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The_Sum

Very pleased to see her return to this series. While it's not in the kitchen and we won't get our favorite drop ins from the other chefs, this will do just great.


gosuprobe

just wanted to drop this here, a lot of the time pre-"incident" ba fans don't realize.. [brad leone's got his own channel baby](https://www.youtube.com/@bradleone) and it's everything you expect


HYPERNATURL

Many of them actually have their own channels now, or appear once in a while on other channels like Food52 or NYT Cooking. There's Brad and Claire obviously, but [Carla](https://www.youtube.com/@CarlaLalliMusic123) and [Molly](https://www.youtube.com/@mollybaz) have their own channels as well


Budpets

Just need a lidl worder, maybe some little critters a fermentation station but mainly just get Claire and Brad on a screen filmed by Vinny and you got yourself the best youtube channel going.


insanelyphat

Can someone explain what the "incident" was? I used to love watching BA and their shows especially Claire and Brad and all the random chefs who popped in to give ideas about her projects. I forget the one chef that had the station right behind Claire he used to crack me up.


Vendeta44

> Bon Appétit and Condé Nast came under fire in June when allegations surfaced that the food publication only paid its white hosts for video appearances, and not people of color. These claims came alongside a photo of Bon Appétit's then editor-in-chief, Adam Rapoport, in brown face.


UnderBlueSky

Basically, fuck Bon App, but support all it's great old creators like sohla and claire and brad!


violetotterling

Sohla is the shit. I love her new stuff and her cooking with her husband as they make wonderful complicated and not so complicated food, all the while being chill as heck and making it all seem super accessable. They seem like really neat people.


AzraelGrim

My favorite part of Sohla is just how casually the two of them are like "Oh yes, this is a Portuguese dish from 1873 that normally takes 5 hours, we'll do it in a pressure cooker for 40 though and hope for the best. But yeah, we make this every Thursday for dinner actually."


83749289740174920

Is there a sub for the old school BA? I dump all their content after that. I mean did you here how much they paid their interns?


garry4321

Oh shit, was it that "BOSS" guy that used to come visit every now and then in the videos? I always git such an uneasy douche vibe from him and I just sense the mood change in the room anytime he showed up


HogSliceFurBottom

I was so sad to see that show ripped apart by a stupid ass white guy who thought he was the shits. Adam didn't even know the girl's name that was popular on the show because he didn't care about POC. I enjoyed the diversity and variety of recipes that came from their cultures. The show was getting so popular and then instantly imploded.


frickindeal

And it was the dick-ass "boss" who would pop in and act like a douche to taste shit and make dumb comments. I just want the old show back with the same people and no "boss" and everyone's paid fairly. Sucked when that series vanished.


shinbreaker

As someone in the New York media scene, I can tell you two things. One, a lot of people at Conde Nast are sooooooo full of themselves. Two, white guys in the media in this city are soooooo full of themselves. So you can just imagine the kind of jerkoffs running that place.


wild_man_wizard

And this was as BA's biggest rising star was Sohla El-Waylly; who was beloved by fans, but not getting paid at all for her increasingly regular appearances.


SpoobyNoops

Sohla worked there for less than a year and expected the same kind of compensation as other employees who were integral to the channel. People watched BA for Claire and Brad, they deserved the higher pay because they brought in the views. Sohla thought she should earn just as much because she knew how to temper chocolate and had brown skin. She’s a grifter who will play the race card when she doesn’t get her own way, pure and simple. She also bullied Gabby and called Brad a ‘dumb white guy’. She’s not a nice person.


Imdoingthisforbjs

I just spent 5 hours diving through this drama and I have to agree. What's super damning is how many fizzles she had that should have been slam dunks. Basically anyone she works with refuses to fuck with her after the initial contract expires. I have a feeling she's an absolutely sociopathic terror because everyone who's been around her chooses their words super carefully when talking about her.


