because it's something that has been passed down from generation to generation. And to go from something like that to take something that is important to a lot of people, other than the obvious, we need to eat to live. But taking something that is important to people and then again warping that idea, would you say there's a fine line between experimenting with a particular dish and a particular concoction of different ingredients versus knowing you're doing it?
00:51:26
Speaker
No, I don't think there's a fine line at all. I mean, in my research, I came across the thing that I sent you where it it was like literally meat boiled in a Doritos bag. There's no real insanity where that would come out tasting anywhere good or one where there was Frankfurters suspended in jello. And when I saw it, I first thought it was an AI-generated image. Turns out it was not. the My eyes and the person who made it was like trying to pass it off as just like, Oh, this is like a traditional, I think she even said English distance. Everyone was just like in what world? Exactly. Because there is a good side of social media where there are genuinely talented food content creators and sharing recipes and stuff like that. But that too, dipping. giant, like the one guy who has this one big bowl and just dumps ingredients after ingredients after ingredients into it and like screams the ingredients that's so clearly made for kids to rage-based the adults. There's no logic into that. They're just wasting food for the sake of wasting food. No, I think there's a very clear line between smart and stupid and the majority of these creators are on the stupid side. There's a guy on TikTok, and I think he's on Instagram as well, he's on a lot of them and he reacts to, I can't remember what it's called, it's like there's something chef, but he reacts to these over-the-top type recipes and some of them look at it and go, you know what, you know it's not the worst, it's not the worst. I'll give this a pass and then others is like, what the hell are you doing? And there's ones that is usually Americans. Look at me, this isn't restricted to borders this topic, but at the same time, a high percentage is American. I mean, it is, but I think that's also like another reason American portion sizes are just so much more bigger than our portion sizes. I think it's just so much more easier to buy bulk food, I think. I mean, I think Costco does exist in the UK, but it certainly doesn't exist in my knowledge anywhere else in Europe.
00:53:17
Speaker
Definitely does not exist in Ireland. But yeah, so just buying lots of food all at once, book culture. I think the biggest thing that we can buy out of Marsons is the five kilo bags of pasta, which I did at university and survived off that for a while. So I think there's also a reason why it's Americans because they just have access to so much food. They can just go to their local supermarkets and just pick up giant, giant buckets of syrup. Whereas we have to do all these tiny little individual ones. because I mean, it always baffles me. See whenever you watch the old sitcoms in America or any American movie or whatever and then they bring out a massive jug of milk and you're like, do you just have a cow in your cupboard or something? How much milk are you planning to drink today? You know, in the light, oh, we'll have this tiny amount. You're like, what's wrong with you? I'm like, America, are you okay? me it's the cereal boxes where it's just like, well I mean in America they have something called family size which we don't have here. Yeah if you have a big family yes but sometimes it's just like we need that we do have that here but I don't think it's obscenely big. For most things like cereal and things you do get the bigger boxes but
00:54:23
Speaker
say it was the American ones where it's like the size of a small child or something. Okay, it's not that bad, but if you was a for some supermarkets that does creep in and you kind of look at it and you think, is that something you need? Or is it, again, it goes back to that question of do you need it? But again, well, with any clever marketing, anybody could twist your mind to say, yeah, of course you need it. Of course you need this 20 kilogram bag of, I don't know, flour or whatever. It's like you own a bakery.
00:54:53
Speaker
you just you need to bake a well I don't know if you know the channel insider food, but they do this thing called food wars where they go in the McDonald's in the UK and buy everything off the menu there and then their counterpart goes in the McDonald's in America and buys everything there and they compare sizes and which has more sugar. Let's just say the UK always comes off looking better.
00:55:11
Speaker
Not just better with the size and the proportions, it's just also like the menu. The menu is always so much more reduced than the American menu. They sell half the items in the UK and then America has all these extra ones. I do really enjoy watching those because it's really interesting seeing the difference.
00:55:27
Speaker
I mean funny enough I was thinking about this the other day about how McDonald's and again I know this isn't a McDonald's centric episode but how McDonald's is portrayed over there versus here and again I don't know if they've maybe changed the branding over there but at least in the yeah UK and do Europe as a whole because I definitely know in mainland Europe this is definitely the case. But for here as well, they've tried to move away from that fast food image and become more kind of... I mean, don't get me wrong, they obviously still sell the burgers and things, but they also try to push their McCathy items. So, you know, to become more of like a bistro but oh we sell burgers as well kind of thing because I remember I was in Berlin definitely a good while ago either 2016 or 17 and my brother and I went into one and it was so weird because at the very front when you came in it was just for half a bit. So if you wanted a burger or any food you had to go down the side. It was like going into like a heart of the clogging Narnia. You go down the site. And then they've got the counter for the fast food as if it's hidden away. And I always find that fascinating that they were trying to rebrand themselves in that way. Whereas in America, I think it's just like, here's your burger. Do you want a heart attack with that?
