Tasty brings melted-cheese porn straight from your phone and into your kitchen.
If you’ve been on Facebook or Instagram at some point over the last few years, you’ve almost certainly seen a Tasty video, because they’re everywhere—you know, those sped-up videos of disembodied hands making some over-the-top dish like Chicken Parmesan Garlic Bread or Chili Cheese-Stuffed Tots.
Since Buzzfeed launched its food division two years ago, they’ve been Frankensteining your favorite dishes and ingredients to great success; according to Tubular Labs, a research film that tracks digital videos, Tasty videos were viewed 1.1 billion times in the month of June alone.
Much of Tasty’s success comes from the digestibility of its videos; they tend to run between a minute and a minute and a half, and they’re pure pleasure to watch—they’ve essentially created a whole genre of melted-cheese porn.
But while they’ve figured out how to lure in a visuals-obsessed generation, trying to execute a recipe based off a 1-minute video can be a stretch.
Enter Tasty 2.0: As of last month, there’s now an app to make Tasty recipes even more accessible. They also recently launched pre-sale of the Tasty One Top, a proprietary cooking device that costs $150 and promises the ability to fry, sauté, slow cook, precision cook and even execute sous vide techniques.
The app itself provides a much-improved experience based on the videos that have proven to be such a wild success so far. The home screen offers up recipes divided by categories like “Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner” or “Soups On!”.
Once something catches your eye, it leads with the signature Tasty-style video. But directly below it, there’s a handy ingredient list and simple step-by-step directions—something that was previously kind of unwieldly on their YouTube channel or social media channels.
In traditional Buzzfeedstyle, they aim to appeal broadly, hence the sometimes-ridiculous amalgamations of several popular dishes into a single gut bomb. And perhaps I’m overanalyzing here, but I suspect this is, in part, some of Tasty’s appeal.
In a culture where “clean eating” can be perceived as an act of moral superiority, a 60-second hit of someone pulling apart a giant cinnamon roll dripping with frosting can be deeply cathartic.
But more than all that, Tasty is highly convenient. Meal planning requires a lot of work. Even thinking about what I’m going to possibly, maybe make for dinner quickly becomes a stressful planning ordeal.
On the Tasty app, you’re faced with pretty pictures and supremely simple recipes that require very accessible ingredients. And to be fair, thereare healthy options, like the Protein-Packed Buddha Bowl or Cucumber Avocado Salad.
Tasty’s palate trends collegiate, so food snobs may be underwhelmed. But it’s super handy for some fun-food inspo for days you don’t feel like attempting the thousand-ingredient recipe from your favorite celebrity chef.
Plus, they have a recipe for Shakeshack burgers, which is reason enough to download it, no?
Download the Tasty app for free here.
Words: Deena Drewis
