4:10pm Wednesday 3rd March 2010
FIRST there were websites, then blogs and now there are vlogs – or video logs to the uninitiated.
Amateur chefs with a passion for food and showmanship are getting busy in the kitchen in front of wobbly tripods, in order to demonstrate their culinary skills to the world.
Simon Rimmer, chef on BBC Two’s Something For The Weekend and owner of two restaurants, believes everyone’s going to be at it soon.
The innovative young chef has become involved with a new website called eatthechef.com.
It’s a community site where anyone can upload their vlogs, and Simon hopes to create a database of free videos created by the users themselves.
“The content is going to be all usergenerated,”
he explains enthusiastically.
“We could add more videos from professional chefs to make it grow more quickly, but that’s not the point.”
Launched last November eatthechef.com is steadily growing. And while its progress isn’t quite as fast as Simon had hoped, he knows that that word-of-web is very powerful.
“I’m looking forward to the point when someone uploads a raspberry cupcake recipe and people say what a fantastic recipe and then the next thing they upload, that gets used as well.
“I want there to be a buzz around people and the things that they cook.”
Already food vlogs like mydaddycooks.
com, steamykitchen.com and notwithoutsalt.com are attracting thousands of loyal followers.
And now that digital recording equipment is comparatively cheap and editing tools are widely available online, does Simon think that soon everyone will start sharing their food secrets with the world?
“It’s quite a big commmitment to cook a dish, video it, upload it and send it off,”
he admits. “This is why I suggested that we start with something easy.”
The site recently held a world biscuit dunking championship, so that users could demonstrate their own dunking skills.
“Anyone can make a cup of tea and dunk a biscuit in,” he laughs. “But it got them used to being on the site.”
The chef is also spreading the word via Twitter (he has 8,500 followers) and a Facebook group.
When he’s not filming vlogs for the website, coming up with recipes for Something For The Weekend – “I write four a week, and we’re on week 165!” - or running his restaurants, Simon says he somehow finds time to see his family.
“I have two restaurants, two kids and one wife,” he says frankly.
“And I try and give a little bit of everything to all of them, but I’d hate to be married to me.”
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