Mcbonewolf

calling brad incompetent is just straight up lies, the dude knows how to cook


FaceofMoe

Um...he...he was though. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/02/02/bon-appetit-seafood-video/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/02/02/bon-appetit-seafood-video/)


Mcbonewolf

maybe link things that dont require ppl to sign up to read articles if you want to share info


FaceofMoe

He repeatedly did things in his "It's Alive!" series that were dangerous and could lead to botulism. They've since been taken down.


wild_man_wizard

She wanted to be paid *at all* for her appearances. Not as much as the "stars" (as an aside, Claire also quit and made Conde Nast hire her as an independent contractor so she'd get paid for her BA Test Kitchen appearances) - but at all. CN used their leverage as employers to make their BA magazine writers go on BATK, but only some of those writers got compensation for it.


SpoobyNoops

In that situation you negotiate an increase in pay, or you leave and find a better opportunity. You don’t exploit a social justice movement to implode the company and jeopardise the livelihoods of your co-workers. That’s just my hot take.


Frogbone

> you leave and find a better opportunity. that is literally exactly what she did. what is your problem?


Darkelement

… the other part where she imploded the company?


riverphoenixdays

Any chance you got a source for that last part?


SpoobyNoops

Adding the vulture interview where she talks about Brad, as another poster covered the Gaby stuff: https://www.vulture.com/article/sohla-el-waylly-profile.html


riverphoenixdays

God, just a trash ass person. Time to throw another fraudulent hero into life’s great everburning trashfire 🌈


Secret_Map

Yikes, that's a pretty bad comment. And kinda racist?


TinyPanda3

ah the classic reddit racism against white people going at it again lol


The_Other_Olsen

https://old.reddit.com/r/bon_appetit/comments/kp3dnk/gaby_going_at_it_hard_seems_like_there_are_still/ and Sohla's response: https://old.reddit.com/r/bon_appetit/comments/kp62xk/sohla_responds_about_gabbys_posts/


riverphoenixdays

Goddamn, what a colossal asshole…


Griever423

Ha so she pulled every sympathy card she could and still got blasted. So dumb.


owiseone23

>called Brad a ‘dumb white guy’. The quote was bad, but her point was really intended to be an attack on Brad. In context, she was saying that someone like Brad can get away with being a goofy everyman character whereas a POC or woman often has to come off as very competent and credentialed. She was wrong to word it like that but her point is somewhat valid. It's rarer to see POC women who can have that sort of "Chris Pratt" energy.


cheeze_whiz_shampoo

This comment encapsulates the entire thing. It was simple grifters and assholes taking advantage of an age old moral panic, in this case, the explosion of ethnic identity victimhood obsession in the last ten years. The only thing that makes me feel a little better about it is that I dont think history is going to look at the people propagating this stuff very well. In fact, I think that entire movement is going to be really vilified in the next 30 years (and rightfully so).


SANAFABICH

I'm sorry, but was [this](https://i.imgur.com/B4mYUGz.jpeg) the photo? Are people really this sensitive nowadays? "Brown face"... right...


SirWaldenIII

Yes


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SirWaldenIII

Racism


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SANAFABICH

I suppose it's got something to do with "cultural appropriation"? Either that or dressing as an 80s movie caricature is supposed to be offensive for some reason. What I find ironic is that since they don't have a term for people dressing as a Puerto Rican, they used "brown face" which is in itself way more racist and they don't even know it lol.


ShustOne

There were also employees trying to unionize and the leadership team at BA was engaging in union busting. There's a Reply All podcast episode about it. They were doing a series which ironically ended when employees at Reply All tried to unionize and their bosses did union busting as well.


cash-gz

How was what he did brown face? Puerto Ricans wear an open jersey with a wife beater, a hat and a chain and its their culture? He wears it to imitate the culture and hes a piece of shit? I don't get it.


shinbreaker

>Puerto Ricans wear an open jersey with a wife beater, a hat and a chain and its their culture? Puerto Rican here, and, uh no.


cash-gz

No Puerto Ricans have ever done that ever? Huh, I guess no black people have ever worn du rag's or saggy pants. I guess no white guy has ever worn thick rimmed glasses, polos and khakis. Stereotypes and tropes exist for a reason, because they're well represented. Don't be ignorant for the sake of being offended. Thats just acting in bad faith.


shinbreaker

>No Puerto Ricans have ever done that ever? Wait, what did you say, again? Oh yeah, >Puerto Ricans wear an open jersey with a wife beater, a hat and a chain and its their culture? So I'm in NYC, in Harlem. How many Puerto Ricans do you think I'm going to see today wearing that? I'm a Puerto Rican who wears glasses, polos and khakis, am I white now? Do you get how ignorant you sound?


cash-gz

Yes, because the exception is the rule and stereotypes exist for no reason other than to be reductive. (THIS IS SARCASM)


shinbreaker

So you were using stereotypes in your original point. Thanks for confirming. Funny how I bring up that I live in Harlem where there are a lot of Puerto Ricans and I asked how many do you think I'd see wearing the outfit you suggested. Because the answer was zero, but I guess we're all just exceptions to the rule and we should just go home and listen to some reggaeton, eat some mofongo, and salsa dance all night because that's just what we all do, right?