00:56:42
Speaker
ah I'm good, I'm good. But speaking of terrible experiences, that actually brings me onto, there was a paper that was published electronically in October 26th of 2010, and the paper itself is called Productivity, Orientation and Consumption of Collectible Experiences, and this is by two people called Anatinin and Ran Kivitz. There is genuinely a really good abstract for this particular paper, and I'm just going to read it out in verbatim here in case anybody thinks, well that's how you sound like a robot. So they basically said, this research examines why consumers desire unusual and novel consumption experiences and voluntarily choose leisure activities, vacations and celebrations that are predicted to be less pleasurable. We argue that choices of collectible, unusual, novel, extreme experiences lead consumers to feel productive even when they are engaging in leisure activities as they check off items on an experiential checklist and build their experiential CV. And of course, I want to point out that this was written with a Western social perspective in mind, but the results of it were absolutely fascinating. And again, it goes into other experiences as well as to do specifically with food. But their argument was that the gradual shift of time being a valued asset to people's lives and due to an accessibility and opportunities for people has resulted in people wanting more from life. So they've gone from thinking, oh what a novel experience this particular food item as to, I must have this every day. And they talked about this idea of an experimental checklist or experimental CV, which quantifies this. So it quantifies the idea that you've got a sense of accomplishment and progress that, oh, you've tried, I don't know, five different wacky foods and, oh, I've tried six different you know, it's not focused on the pleasurable, it's more just to do with creating a memory, whether it's good or bad. But before I go on to their evidence for this, I'm just curious to think, what are your thoughts on that? Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, it's quite similar to Lomo's collector culture. I mean, the Stanley cups where like people need to collect every single color that ever existed from the Stanley cup, even though it's still just a cup filled with lead. It doesn't change. Color does not change anything. Or there's been also a lot of trend going on with the lucky bag situation. I saw these like really ugly jelly filled dumplings the other day, you know, like stress balls. And then they were like, oh, we're looking for the glitter of thing. And it was the most ugly ass shit I've ever seen. I was just like, what? Why do you want that in your house taking up space? I don't get it. So yeah, it is in a way like assigning value to experiences and material possessions. So like it does make sense. I mean, everyone said Beanie Babies would be a thing. They never were. I mean, it is interesting to the sense that obviously buying this special menu item from McDonald's is a lot cheaper than going on vacation and creating memories that way. And there's a lot of people who cannot afford to go on vacation, but they could probably afford that special menu item. So.
00:59:55
Speaker
I get that. As long as I don't say anything wrong with that, my issue is when people take it out of the extreme, where they turn it into a contest and say, how many of these can I eat without throwing up and stuff like that, where it actually becomes overconsumption and wasteful. And going off of that, the authors Keenan and Kivitz actually conducted a study between, I think, It was a good handful. And don't get me wrong, they did so much more than I'm giving them credit for. I would genuinely recommend that you read this. And by you read this, I mean the lovely listeners at home. I don't mean you, Marie, to make you feel better. He's calling me out for not doing my homework. See me after class anyway. Oh, God, I'm getting uni flashbacks.
01:00:34
Speaker
They conducted a handful of studies to determine if participants would choose a memorable experience versus a pleasurable one. And no surprise here that the majority chose memorable experiences. So we've got a couple of examples here where they asked participants, I think it was if you were stuck in an airport for six hours and you could go out, explore the city. I think the example they used was Budapest.
01:01:02
Speaker
So it's like you could go out, explore Budapest and then come back and get your flight. Or would you stay in and the airport and just watch DVDs until your flight was called? The majority, I think 77%, chose the option for exploring Budapest instead of sitting around watching DVDs. And they've got other ones that heavily favour the memorable experiences such as staying in a nice hotel versus a Florida hotel. Most people chose that. Ha ha, goat's cheese dessert versus a chocolate cake. Although the difference for this one is slightly less, which I found quite funny, people still chose the more quote-unquote exotic one. And again, they also conducted a study about the exotic versus familiar restaurants, which I've all been guilty for going to a restaurant that you think, oh this might be different and sometimes that piece of so it doesn't. Again, it adds to that idea of collective memories and experiences. And again, the idea of unfamiliar versus familiar chocolate that people will gravitate towards the more, not experimental, but the kind of more exotic ones. And I know this firsthand because have I told you about the chocolate factory in Edinburgh? ah No. I know a very different chocolate factory, but that was in Glasgow.
