This Week: Feast yer eyes on Tasty Japan
You’ve def. seen Tasty’s mouthwatering (and downright mesmerizing) videos out on the ‘net — but did you know that BuzzFeed’s food network also has outposts all over the world? Across Tasty Miam, Einfach Tasty, Proper Tasty, Bien Tasty, and Tasty Demais, readers can get a ~taste~ of foodie culture and cooking from around the world.
Our most far-flung edition (and a Chrissy Teigen favorite): Tasty Japan, which specializes in recipes for Japanese favorites like ramen, sushi, tonkatsu, and jiggly cheesecake. Scroll through its YouTube catalog, and you’ll also notice Tasty Japan's gorgeous aesthetic, thanks to the team's eye for plating and food presentation. “We take extra care to film something that looks delicious and to try not to let our audience down,” notes Saki Yamada, one of Tasty Japan’s video producer.
FYI, though, you also won’t find as many videos for cheese-stuffed, mega-fried foods, notes Alvin Zhou, a U.S.-based video producer who’s worked on Tasty’s international expansion. “They always make sure to balance everything out with fruits and veggies. Even if they do fried things, they serve it with a bunch of cabbage and lemon.”
Tasty Japan’s work also consistently inspires our other editions: The concept for a Kiwi Upside Down Cake, for example, was recently adapted by Alvin and his team in the U.S. as a Strawberry Dome Cake and Cookies & Ice Cream Cake and involved swapping out Japanese pastry for graham crackers and cream cheese.
And, if you just want to get in on that Tasty Japan goodness but can’t read Japanese, we still got you: Big hits like Matcha Layered Cheesecake and Japanese Rice Burgers 4 Ways get translated to English, and our video translation team will even add a few notes for you explaining the less familiar ingredients required, like mirin and shiso leaf.
Special thanks to Stevie Ward, Eimi Yamamitsu, Saki Yamada, and Alvin Zhou for contributing to this newsletter!
International Hits:
In Australia 🇦🇺 — The entire world knows that Paul Rudd doesn’t age, and this quiz is proof.
In Brazil 🇧🇷 — If you’ve been fantasizing about living that 5-star hotel lifestyle, this quiz is for you (in Portuguese here).
In Canada 🇨🇦 — More proof that dogs have the most perfect timing ever known to man.
In Germany 🇩🇪 — In case you haven’t heard, Germany is photogenic AF and here’s all the places you should be geotagging, stat (German here).
In Spain 🇪🇸 — Here’s a few ideas on what to do if you see someone getting harassed in public (namely: anything). (Spanish here).
In France 🇫🇷 — Did you know that your McDonald’s sammie choice says a lot about your fave sex position?? (French here).
In India 🇮🇳 — If you’re worried that your pharmacist / chemist is judging you, this warm-hearted infographic will put you at ease.
In Japan 🇯🇵 — Can you identify all of these flowers? (Japanese here).
In Mexico 🇲🇽 — Send this “Which Shocking Millennial Trend Are You” to all the pearl-clutchers you know (Spanish here).
In the UK 🇬🇧 — Take a UK food tour, and we’ll summarize your personality in one word.
Elsewhere on the webz:
First up: If you type in certain lines of nonsense into Google Translate, you’ll sometimes just get a creepy-ass prophecy back in English — and no one really knows why. Is it because of internet punks, or because Google uses the Bible to train the algorithm?
This Motherboard article, Why Is Google Translate Spitting Out Sinister Religious Prophecies?, looks into a few theories on why these ghoulish Google Translate glitches happen.
And on a dreamy visual endnote, you’ll want to see these gorgeous photos of the world’s most beautiful dresses shot in the world’s most beautiful locations.
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