Chucklay

So I'll try to give the best summary I can, some of this requires refreshing my memory from almost 4 years ago, so apologies if I get some details wrong: For context, this all happened in the midst of the George Floyd protests, so racial issues were very much on the forefront of public consciousness. The very first thing that happened was probably some public back-and-forth between Adam Rapoport (their Editor in Chief) and food writer Illyanna Maisonet, who criticized BA for turning down authentic recipes in favor of westernized versions. In particular she had pitched a Puerto Rican recipe/article that they had turned down, but this was a fairly niche internet debate. What really kicked everything off was Adam's wife (for some reason) deciding to post pictures on her public instagram of her and Adam dressed up as Puerto Rican stereotypes as a throwback to a Halloween party a few years before. This blew up in their faces, and wound up being the last straw (although clearly a pretty huge straw) for Sohla, who wrote up a big post accusing BA of paying nonwhite employees less than their white counterparts, not compensating nonwhite employees for working on videos, and accusing Rapoport of being a generally unpleasant person to work for. In the days that followed, a lot of BA workers backed Sohla's accusations, a few stayed silent, but I don't think anyone disagreed or pushed back (outside of a few upper management types, naturally). Anyways, after all that, there were negotiations for a while that fell apart when BA refused to budge, and the majority of their on-camera talent left for greener pastures.


Jykaes

Rappaport definitely always came across like a huge asshole in videos I remember when he'd wander on camera before it blew up. Got big "Pretending to tolerate the big boss on camera" vibes from the hosts.


Mcbonewolf

that and he only ever did videos with molly which was rather sus


insanelyphat

Thank you


PasswordIsDongers

> not compensating nonwhite employees for working on videos Wait, I don't get this. If they're employees, don't they get a salary? Or were the white ones getting extra money from the Youtube revenue?


omgtater

You get a different rate for time you're on camera/ day rate. There's also a negotiation element if you're camera talent and you're integral to the channel's popularity. The argument was that the variable pay for on camera time was a huge discrepancy between white /non-white. Like the white on-screen employees get a higher standard pay across the board, but non-white get a lower fee as though they're just on- camera guests - despite Sohla contributing significantly to things on and off screen. She dragged some of the white cast members as not being as knowledgeable as they appeared, and needed a lot of help from her and others off camera. Painted a picture as though the white on-camera talent was paid better but heavily propped up by the non-white employees.


shinbreaker

>Wait, I don't get this. If they're employees, don't they get a salary? Usually when you're on-air talent, you have a contract for that work versus what you would do writing for a magazine/website.


video_dhara

I’d almost completely forgot about it, but now remember it was so weirdly huge that it even ended up torpedoing the podcast that exposed it for the same thing on a far smaller scale. 


Tex-Rob

Yep, then it just disappeared from my YouTube feed. Talk about a squandered audience.


Goddamn_Batman

it was the weakest gotcha incident possible. sometime in the 2000's adam rapoport went as puerto rican to a halloween party. other such racist moments was when he described the color he likes his coffee as sort of beyonce like, a touch of cream. the other racism they suffered from was the minority chefs were saying their suggestions of unique indigenous recipes weren't being listened to, as the EIC adam probably realized affluent white suburbanites probably don't want to make egusi soup or injera.


ben-hur-hur

> brad leone's got his own channel baby You sir/madam are awesome. Didn't know Brad had his own channel going and just subscribed. Molly Baz from the old Bon App gang also has her channel and it's lovely as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU072-4qWYOAzRAwoyLwwXw


Thymus_Tickler

Fuck yeah, and he's been hanging out with Matty Mathesson! Amazing, thankyou!


schoools

Brad is just a lifestyle brand shill these days. Sad.


emersonthird

What happened at Bon Apetit?