01:02:22
Speaker
yes it was he's a arrested now fun far ah that scar Yeah, it's shot corner. But yes, that's next week's episode. So there's a place in Edinburgh where you can actually make your own chocolate and by make your own chocolate, like they melt it for you, you just stick it in a stencil and they freeze it for you and bag it up. It's really cool. It's a cool experience, but at the very end of it, you can try different samples of chocolate from different parts of the world, different types of dark and white and just milk chocolate. It's really interesting, but at the same time, there's horrible ones. I think it was a haggis flavored one. which was very interesting. I'm not gonna lie, but again because you were there, you gravitated towards them because you thought, oh well, let's at least try it. Do you feel as if in the world of at least going back to stunt food, do you feel as if people are just attracted to trying the unusual and wanting to take that off their bucket list? I mean, yes. Once again, I don't see any problem with that as long as they finish it. The issue that I see when it gets out of control. But this reminds me, I think it's in Disney World, there is the one cafe, one diner in Disney World that has every single soda from all over the world. And there is one soda that is just known for being extremely, extremely disgusting, like the worst soda in the world. But it's one of their best selling ones because everyone goes there to try this awful awful thing and there are so many videos there of people just trying to drink this stuff without throwing up which is also kind of weird that it's in Disney World because you know one of the happiest places in the world and everyone's huking over a soda. Yeah I mean I understand and in a way I encourage people more to go into the unknown and I'm like you mentioned funny that the example for the study was Budapest because of course I am
01:04:04
Speaker
half Hungarian. And one thing that has bothered me so, so, so much about Budapest these last few years is that it's gotten almost tourist commercialized that finding authentic Hungarian culture in Budapest is like so difficult. When it comes to food, I still remember me and my uncle were once in Budapest and we couldn't find an authentic Hungarian restaurant. All the ones we knew, we kept going down the street and it turned into a pizza place. It turned into a vegan place. It turned into that because Hungarian food is a little unusual. It's not like the strangest food in the world, but it's certainly not very Instagrammable. That has also bothered me that they've turned things like far traditional Hungarian food that we have and they've added whipped cream or strawberries or something to it. This is the sweets variety, it's not safe. By the way, they added something to it to make it look more Instagrammable, to make it look more presentable. And that drives me crazy. And in a way that has happened because yes, social media also looks good on Instagram, but also they didn't gravitate to those restaurants in the first place because the food looked a bit weird or it didn't fit into their palate. So in a way it was almost, it is part of the West, but still more like Western experience. I still remember when I was in a traditional Hungarian restaurant in this tiny, tiny village. And they had barbecue chicken, which sounds, I mean, it's like, what's the big deal? It's like, that is a flavor that does not exist in Hungary. That is not, and they clearly just had a slice of chicken breast that they smothered in Heinz barbecue sauce because my aunt ended up getting it because she was curious. But I was just like, why? We have really good normal fried chicken. But because many people don't know what it is or how it looks like, they will gravitate to words that look familiar to them, like barbecue, even though we don't do that in Hungarian culture. And it drives me crazy to see this, I don't think gentrification is the right word for it, but this like twisting and bending of my culture so it is more appealing to the masses.
01:05:52
Speaker
was that not a back thing though and again I think this is more a general European thing and I have seen that in the UK as well but the bubble waffle cone or something like that. I know what you're talking about and you do see it in some places. Because again I don't know if it's one of those things that some sellers are saying oh it's like an authentic part of our culture and it's like when the hell did you invent bubble cones? Yeah, I've personally, and like, I know what you're talking about, but I personally haven't interacted with it. It's not introducing new cultures. I certainly, I don't like it. I don't see the big deal, but there are so many bubble tea restaurants in Lisbon that is fine. If people like bubble tea, I mean, Portuguese people like bubble tea. My issue is when they take something authentically like in Portugal, the biggest example is the custard tart, the pastel donata. It's just custard. That's it. That's the traditional pastel donata. But then I've seen places in Lisbon where they've added shit to it. where they've made a completely Nutella one, where they've sprinkled and decorated one once again. So it looks on Instagram and my Portuguese friend gets driven crazy by these. It's like that changing our culture. So if it's more into people's boxes, that is where I take an issue with. And like in Hungarian, we've got this traditional thing called Langos, which is the most unhealthy thing for you in the world. It's fried dough covered in sour cream and cheese. But once again, that is the traditional one. And then you go into the center of Budapest and you see people. versions of this which is just awful because the original is already heavy and honestly this is something that I could have only eat by myself as a kid. As someone now as an adult in my late 20s I need at least one other person to split this with me because I cannot finish it by myself as a kid. I inhaled them but this is like already unhealthy so don't add more shit to it because it just doesn't work but that just drives me crazy. Or we have in Hungarian they're called kurte skorac they've translated them to chimney cakes And there are these authentic pastries that they're rolled around this wooden form, so it looks like a chimney. And the traditional one is just vanilla sugar. But if you're feeling adventurous, you can either go for coconut or cocoa powder. That is it. Oh, and nuts, but I don't like walnuts, so I usually forget about that flavor. It's usually just four flavors. That's the traditional. And then you see it in the nudge jarnok, which is the most famous market in Budapest, which used to be an authentic market where people would buy their groceries. And now it's just gone so over tourist fight that you cannot even move there. And you see bastardized version of. your food like the chimney cakes that they've now filled with whipped cream and put sprinkles on it and stuck a kinder bueno in there and it's just like no try the authentic food you're not getting the authentic Hungarian experience I'm going on a massive rant here and I don't think it's no longer in the topic of this episode but
01:08:29
Speaker
They gave me a lot to think about British cuisine, of course, only you're completely right. Because that is the thing that, and again, it's not something that is limited to contemporary society. It's something that's been going on for years and years of people trying to twist particular recipes to fit into various cultures. Like I feel as if the UK especially is very well-known I'll say it's very well known for that because as much as we have Chinese places, Indians, Italians, those kinds of things, the majority of your typical takeaways will be very Westernized. It'll be comfort food, essentially, which is something that I remember getting very angry at the time about it because it was a lot of the TikTokers from America who were saying, oh my God, look at British food, oh, it's just slobble, it's horrible, blah, blah, blah, which again, next week's episode,
01:09:23
Speaker
of it. But the thing is, I feel as if there's a key difference between adapting a certain country's food to a particular place versus intentionally, like as you were saying, intentionally warping it to become more appealing to tourists. Lapera Yeah, because especially if it's in the country itself, what if the restaurants in China started serving British version of Chinese food just to appeal to the masses more? Absolutely, because I remember telling my friend when I went over to China that, oh, I can't wait to get chicken balls and chips. No, it's not. It's not 100% not. It's so much better. It is. I mean, I've never been, but my brother has been. After this episode, I'll need to just spam you with pictures. Dangerous, because then I'll tag along in the next trip. It's like, hello. Oh, absolutely.
