Sweet Treats for the Kids (SLYT)

September 14, 2014 10:25 AM

“Goddamit, I ain’t got no motherf--n’ name for it yet, motherf--ker!” (language NSFW)
posted by danabanana (42 comments total)

MMM, punk-ass cinnamon rolls.
posted by symbioid at 10:37 AM on September 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

She needs to be paired with Martha Stewart, to offer some spontaneous commentary on Martha's high-minded methods. I'm being completely serious.
posted by Brian B. at 10:42 AM on September 14, 2014 [5 favorites]

This ain't no fuckin' prison food!
posted by briank at 10:55 AM on September 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

Mod note: Folks, you know where to have a meta-discussion about something if you want to have that discussion.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:56 AM on September 14, 2014

1. Preparing food directly on the counter makes me cringe.
2. Why not do that next to the stove?
3. I'm hungry.
posted by desjardins at 10:59 AM on September 14, 2014

I'gn't bitch should know they're called patties.

(am i doing this right?)
posted by humboldt32 at 11:09 AM on September 14, 2014

Direct YouTube link (the OP links through a Google search, it seems)
posted by filthy light thief at 11:18 AM on September 14, 2014

Haha, yeah, stay with her now!
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:19 AM on September 14, 2014

She was on Jimmy Kimmel last month. Culture shock viral comedy aside, she also has an approach that might make her an expert.
posted by Brian B. at 11:21 AM on September 14, 2014

record in landscape, motherfucker.
posted by mullacc at 11:33 AM on September 14, 2014 [12 favorites]

This is the sort of programming that can bring Food network back from its doldrums
posted by Renoroc at 11:34 AM on September 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

So much personality and a real slice of Americana. Thanks for introducing me to Auntie Fee!
posted by mistersquid at 11:45 AM on September 14, 2014

Culture shock viral comedy aside, she also has an approach that might make her an expert.

The matter-of-fact way she says "If you've got fat people, [use] a lot of cheese; kids and fat people like cheese" has made my day.
posted by retrograde at 11:47 AM on September 14, 2014 [3 favorites]

"Now this is parsley. Dried parsley. OK? You see that shit right there? This motherfucker make any motherfuckin' thing taste good!"
posted by mistersquid at 11:52 AM on September 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

I watched this a week or four back and thought it was LOLblackpeople or maybe LOLlowerclass. I would watch an actual produced version of this show, but as it is I feel like a tourist when I watch this, and not in a good way.

I'm not exactly sure what this is exploiting, but it sure as fuck feels exploitive. Old people are funny? Ain't she be cray cray? I mean seriously, how to you spin this so your enjoyment is ok?
posted by cjorgensen at 11:53 AM on September 14, 2014 [5 favorites]

I would so hang out with those motherfuckers and eat the shit out of some of that.
posted by loquacious at 12:00 PM on September 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'm not exactly sure what this is exploiting, but it sure as fuck feels exploitive. Old people are funny? Ain't she be cray cray? I mean seriously, how to you spin this so your enjoyment is ok?

Your feelings are complex, no doubt. Some of the ruder comments on her shows, especially the one's criticizing her sanitation methods and choice of foods, also contain strong feelings. It's all exposing a raw nerve at the bottom, because most people experience shame of things that remind them of their own poverty, as they perceive it culturally, because it left scars. On the other hand, some may feel she should be giving a social commentary with her recipes. Perhaps that's the context some here may require to find it palatable, and we mustn't forget the prudes that find everything uncensored offensive. The refreshing thing about Auntie Fee is that she is obviously having some fun cooking and educating, she is offering solutions rather than problems, and she didn't seem to get the memo to shut up about this or that. I'm hopeful she's making some money from her efforts considering the venue of her shows.
posted by Brian B. at 12:33 PM on September 14, 2014 [9 favorites]

I just love how she has no patience at all for her cameraman.

I also want about 100 of those cinnamon sugar fried things. They look amazing.
posted by xingcat at 12:36 PM on September 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'm not exactly sure what this is exploiting, but it sure as fuck feels exploitive. Old people are funny? Ain't she be cray cray? I mean seriously, how to you spin this so your enjoyment is ok?

She is awesome and funny and very self-aware and I enjoy her YouTube company.
posted by eugenen at 12:42 PM on September 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

Argh metal spatula in a Teflon skillet argh argh argh
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:44 PM on September 14, 2014 [15 favorites]

because most people experience shame of things that remind them of their own poverty, as they perceive it culturally, because it left scars.