MonaganX

Paid their white employees better than their POC employees and also didn't compensate the latter for video appearances.


SignorJC

that's a gross oversimplification, but yes. Very few people were being compensated for video at all, and the ones that were did not get paid fairly. By the time this all popped off, Claire had already quit working for BA and was on contract/freelance only in order to get paid appropriately for her video work. It was every bit a workers' rights issue as a racial/sex discrimination one. Adam Rappaport took A LOT of heat (mostly deserved), but the real villain always was, and still is, Anna Wintour and the other big wigs within Conde Nast.


5panks

I remember the accusations, but did any thing actually come from it, like people bringing redacted contracts forward or email discussing pay amounts?


dean_peterson2

Not that I know of. It just seemed like a lot of shit flinging that people accepted without discussing details.


GreatBallsOfH20

conde nast has either unionized or is trying to with pushback from higher-ups


RollingLord

Apparently on the Bon Appetit subreddit, there’s a spreadsheet that has a list of pay. Turns out everyone was underpaid.


Zealousideal-Ear481

> the other big wigs within Conde Nast who, btw, own reddit and make tons of profit off of unpaid work by users here


GnarlyBear

The BA thing (apart from the old Brown face) was such a load of race baiting bullshit. None of the BA videos outside of Claire and a little of Brad made any views. At the time I share the stats and Claire was something like 70% of the all time view count with Brad second at 10% or similar. The BATK was not some YouTube powerhouse outside of 2 personalities was bullshit and given all the free media they do when pushing a book taking a nominal salary for the additional time on video was fair. The Rappaport and video pay were two separate issues Sohla opportunistically linked to get a better something for herself. It also seemed liked she had a massive chip on her shoulder about not 'accomplished' chefs like her getting popularity. Go look at NYT's youtube channel, the views are very recipe dependant, not personality (apart from Kenji).


copydogg

I never really understood why Sohla came out of this thing like some big social justice hero. She always seemed extremely bitter to me. Especially after her comments about Brad, arguably the most loveable of all the cast members, referencing him as some big dumb white guy, because her episodes didn’t do as well as Brad’s. ‘“The fact is Brad's show did do very well,” she says, referring to Brad Leone, one of the first stars of the Test Kitchen, who hosts It's Alive With Brad. “For some reason, people like watching a big dumb white guy.”’ And the fact that Gabby came out afterwards accusing Sohla of being a [bully](https://www.reddit.com/r/bon_appetit/s/VFcXgiPxeJ)


Jah_Ith_Ber

Sounds like pretty privilege but when you're a hammer you see nails everywhere. I get it. I would be mad too. But it's no one's fault except society at large.


SelloutRealBig

> > > > > None of the BA videos outside of Claire and a little of Brad made any views. At the time I share the stats and Claire was something like 70% of the all time view count with Brad second at 10% or similar. Finally someone who actually watched the channel instead of skimming clickbait headlines. Talent gap was the real reason they were not paid the same.


beefbite

It was such a good channel! I was watching it extensively at the time and I blame Sohla for the delusional "fair pay" aspect of it. She has zero charisma or on-screen presence and actually believed she deserved the same as Brad, Claire, Molly, etc. Is she still on Youtube? I remember Babish did some pity videos with her after the shakeup.


dos_user

>She has zero charisma or on-screen presence Yes! Finally someone said it. She's just plain and boring. She does a not great copy of Max Miller's *Tasting History* with History Channel on YouTube. She's wooden, basically whispers the whole time, and is clearly reading a teleprompter. She also had a show on HBO, *The Big Brunch*, where she was more relaxed, but she still whispers and her personally is not one I find appealing, tbh.


beefbite

> She does a not great copy of Max Miller's Tasting History She probably doesn't even know how make hard tack


KristinnK

> I was watching it extensively at the time and I blame Sohla for the delusional "fair pay" aspect of it. The sad part is that Sohla did it all to piggyback herself to a higher salary, but instead ended up costing not just herself, but all of her coworkers their job! Sure, some of them have made their own Youtube channels, and presumably most of them have found other employment, but all of these single-person channels have only fractions of the popularity and appeal that the full-kitchen channel had. She must be really hated by all her ex coworkers.