01:10:11
Speaker
Here's my plate. I've brought it myself. Honestly, absolutely wonderful food because my partner showed me all around and she managed to you know introduce me to a lot of these food profiles as it were based on each region because you know the north are more famous for their balsas and kind of heavier food. The south are they say is more famous for noodles and things. It varies from region to region, it's just such a big country and there's an amazing show called A Bite of China that dives into those particular areas. Another one, again, this is a side tangent, but I feel as if in terms of stunt food, there's a big difference between having respect or the food that you're adapting versus, and again catering for what will sell well because I feel as if a lot of traditional Chinese food over there might not either be accessible as well over here or people won't like it the same because as much as people joke about it, the UK, especially the older population, usually has, and again, by which may be, but they have a power as it were. So, you know, they're not wanting to eat spicy food. so And again, you're not every elder person would agree with that, but the older you go in generations, the more likely you are to find people who wouldn't want to adapt. So, of course, they have to adapt to the market as it were. But then the line is drawn when you go, okay, we've got this thing that is essentially just chicken in a sauce. We're just going to sell this.
01:11:38
Speaker
where does the line stop between that versus something that is just completely unrecognisable that people make it? Because I've been to Spain before and I've seen the whole list of ayahuas that are sold. And you think, wow, that looks nice. And then the list is just massive because clearly they're catering to the British tourists that are there. I hate to say it, but if it's not us, it'll be German tourists stealing all the songs. Oh, I'm so sorry. I cannot explain that behaviour. I'm really sorry. All I can tell you is that my family does not do it. yes No, it's perfect with me. No, it's not. It drives me fucking mental and I'm a German. It's just no. It's the only thing I know about German tourists that they're very passionate about. And it's accurate. It's a stereotype for a reason. I'm really sorry. yeah
01:12:23
Speaker
I would say apology accepted, but at the same time, the British people don't do themselves any favours in Spain. Oh no, sorry, you guys are the worst on holiday. I do have to say that, especially when alcohol is involved. Oh, 110%. I've been to Benidorm before where it was in between Christmas and New Year, so it was absolutely dead. There was barely any tourists there, but then as soon as the tourists started coming back, you could tell what was going to happen.
01:12:50
Speaker
you know, it was going to be the parties, the rowdy behaviour
Traveling for Authentic Food Experiences
01:12:53
Speaker
and things. That is the thing, though, that of course these places are going to try and adapt to that and try and create things that are special. As I said, going back to China, some of the best food that I had there was just whether it was the stalls and things on the street or we were walking across this bridge and we came across a... Basically, it was like a hole in the wall. Not a literal hole in the wall, but It was like a stall in the wall. They were serving stinky tofu and the reputation precedes it. So I was like, oh, I can't wait to try that. And you know, at the end of the day, I tried it and it just tasted like tofu. There's no flavour. It's just tofu. It smells worse than it probably tastes, I would say. Again, it's that. authenticity where it's like you're going to another country, you want to try different things. Flipping it back onto you though, see when you travel to a different country, do you try to seek out the authentic dishes or do you find yourself more attracted to things that are familiar or things that just seem completely wacky and over the top? No, I always aim for authenticity. And I think this is why I mean, I in a way prefer traveling with myself or with my family because British people are the worst people to travel with. I still remember when we were in Kavos in Greece, which has been so Britishified. I remember we were in a shop in the supermarket and all they had was British brands in the supermarket. And I was just like, I want authentic halloumi, not this shit. But no, I always go for the more traditional one. I mean, I grew up in a multicultural household. There are just four countries attached to me. No, five now currently. So it's like that is something that it's never scared me. I'm used to having different types of food. German and Hungarian food are actually quite different from each other. I mean, I think. One thing that we've bonded over quite a lot in the Podpack is that I love food like the majority of the people in the Podpack and I love experiencing new food. So yeah, I always seek out new stuff. Some of my new favorite foods have been like foods that I've recently discovered in Portugal. in Portugal top tip, the most rundown place is usually the most delicious one. But yeah, there are so many new stings that I've discovered that have just become my favorite food. There's one which I think will put a lot of people off, which is Bacalau, which is dried cod. And basically this harks this is extremely traditional because this goes back to the nautical discovering pillaging days of Portugal, where they needed to preserve this fish so they would salt the hell out of it. And then the salt would preserve it. And then in order to eat it again, you have to rehydrate it in water for three days again. And this is so traditional still here in Portugal, because my mom is very confused about it, that you can only get back it out. You cannot get traditional cod fillets that haven't been salted here. You can only get the salted cod version that you have to rehydrate for three days. But I love it because it completely changes the texture of the cod. And it's become my favorite, favorite food that I always eat at a traditional Portuguese dashco when I'm here. And it's the same in traveling. And I think that is really down to how I was brought up.
