Over the last few years, food tutorials and recipe videos have colonised the internet. The trend reached its logical conclusion with a parody video teaching viewers how to bake air. But perhaps the videos lack signature directorial flair. Would there be an improvement in these stale food tutorials if Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Alfonso Cuaron and even Michael Bay were sitting in the director’s chair?
A YouTube channel David Ma would have you believe so. His series Food Films is self-described as being “created to bring some charm, irreverence, and silliness into the world of familiar overhead recipe videos”.
In a one-minute clip, the director of films such as The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Rushmore (1998) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) offers instructions on how to make the popular American campfire snack S’more with the usual mix of hyper-stylised production design, quirky typography and kooky music.
Who better to make spaghetti and meatballs, the Italian classic than the master of violence Quentin Tarantino? In a Kill Bill-inspired video, Ma uses the Pulp Fiction (1994) and Django Unchained (2013) director’s signature themes to create a violent and bloody version of the recipe video, set to a range of pop music.
Gravity-director Alfonso Cuaron’s pancake recipe has epic scope, gorgeous cinematography and music designed to inspire awe.
Finally, the enfant terrible of blockbuster cinema Michael Bay, the director of the Transformers films, is matched with a waffle recipe video. Filled with random explosions and slow-motion, the video offers the full depth of Bay’s talent. So what if you don’t know how to make a waffle by the end.