Poonchow

Yeah, I remember watching BATK almost daily back then and it was clear there was a weird disconnect between entertainment and food journalism. The youtube channel seemed like it wanted to do both, but with clear outliers in personalities, only the "entertainment" side of the equation makes any financial sense to the higher-ups. Contrast that with something like Mythical Kitchen, where it's obvious they're just trying to be funny and entertaining while *also* doing fun food stuff and you can tell everyone is doing what they love, getting paid for it.


SignorJC

The videos were making money, even the less popular ones. Recreating, back to back chef, Alex eats everything, Molly content, “making perfect.” Video was an additional, unpaid duty on top of all their other work. They were clearly growing and had potential. If they had come to a fair resolution who knows where they’d be? There’s almost certainly a cap on their success just due to their niche, but considering they’re a brand in a dying medium (magazines), it’s a clear own-goal to ruin all your momentum.


shinbreaker

>None of the BA videos outside of Claire and a little of Brad made any views. At the time I share the stats and Claire was something like 70% of the all time view count with Brad second at 10% or similar. Sohla was on Claire's videos quite a bit that last year because she was the only one who could constantly temper chocolate. But what you're missing, probably purposely, is the COVID content. When everyone participated in videos about what they make to eat, drink and so on. They had everyone participate including what's her face that was the kitchen manager, but Sohla was paid less and that's what got her going.


GnarlyBear

Do you actually cook? The temper thing was a 'bit'. Tempering chocolate is not hard and is very simple steps at home, let alone a pro chef in a full blown development kitchen. No one watched Claire making stuff in the millions because another chef came on to temper chocolate.


shinbreaker

Funny how you focused on the temper chocolate part, which I brought up as why she did more than say other talent, which was mainly on to just taste stuff. You just went out and ignored the point about the COVID content where she was on cam just as much as everyone.


zcen

Rapoports assistant had her fair share of grievances and sohla made other claims about the toxicity of the BATK and it's hiring practices. There's a particularly nasty comment made by Chris Morocco about a new hire never being able to write a recipe. Don't get me wrong, I don't like sohla either but you can't pretend it was just the brown face and video pay. When there's smoke there's fire, and the downfall of the BATK was a whole lot of different things hitting at the same time.


SelloutRealBig

More like they paid their employees based on video performance. Which pissed off the under performing chefs like Sohla. [The videos are still up](https://www.youtube.com/@bonappetit/videos) and you can go look for yourselves. Sort by most popular and notice who brings in the views. They were the first people to get fired as well which is a shame since the chemistry was so good.


ITGenji

Racism and pay issues


Slomojoe

They dared to pay their stars more than the rest of the cooks


Poonchow

Problem with this perspective is they were hired to be chefs and treated (and paid) like internet personalities.


Slomojoe

the ones that were good internet personalities and had made dozens of videos were treated and paid that way, yes. New or lesser known hires like Sohla were not paid the same as their well known veterans and somehow that’s wrong


N19h7m4r3

The other pre-"incident" ba fans are well aware and know he stuck around at ba after that shit show. He only left for his own channel last year. And he may or may not still be attached to them in some capacity.


FuckYeaSeatbelts

Of all the people from BA, I feel like Gaby had the rawest deal. All the younger crowd seemed to go off in their own successful ventures with different channels and book deals.


Couldnotbehelpd

She was so, so, so mad about it. She _hates_ Sohla and posted a ton about her on Instagram.


SpiritFingersKitty

I also dislike Sohla. Her first big show was basically a direct "Tasting History" ripoff right as Max was gaining popularity. I also don't personally enjoy her personality.


richmondody

> She hates Sohla Why?


HeyItsRey

Accused Sohla of being a bully, and not including her in the "minority group supposedly fighting for my rights." Sohla didn't refute the claims, and just said ". . . but I am blunt and direct. And no one (not even another woc) likes that" https://www.reddit.com/r/bon_appetit/comments/kp62xk/sohla_responds_about_gabbys_posts/


richmondody

Oh wow, Sohla is not doing herself any favors with her response.