01:15:46
Speaker
not just having parents from two different cultures and then growing up in a culture that wasn't mine on two occasions because I was born in Brussels and then we moved to Ireland. And Ireland food is, I mean, yeah, there are a couple of standouts, but it was, let me just tell you, it was an adaptation for my German mom because when we moved to Ireland, there was bakeries were just non-existent and you could only get one type of bread in the supermarket. And for my mom who came from Germany, who's used to having 50 types of bread, it was a tough transition for her. it was. But then she discovered scones and she was a lot more happier. Yeah, but I always seek out new food and a different stuff. Flavors, I always like at least try everything else. Again, within reason. oh yeah If it's like outlandishly ridiculous, then it's meant to be ridiculous. That's not, but there are a few things that I've eaten that a lot of people I know haven't eaten. And I think that's also, again, down to mainly Hungarian culture, which is actually like similar to Chinese culture, like chicken feet is very popular in Hungarian culture. I grew up eating chicken feet. They're not my favorite because I don't really taste of anything, but I would be curious to try them in China once and see how they compare to Hungarian chicken feet and stuff like that. I also, the insides, I think it's called gizzards in English, i yeah because I only know now the Portuguese and the Hungarian words. I mean, a chicken only has two and those were fought over at the dinner table between me and my brother. my grandmother, when she knew we would be visiting, she would save up and then put more than two in a soup. And then we would honestly count and go, Oh my God, Laszlo has three. That's not fair. I also want three. And my parents still talk about the rouse that that caused. So I'm not put off by food. Some things I don't eat anymore because of their environmental impact. So I've slowly reduced there, but then I don't like limiting myself either. That's why one of the reasons I haven't gone fully vegetarian or fully vegan-y, because even though I know it's better for the environment, I know that science is there to support that. But at the same time, food is such an important part of traveling, in my opinion. It is just so essential. I don't want to limit myself when I'm traveling because I think food is like integral to culture and understanding culture. So I would have been very sad if there were a few Portuguese dishes I wouldn't have been able to try because I don't eat those types. of food anymore. Because that's the thing that I mentioned earlier, where I feel as if certain dishes, and again, you know, ah each culture, at each country can have comfort food and things like that. It doesn't all have to be authentic and everything, but at the same time to have that authenticity to say, okay, this is something that this particular region eats or this particular region doesn't, it's always great to try and that's something that is really important to me as well, because I feel as if, as much as I was joking earlier about eating, if you are going to a place that has all of these different foods, then you should at least be trying to make the effort to give it a go and going back to what you were saying, within reason, my girlfriend will absolutely kill me for telling this story for the thousandth time. But we went into a restaurant and we had a couple of dishes and they were absolutely gorgeous. We had this dish that I can only describe as it was like this kind of meaty broth that had bits of, when they say chicken, I hope it was chicken, and it had fajita wraps hanging off of it. It was really interesting, but I remember while we were eating it, and every so often I would crunch into a bone, and then I thought, all right, what's the bone are doing here? I remember she turned round and said, oh, usually in this region we don't eat the head. And I remember going, do you mean the head?
01:19:07
Speaker
like just this petrified looking bird in mid-screen and just the head. And she plops it down very nonchalantly onto the plate. And I was like, what the hell was that? Oh yeah, just we don't eat it. And I went, well we don't eat it.
01:19:23
Speaker
And again this says more about me being so sheltered. I've never seen a dish like that before then but I mean there was that. I remember I think I ate a little bit of jellyfish at one point. That was very weird, doesn't not taste like anything when I was in Sweden. I remember somebody gave me reindeer. hard to try. Again, that was really weird. Don't get me wrong, as I was saying, to have these things, you know, it adds to the experience, but it doesn't make you a better or worse person is what I'm having to say. No, no, I understand. And I'm not saying if you're in Hungary and your chicken soup does not have chicken feet on it, it's not an authentic Hungarian chicken soup. Obviously, if people are not used to seeing that they're put off by it, it's more like taking things away than adding things to make it more palatable, if that makes, well, not palatable, make it more appealing to the masses, like traditional Hungarian language that I mentioned, which is a side note on that. I mean, I think there must be some coloration of how this migrated to Sweden, but apparently it's also really tradition to have language in Sweden on festivals. And I had a Swedish intern once and she was just saying, Oh yeah, we love it. We have it at every festival and you can't forget the caviar. And I was just like, I'm sorry, the what? She's like, the caviar, don't you put caviar on your language? And I'm like, Hungary is landlocked.
01:20:37
Speaker
Where are getting caviar? Also do you think Hungarians can afford caviar? It was so bizarre. But in that case, that was done in Sweden. That's fine. I'm more confused of how that happened. And there I'm curious, okay, how that's going to taste. But again, bring something to another country and then adapting it there. It's more like, as I said, when the country is trying to adapt around people because Budapest has just gone so, so, so thirsty. I think overtourism is another topic you and I could cover on an another day because It's something that it's become a bit of a pet peeve of mine because I've obviously I'm Hungarian. I've been going to Hungary since I was born. My friends know I've been going to Hungary since I was born. I keep telling them that Budapest was beautiful, but only now since it's blown up on Instagram, all of my friends are suddenly going to Budapest because it's popular of Instagram. I'm like, so you didn't listen to an actual Hungarian. They'd rather take the word of an social media algorithm than my word where I was like, I've been
01:21:31
Speaker
I've been telling you for years that Budapest is beautiful. But now because it's on because it is a very beautiful city, to quote my uncle, beautiful city, stupid people. But this is a fun show. I'm not going to get into Hungarian politics. But anyway, ah ah anyway it's just in a way, it like rubs me wrong when I see all of my friends now that are suddenly in Budapest, even though I've invited them so many times. And they're like, no, we're not quite interested in going to Hungary. And then they see a picture of our parliament and they're like, Oh, that's so Instagramagol and suddenly rushed a bit of ash. We've gotten completely off topic, I feel like. Oh, no, no, no. I mean, we're sleepy. I mean, it wouldn't be me as a guest if it didn't go a bit off the rails.