I think this is true as a general principle, but I am experiencing kitchen envy watching this. I wish we had a beautiful kitchen like that -- but I don't think that particular one could be in better hands.
posted by jamjam at 12:44 PM on September 14, 2014 [5 favorites]

I don't care. This is my new favorite cooking show.
posted by NedKoppel at 12:45 PM on September 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

This is what we called Fried Pies. My grandmother (born 1890's raised in backwoods Texas) made much the same thing. She usually put a dollup of jam in the middle, but sometimes did the cinnamon sugar thing. Tasty eating!
posted by pbrim at 12:46 PM on September 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'm sure I'm seeing this through my own crazy lens, but I don't see it as exploitative in the slightest. The way she berates her nephew(?) is a great way of engaging the audience. She's not just telling him to pay attention, she's talking to you. And I think the image of the severe, my kitchen is my castle, take no bullshit chef is well ingrained in our cultures, and her version of it is totally real.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 12:48 PM on September 14, 2014 [5 favorites]

She could call them 'pan tarts.'
posted by jamjam at 12:49 PM on September 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

This thread makes my skin crawl.
posted by anansi at 12:49 PM on September 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

I wish this was around back when I was an undergrad.
posted by oddman at 12:56 PM on September 14, 2014

I wish this was around back when I was an undergrad.

Have to share a link to Gourmet with Gabe, a cook-in-your-dorm-kitchen segment hosted a very personable college student. (He's not the best cook, but he's so fun to watch that the food is secondary.)

Discovered this show on the public-access station for our local university while waiting in the emergency room one night.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 1:18 PM on September 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

I don't think the videos are exploitative in and of themselves. (People's reactions are another matter.) It seems like auntie Fee is (or was initially, before internet fame) concerned with teaching... somebody (I don't know who) about how easy it is to cook food at home, as if there's a relative in another city that she cares about who might otherwise be eating poorly. Mixing food in the sink? Using the counter as a prep surface? I've eaten food like that. Didn't hurt. Most kitchen hygiene is make believe anyway; wash things before and after and the only difference is that the surfaces aren't movable.
posted by Verg at 1:19 PM on September 14, 2014 [5 favorites]

If you want to help her monetize her awesomeness, you can buy an apron.

All her videos are awesomesauce.

Enjoy her now, before someone gives her a show and makes it all corporate (swearing and attitude that are carefully prompted and perhaps scripted).
posted by el io at 1:25 PM on September 14, 2014 [4 favorites]

I've been following her videos on facebook for a while and I LOVE them.
posted by one4themoment at 2:47 PM on September 14, 2014

There's no problem with her videos, which document ingenious ways to make preprocessed crap into something flavorful at a reasonable price, offered with a comic irritability that seems to me obviously deliberate; she's having fun.

The problem is that people think all this is something to be made fun of.
posted by maxsparber at 3:19 PM on September 14, 2014 [6 favorites]

The way she berates her nephew(?) is a great way of engaging the audience.

Per the Jimmy Kimmel clip that YT offered me, it's her son, Tavis.
posted by XMLicious at 6:21 PM on September 14, 2014

I love her and I want her kitchen.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 6:22 PM on September 14, 2014

> I'gn't bitch should know they're called patties.

Jamaican patties, as per your link, have ground beef in them. These are not patties.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:24 PM on September 14, 2014

Oh man I had this idea a few years ago, this idea to take the everyday junk food in my pantry and show how you could make elevate it something more very quickly and without a lot of hard work. I loved what she said in the noodle/beef video:

"You don't have to be scared, this i easy"

Most cooking shows fetishize the whole act of cooking too much. Everything is so precise, so neat and arranged and perfectly timed. Auntie Fee is the opposite: just FUCK IT, alright, and go make some good shit and don't worry about it.

If you think this is pointing an laughing or some kind of class/race tourism, well...I guess it might be that way for some...OR it could just be a no-nonsense cooking show with some seriously honestly smart ideas from a woman who clearly has a lot of experience and skill. The salty language is just bonus that keeps the whole deal grounded and approachable, in my opinion.
posted by Doleful Creature at 9:50 PM on September 14, 2014 [4 favorites]

Doleful Creature: Most cooking shows fetishize the whole act of cooking too much. Everything is so precise, so neat and arranged and perfectly timed. Auntie Fee is the opposite: just FUCK IT, alright, and go make some good shit and don't worry about it.

This is my takeaway from it. I'm an absolute kitchen disaster, and I usually come away from cooking shows and videos feeling disheartened and still out of my depth.

Watching her, I feel like 'Hey, I think I could do this!'. It's a cheerful and welcome difference.
posted by pseudonymph at 10:49 PM on September 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

The problem is that people think all this is something to be made fun of.

If you look closely you can see all the fucks Auntie Fee doesn't give.
posted by fullerine at 5:45 AM on September 15, 2014 [6 favorites]

Reading the comments before watching the video, I was under the impression that Thug Kitchen got a TV show. Slightly disappointed, but she's totally entertaining.
posted by jbickers at 6:31 AM on September 15, 2014

The problem is that people think all this is something to be made fun of.

I didn't think so! I thought it was great and would, entirely sincerely, watch a cooking show that was basically kitbashing different cheap-and-convenient stuff from the supermarket combined with a masterclass in swearing. That the host in this case is black doesn't enter into it -- you could make this same show with, say, R Lee Ermey (just thinking of someone with high swearpower) and it would be fuckin'-A awesome.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:38 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

Or Bob Saget! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:39 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

The comments (on youtube) make me want to burn the internet to the ground and start over.

Or at least go out and throat punch a couple dozen redditors.
posted by DigDoug at 9:01 AM on September 15, 2014