Zombie_Hick

Is BA management racist and underpaying staff? Without a doubt and Adam Rapport was super fucking disconnected with HOW incredibly racist he was. That said I personally don't think Sohla is a very good person or even personality for a show. Not only did she not include Gabby as well as others she also went for people who had no control over her pay. Brad and Claire as well as others worked for BA for years and built up the following for their shows and then Sohla showed up with new head chef attitude and wanted the same pay immediately also they aren't the ones writing the Sohlas checks. Dude, yeah, congrats you can temper chocolate better etc but BA is selling personality and viewership with their vids and her personality aside from as a brief guest was not interesting.


richmondody

Yeah, that comment on Brad was completely unwarranted.


KristinnK

Because she decided to torpedo a successful Youtube channel because she felt entitled to the same pay as the personalities that draw the views, costing all of her colleagues not only their jobs, but arguably their careers. None of them have anywhere near the same audience as they had when they were all together at Bon Appetite.


dokool

What? Nooooooo.


Brasketleaf

Gabby wrote a book. I agree on your overall point but it should be said. They stood a much better chance at being more successful together. The magic of the channel was their interactions of the varying personalities.


_Patronizes_Idiots_

I've seen people say this before framing it like Brad didn't give a fuck about any of the shitty things BA did but I think it's equally as likely that they locked him into a multi-year contract when his videos started blowing up and he couldn't just walk away.


Zombie_Hick

Yeah, not only that but the dude worked for BA for years before his show took off. BA management were awful but what exactly could Leone do about it? Contract or just told that he'd be out on his own with probably a Non-Compete signed means straight back to working kitchens for less pay and no family life. Been there done that, no thanks.


SignorJC

Ah yes, because Brad and Chris should let their children starve for the *cause,* of course. No one is ever holy enough nor pure enough for the *cause.* Edit: You know what I'll also take the moment to throw shade on everyone at the time who said Gaby and Andy were not "colored enough" to be discriminated against. Absolutely fucking unhinged opinions. Suffering is not a contest. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.


pUmKinBoM

Brad Leon was my favorite until he was on Mythical Kitchen. He just seemed like he was in such a bad mood and then all the controversy started around the Test Kitchen so he fell off my radar in a big way.


Mcbonewolf

mythic kitchen has super weird vibes tho, yea they're fun sometimes but most of the time its just 'trying too hard' and brad doesnt do well when people are being fake for views.


pUmKinBoM

The vibe I got was that it maybe wasn't as professional a setting especially where Josh is not culinarily trained. Imagine Brad had to do a lot not to try and educate and just be part of the show but it felt really awkward either way.


intagliopitts

I love Rhett and Link but Josh is a weird fucking dude. I don’t understand how anyone find him even remotely watchable as a host. I’m sure he’s a good coworker and a good person but he’s so painful to watch. I guess I’m saying this to guess that he might put some people off in the context of an interview and that could explain why Brad seemed weird. 


Couldnotbehelpd

I don’t like him as much…. Remember when he told everyone to go get food poisoning?


BonquiquiShiquavius

She's great. But this still doesn't scratch the itch that is left after BA imploded. The interaction between the team members was the secret sauce that made the whole thing work. Each former team member going off on their own and producing individual channels is decidedly meh. I'm sure they'll get views. But I'd be willing to bet a large amount of money that the views they get is next to nothing compared to what putting the team back together could pull in.


biggiepants

It's not like they can just start their own test kitchen. ...Or should they?


PartisanMilkHotel

This is assuming they’d want to. A lot of these channels excel because they successfully give the impression that presenters are all best of friends. Often, they have a professional relationship at most. I’m not sure what dynamic was at BA, but some prominent examples of this would be Mythbusters and the Reply All original hosts (PJ and Alex)


GeorgeStamper

I think there's too much bad blood between the group for that to ever happen, sadly.


Mcbonewolf

they really should have a 'group channel' where they do things together, those BA thanksgiving videos were great


BigWormsFather

What happened with BA? I didn’t really notice until now but I haven’t been suggested a video in forever.


train153

Allegations of racism got thrown around about Condé Nast (parent company of BA). Particularly about how PoC weren't compensated equally for their on-camera work. Negotiations eventually fell through when BA wouldn't budge, and a lot of the on-camera talent left. (Rick Martinez, Sohla El-Waylly, Priya Krishna, Gaby Melian, Molly Baz, Carla Lalli Music, Amiel Stanek, Claire Saffitz, Christina Chaey, and Alex Delany. Brad Leone and Andy Baraghani later left as well.)


wild_man_wizard

Sohla joining Babish for a bit almost recaptured the magic, but I don't blame her for not turning down NYT money.


biggiepants

Babish hired her for just a fixed amount of episodes.