01:22:10
Speaker
This is what I mean though, see you when I was saying at the beginning of this episode where we weren't just going to you know focus solely on stunt food and how different branches and things that
Criticism of Stunt Food and Internet Influence
01:22:20
Speaker
came out of it. Because at the end of the day, if you're looking at stunt food as a topic, the long and short of it is it's wasteful, it's terrible, it's done to be Instagrammable. as you were saying there. And then you have to keep asking yourself, why is this a thing? Where has it come from? What impact is it having? Not just on the internet, because let's face it, see if it used to be the way the internet worked. It would just be a case of, oh, that was a silly thing on the internet. Let's move on and never think about it again, because bar me looking up epic meal time, I genuinely haven't thought about. some sense in 2010 when I looked them up I was like oh yeah they're still going and blah blah blah. But the thing is you go from something that sounds inherently silly like oh let's make the biggest burrito ever or the biggest burrito natural whatever, you go from something as innocent sounding as that but then it's kind of depending on who's doing it. So see if I were to go into my kitchen right now, make a massive burger and eat maybe a quarter of it or an eighth of it and then put the rest in the bin. Utterly wasteful. But that experience, unless I tell people about it or film it, that never leaves the four walls of my kitchen. You'll still see a brick flying towards you. I'll sense it.
01:23:39
Speaker
The same ricks from the intro, just... But that's the thing though, nobody would know about that. No one would be influenced, don't get me wrong, I don't think anyone would be anyway, but no one would be influenced to try and copy that behaviour. And it sounds so bad to be like, oh, it's just kids that are emulating the behaviour of people that they really like. Again, there's another whole depressive topic. But we go from this seemingly innocent act of, oh, look how silly I'm being to kids maybe asking their mums if they can do something similar, and obviously they're not going to do that. But then that leads on to the problem of trains. We get trains that stem from this, that, oh, let's try the chocolate chip challenge.
01:24:20
Speaker
you know, as like a big bugger off cookie, you'll get companies that then catch wind of this and then they'll say, oh, obviously it's not feasible to do it the way they are doing it, but let's copy it in a way that rides off the success. Because look at particular creators right now, like I think it's that Kite in it or something. He's a very popular Twitch streamer just now and he does like a lot of livestreaming. By all means, he's really successful because he's getting a lot of collaborations with different celebrities, different companies, especially with McDonald's just now. They have a burger based off of him, or a state based off of him, has his name on it. Same with BTS. They had a burger with a lot of same McDonald's, but I could be wrong. I'm going to be honest, I'm not a big fan of mine. and never away went for it. You've got people trying to profit off that particular wash thing. And then, as you said, where does it stop? Because it just grows roots and this affects the almost authenticity of certain dishes that obviously people were seeing yeah that version of the food. especially with Italy and shout out to Dan because he'll be listening very close to this particular part but you know it's like you go to Italy and there's some pizzas that look drastically different to what we might be used to here in Portugal or other places. They all look at it and be like what the hell is that?
01:25:38
Speaker
But, of course, some places might have to adapt from that. They might have to say, well, tourists aren't going to buy this particular pizza. Let's try this particular one, because that's popular. That's just how business works. As I said, I'm going to put this as a disclaimer here. I'm not saying that, oh, if you enjoy street food or the touristy stuff, oh, you're the worst person ever. You're worse than Satan. If you don't try, get a traditional fish and chips or whatever. Or the haggis if you're here. Or the haggis is that nice, seriously. I'm not going to hold that against you. You know, you can eat what makes you feel comfortable and everything, but I feel as if the line is drawn once again when people try to once again go from that root and co-opt it to gaslight people into saying that's how it's always been, yeah if that makes sense, to say, oh, no, this is how we have always done it in this particular region. And again, if you compare a British person's take on an international food compared to how they do it back home, you kind of think, No, it's going to be vastly different. Maybe I'm reaching here, but do you agree with that, that it kind of starts out with something quite silly and minuscule with this concept of stunt food and then it just grows arms and legs? yeah basically i mean is just the definition of going viral, like something starts off quite small and then it just explodes and that's when things go out of hand. It's the same with all these like rage bait videos that you see on social media where it's just one person thought it would be funny to dump a bunch of chocolate syrup all over the floor and then realized he got a lot of views and then that suddenly became his thing, doing it over and over again.
01:27:13
Speaker
And then it's just same with traditional restaurants and countries in Budapest. It also made it just started with having one item on the menu that was more traditional. But then over time that one item in the menu that wasn't traditional and more like well known to the average person. But over time those items were placed the more traditional ones and stuff like that. It's also like in Italy. Do you know about the Alfredo test? No. what' So chicken Alfredo is not Italian. It was created in America. So if you're in Italy and a restaurant serves chicken Alfredo, you know, it's not a traditional Italian restaurant because they're just appealing to the masses. So that's like the test. You know, if you're an authentic Italian restaurant, if they don't serve chicken Alfredo, it's not an Italian thing.
01:27:57
Speaker
Is that not similar to, and again, sorry, apologies, I keep going back to Chinese cuisine, but is that not the same where, is it General Sow's Chicken or something like that? It's like a very American dish. Although actually speaking of that, one thing I was actually really surprised that we're in was that fortune cookies are apparently American. They're not Chinese. Shout out to Los Angeles for that one.
01:28:19
Speaker
Yeah. And you can see how that almost got adapted because now more traditional Chinese restaurants serve fortune cookies. We also have Chinatown in Ireland and those restaurants are authentic, but they still get fortune cookies at the end because it's almost, they adapted something that wasn't part of the culture. It's really weird, the whole fortune cookies thing. And but I mean, things can originate in different places. Fun fact, once again, I don't know how much this applies to our episode, but I'm just going to share it. Temporora is actually Portuguese.
01:28:46
Speaker
Yeah. So, tempura as Portuguese didn't originate in Japanese. We have this dish called pashin yoshto otra, which is fried green beans, but the name translates to like little fish because they look like little fish and they're so good. They're addictive. I mean, it's just tempura fried green beans. So good. I can eat a whole bucket of them. Although I do feel slightly sick after that because you get a bucket. It's a bucket, but then they also give you a massive mayo with it. And then of course it's still fried, but oh, so good. So it's okay when they fry the mayonnaise, but no. They did not fry the mayonnaise. No, no, no. Okay, going back to the fried mayonnaise, someone as part of Rage Bait actually fried mayonnaise.
Rage Bait and Viral Food Trends
01:29:22
Speaker
Again, just to gross people out and get those views. Which also brings me to another common point that I wanted to bring up with these types of videos. When you see stuff like that, it enrages you, the worst thing that you can do is interact. I mean, TikTok counts, if you watch something more than three seconds, that's already interaction. The best thing you can do is block them because that's how they gain money by people watching their content. So if you block them and make sure you never see that type of content again, I mean, not just one person doing it, but if people get in the habit of just blocking this content that is clearly, clearly rage rate and just to annoy you and just as food waste on a whole other level. Yeah, don't comment that is food waste or you're being so wasteful, just block them and move on. It actually reminds me of going back to what we were talking about, about the Lunchables or whatever it's called. Lunchly. No, no, I mean, you don't have to apologise. I'm chronically online and I've been following this deeply, so I know all of it. The thing about that was, I remember one of them, I think it was for that KSI, he got called out by another creator.
01:30:19
Speaker
And again, it goes back to what you were saying, that he was crying about it for a good couple of days and everyone was like, oh, that guy's living in your head, rent free, blah blah blah. But then that when you go back and you take a step back and you actually think about it, you realise that everyone's engaging with him and by engaging with him, they're raising his profile. By raising his profile, he's getting more money from this and he is essentially rage baiting his audience So not that it's never been there, I can't pretend that when we were growing up there wasn't people trying to troll others or rage bait them but yeah at the end of the day just be careful with what you interact with online especially when it comes to food. Although what I will say is the only time I've broken that rule is whenever I see someone making a cup of tea incorrectly.
01:31:06
Speaker
Oh, those drive me crazy. Those are clearly rage-bait. I mean, why would you heat up water in a microwave? Why? Well, there's ones I've seen with a microwave that I've seen others air-fry tea. Oh my god, that came across my feet the other day. I've blocked that out. I cannot recover from the trauma. you know that way where you're just lying in bed and you're just looking at the ceiling in darkness and you're just like, there is no way that is true. That has to be fake. I want it to be rage, mate, because that is the only reason that can exist. I don't want American users to be encouraged to be like, oh, let's stick our mugs in the air fryer. That would be a good episode, actually. Tea. Tea talk. Tea talk. I mean, I can go on about it. My tea cupboard is stacked at the moment. Yeah. I mean, that's clearly rage bait because I mean, it's 2024. Who doesn't know how to make a cup of tea at this point? I know the microwave thing is actually authentic. Not authentic, but I know a lot of Americans do that. But I think they know how we, as the British and Irish, get so upset by that, that it's just rage bait. I mean, it's also the type of tea they choose. They choose awful types of tea. I'm just like, that just takes nothing. Why would you buy that type of tea? it always looks like the weakest type of tea. Oh yeah, couldn't win a bar fight to save its life. And that's another thing, they just dip the tea bag in a few times and then toss it out and just like, no, you need to let it steep. It's like, you know, that scene of Winter Stelar where he's banging the door on the window and he's like, no, no, that's me every time I see those videos. I'm like, no, leave the tea bag in and they're just shaking their head as they leave. Oh my I just mean like in a corner rocking, holding all my really nice expensive teas, just like they can't hurt you. It's fine. Anyway, next week we will be discussing the joys of tea and how to make a tea. Step one, buy a damn kettle. Step two.