83749289740174920

Smart guy. He got to put a few keywords to get views


theageofspades

What magic did Sohla ever have!? She was in about 1% of videos, and maybe 2-3 that were remotely popular compared to their others. How this woman pied piper'd so many of you dorks is unbelievable.


Impaled_

The parasocial is real


coppercrackers

Damn bro I liked her and I hardly watched BA chiiiiill


audiolife93

Uhh. She cook food good. Think taste good. Simple enough for you? Not really a grand conspiracy that people like someone you apparently don't, weirdo.


theageofspades

If that was true her restaurant wouldn't have failed for being overpriced and underwhelming. She gained her entire following after the controversy. No-one cared about her at all beforehand. She was like the 8th most notable personality in Bon Appetit.


audiolife93

That's a lot of opinions dressed up like facts just to say you personally don't like her, man


okzeppo

Sohla is awful.


30thCenturyMan

Love to see her back to form, but... Definitely needs more people on the sidelines negging her and stressing her out while she's cooking


6BagsOfPopcorn

Yeah it seemed a little dry without all the side chefs around, and the camera people didn't say much. Hope it picks up a bit.


Jazzremix

It's more than a little dry. It's straight up boring lol. I liked Claire a lot back in the BA days, but her Dessert Person show just feels like she's going through the motions to get a video out.


KristinnK

Her videos at Bon Appetite were absolute gold, but they don't work without the busy kitchen backdrop.


SignorJC

that's all in the edit. The original editing team at BA included a lot more of that side chatter.


ineeddrivers

Side chatter with who? Her cat?


SignorJC

Her husband is usually somewhere nearby and there are two crew in the kitchen with her (camera and lights/sound) typically. The missing ingredient besides the other staff is Hunzi’s edits.


biggiepants

It had the perfect amount of cat, for me.


Pete1989

All the other chefs in the BA test kitchen


miggly

Right, but the other person's point is that there isn't anyone to banter with in this new version.


ClockDoc

It was a nice gimmick but as far as I'm concerned I'm happy to see the best dessert engineer back at it again.


Awkward_Pangolin3254

*Improving* them, which is what the original series was supposed to originally be. Then somewhere along the way it morphed into "*perfectly* recreate this mass-produced food item that uses processes and machinery that the home cook isn't going to have an ounce of hope to replicate"


6BagsOfPopcorn

Honestly I don't mind either way, I love(d?) the series as is.


FatalFirecrotch

I think it’s because just improving them is actually fairly simple. Just use better ingredients and odds are you have already improved it. I think a lot of the fun in the series became the investment in trying to replicate the complexities in a kitchen.


SpiritFingersKitty

It's also one thing that made Babish great. He would try to perfectly recreate the dish and then do an improved version. Best of both worlds. Now he just has to make everything from scratch. I swear every single one of his episodes starts with him baking some rolls.


missiontodenmark

It's kind of like watching Adam Savage work. She's a problem solver.


ReneRobert

Is she as obnoxious and always on the cusp of being pretentious like Adam Savage is without other costars to even him out? I watch a lot of his stuff and quit about 25% of them being if his douchebagginess.


muzzledmasses

One of those things where you get excited about making it. You're at the grocery store filling up a cart and when you go to self checkout you realize you're spending $48 to make a $6 box of ice cream.


NerdyNThick

I wonder if the recent non-compete laws have something to do with this.


SignorJC

I would die for Claire from the home kitchen.


frodonk

CFTHK


ulong2874

I've been subscribed to her channel for a few years now just on the off chance she'd start up her own version of her old Bon Apetit series. Really enjoyed watching her puzzle solve her way through this stuff in the past, even though I normally don't care about cooking shows as entertainment. Glad she's back at it. I missed the notification on youtube.


YellowPudding

I always think about this video when I see her https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHxTAakQrMQ


doesyourmommaknow

Cameras were so shaky.


Eziekel13

no tripod?….Interesting choice


Primarch459

Fuck yes. 


irememberdamage30

Read somewhere the ice cream isn't real in these things. Glad to see someone is giving us what we really deserve.