Cultural Appreciation and Food Waste Concerns
01:32:48
Speaker
First thing I did when I moved into my new apartment, I tried to see, oh, what's the most sustainable kettle out there? But then when I saw the shipping, I was like two weeks, I was just like, nope, I cannot go two weeks without tea. I'm going to the supermarket and buying the first kettle I see. Ironically enough, I feel as if that is the perfect footnote to end the episode. on purely because for the lovely listeners at home you know how passionate we are about food but especially it shows how important food can be to different people. At the end of the day you can have your comfort food, you can have your authentic experiences, you can have your desire to try these different things and actually that article that I brought up earlier has quite a few philosophical quote at the end and it reads as, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau once said, the person who is loved the most is not the one with the most years, but the one with the richest experiences, which I do find a really lovely quote, but again it's trying to find that, maybe this is too deep to say find that meaning in But you know, it's like trying to treat it at least with some degree of respect. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you have to respect your takeaway munchy box. Or if you're getting food like that, that's completely different. I mean, it's the only reason I get out of bed in the morning, to be honest. Seriously, I'm that type of person who needs to have something in for breakfast, otherwise I will not get out of bed. I need to know that I've got the ingredients for pancakes in my cupboard every single time. I mean, fair. Yeah, you can see how there's a difference between using food as, well, not motivation, but as something that is important versus, again, just wasting it to be honest. Yeah, that's really all I have to say about it. Is there any footnote you want to leave out on? Yeah, just don't intentionally waste food. 59 million tons of food gets wasted in the EU annually. That equates to 16% of total greenhouse gases within the EU. I mean, that is a lot. I do buy some things and forget about that. Mistakes and accidents happen. There are several reasons, but I'm talking to the people who buy buckets of pancake batter and syrup and just toss them on a counter just to I don't even know what to achieve. Don't intentionally waste food. It's a precious thing and we're lucky to have it. And some people are not that fortunate. And what's the deal with a Dorito taco? I don't get that.
01:35:02
Speaker
they keep me up at night, isn't it? A lot of things in this episode are going to keep me up and out. Like, why would you have a burger that's only cheese? Why? And it's not even melted. And you could make that easily at home. I mean, you could easily put it in the microwave. Yeah. Because when you said a bit of grilled cheese or a toastie, as I call it, because I'm a horrible Scott, the fact is you could make something like that, which I have to say, there was a guy in TikTok years ago. I don't know if he's still going, probably as, but he used to do some other things where they would just put random things into the heater wraps. You know, don't get me wrong, it would be massive and kind of over-spilling, but it wasn't something that was, I would say, unmanageable. You know, it was 100% comfort food, but it was something they could have probably halved and then put away again. But yeah, to have just cheese. And sorry before we close off because I'm just looking over on my notes and there's just one little note that I haven't mentioned and I'm sorry because since I went down this rabbit hole and I've been burdened with this knowledge, all of you need to be burdened with this knowledge that another reason behind mukbang culture being so popular is that for some people it's a fetish. Thank you for that. I literally just have that word on my notes.
01:36:17
Speaker
What, just some bald bitch? It's literally knock bang and then an arrow and it says fetish. Equals, bad, frowny face. I mean and that's not judge people's kinks but at the same time I'm bad. No and that's case let's judge it, come on.
01:36:34
Speaker
And on that note, on that lovely note, Marie, thank you so much for not only coming on this episode to talk about the wonderful and weird world of stunt food, but also kicking off chat tsunami in the year 2025.
Podcast Promotion and Closing Remarks
01:36:49
Speaker
So thank you so, so much.
01:36:50
Speaker
Thank you for having me and thank you for bequeefing me this big honour of kicking off Chatsunami 2025. I'm very honoured and touched. Before we wrap up, first of all, where can these lovely listeners find your content? And second of all, have you got anything coming up for your podcast or another adjacent podcast that you may or may not be a part of? Yeah, good question. I always do such a terrible job at this, but if you enjoy the more academic side of these conversations, you can check out my podcast, Two Girls, One Reusable Cup, which is all about living a low-waste lifestyle in your 20s and how you can do your best for people and planet. And it's a bit of a hiatus at this point, but hopefully in the new year, it will be back and hopefully with a lot more interviews and a lot more collabs, which is my goal for next year. And then if you enjoyed my more ranty sides of things, you can also find me over on the We Needed Roads podcast, which I have now successfully infiltrated and become a regular co-host on, where we just talk about all things film and TV, and in my case, all things gay film and TV. other than that on the interwebs I go by Life on Mars and I'm on all the socials. if you would like more collaboratations fromrself as well as but
01:38:06
Speaker
bobpa collectiveive then you can check us out our website chatsunami dot com as well as all good podcast ah i also want to thank our amazing Pandalurian patrons Robotic Battle Toaster, Sonya and Ghosty. Thank you so so much for supporting the show and if you would like more exclusive content, behind the scenes tips and how not to waste food for legal reasons that last one's a joke then you can check us out our Patreon page patreon dot.com over slash chat tsunami. I am so so excited to share what we have coming up for the podcast. We have got so many amazing interviews with other podcasters coming up. We also have a lot of themed months of the, in particular, Avatar variety, Mario variety, as well as maybe some Bioshock and some animation. So be sure to look out for that because I cannot wait to show it to you guys. But without any further ado, thank you all so, so much. Stay safe, stay awesome, stay hydrated. And from me and Marie, have a very happy and healthy 2025.