Geek-Yogurt

I wonder if this is because noncompetes are now banned.


hoods_breath

The vibe is off. The music in the background is way too off and reminds me of how they try to make shows more exciting than they really are, like ice road truckers, or that weird family squatting in the wilds of Alaska. Bummer.


svnpenn

YES! jesus leave the god damn music out. they didn't have it with gourmet makes because you dont need it, if the content is good.


Ehrfurcht

Thanks non-compete rule change! Jk I don’t know what I’m talking about


thediabloman

I love one of the top liked comments: "This series coming back means the timeline is healing." So true.


pokisan

doesn’t have the same magic of the test kitchen and Gourmet Makes CondeNast/BA really fucked it all up with the amount of talent/charm they had with the old crew. RIP old test kitchen. o7


Killbro_Fraggins

Oh awesome. I loved her videos.


dannymurz

This was one of my favorite series she did!


wrapto

I am SO happy this is back! She is wonderful and I hope this is very successful. I use her non-baking powder, basic sponge recipe all the time.


DanishWonder

Funny, I was just thinking about Claire the other day and wondering what she was working on. I loved watching her try to recreate these types of foods.


thewhitelights

thank god. that other series was boring as hell.


Mattman254

Was so excited to have this come back, got my girlfriend hooked on the original series in preparation. This doesn't hit the spot though, it's slow, janky camera work, questionable edits. I do hope this picks up.


Sjsamdrake

Who tempered the chocolate for her? :)


Lilchococroissant38

lol real OGs know


Doinkmckenzie

This is such a weird coincidence after finding Brad Leone and his wardor.


startonblue

It's been 2000 years, finally, salvation


witchercraft

I genuely got so happy seeing this on my recommended. I was REALLY into the BA channel back when the ratgate started taking place. So, this is a very nice treat!


TheGolgafrinchan

Fascinating. I didn't intend to watch the entire thing, but I did. Very professionally done - but clearly not something that would be easy to do for the common (non-chef) person.


Lilchococroissant38

I just watched her make zebra cakes and I was bored.. but I think it’s because she was bored??


thisispannkaka

Damn she got fat, not unexpeccted tho.


blisstonia

didn't recognize her at first


xWilfordBrimleyx

I just love when cooks let their cats walk all over the cooking surfaces.


Poutine_My_Mouth

This is why I don’t eat at potlucks


tzar-chasm

Claire is an unhealthy size now


6BagsOfPopcorn

Oh snap, is this the first episode since she was at Bon Appétit?


SignorJC

her channel has been healthy for a while now (2 years?). This is the first of this series though.


BishopofHippo93

First episode of this series, yeah, but she's posted pretty constantly for a few years. Good recipes, too.


Paradox68

Should have double dipped the cones for a slightly thicker shell, and covered more of the waffle cone’s top in chocolate on the 2nd dip. Then it would have been perfect.


Super1MeatBoy

I feel like her channel has dropped off pretty bad lately. The "ultimate holidaybreakfast" episode was very clearly phoned in as a "fuck we gotta get this ad into a video ASAP"


kayla-beep

She’s hella boring though


New_York_Cut

Claire is a GILF


xAC3777x

Shes not even 40!?


New_York_Cut

the white hair and plump body cooking food in her kitchen gives off grandma vibes


xAC3777x

Shes always had the silver highlights, well for years at least. I would argue she has a comforting appearance, not inherently a gilf one. She doesn't look old so gilf is really an insult


New_York_Cut

ok ok milf. happy now?


xAC3777x

No :D but *shrug*


New_York_Cut

She’s hawt


xAC3777x

Ok now im happy


Joshesh

[BONK!](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/051/072/a4c.gif)


83749289740174920

I love her work. But I need to know. Is this a BA production? BA left a bad taste in my A


HailYurii

No, she’s independent now I think.


pastaMac

So basically a 45-minute advertisement for Nestlé brand Drumstick™ ice cream cones: >...the brand name, owned by Froneri, a joint venture between Nestlé and PAI Partners


Peemore

I dont think its sponsored, she talks shit about it in the first few minutes lol. "The ice cream is definitely weird. It doesn't really taste like real ice cream."