![\"Image](\"https:\/\/img.buzzfeed.com\/buzzfeed-static\/static\/2018-11\/26\/13\/asset\/buzzfeed-prod-web-03\/sub-buzz-21248-1543258799-1.jpg?downsize=700%3A%2A&output-quality=auto&output-format=auto&output-quality=auto&output-format=auto&downsize=360:*\")
<\/p>\nWhen homework threatens fiercely on the horizon, when the grey sky oppresses even your greatest ambitions, when you are feeling as if there is everything to do but want to do nothing: this is when you turn to Bon App\u00e9tit. Though its magazine has been in publication since 1956, Bon App\u00e9tit has seen increasing success in an entirely different medium. Rather than staying stolidly in print, the publication has expanded to the Internet space, creating a popular YouTube channel with vibrant personalities and truly delightful videos. What makes Bon App\u00e9tit most fascinating is how it has leveraged past mistakes and tactics to form something altogether new. In watching their videos, I am often reminded of where others have failed to adapt. Food Network, for instance, now increasingly favors format over personality. Robbed of charismatic presences, such as Emeril Lagasse, the cable channel has relied on competition shows, which lack vibrancy, even as they invent progressively more ridiculous tasks for assorted chefs to accomplish. Watching cooks running around a grocery store to shop for various jars of pickles can provide only a limited entertainment. Adding Guy Fieri as a vestigial commentator just seems excessive. His sole contributions are a few stale quips and a bottlebrush of bleached blond hair. And who wants staleness from a cooking show?<\/p>\n
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The failure of their competitors puts Bon App\u00e9tit\u2019s vivid resurrection in an even starker contrast. While their adversaries are barely breaking into the conversation, Bon App\u00e9tit\u2019s videos regularly gain millions of views and have a genial cross-audience appeal. The Internet\u2019s endless expanse has allowed them to reach a seeming endless number of admirers, all hungry to watch. It is genuinely impressive to watch a reinvention take place in real time. For, the online space also allows for a more flexible creativity. Often, I will read comments on their videos, only to see the requests of those commenters granted a few days later. The solicitation and eager acknowledgment of audience input is something entirely unique to the YouTube experience. There is a sincere respect for the viewers\u2019 taste. There is an even more candid desire to fulfill their suggestions. It is not that Bon App\u00e9tit is the only channel on YouTube asking for audience advice. Indeed, it is almost a trope for YouTubers to fervently ask for subscribers\u2019 commentary. Perhaps it feels so startling because Bon App\u00e9tit seems to be the first established company to truly conform to the changing times and recognize its advantages. Even better, their recognition of such trends has resulted in videos that are truly unique, blending the professionalism of a real test kitchen with the aspiring enthusiasm of viewers around the world. For those just discovering their channel, I would recommend the Gourmet Makes series, where in-house pastry chef, Claire Saffitz, attempts to recreate popular sweets. The ascent of channels such as Bon App\u00e9tit has made me realize that entertainment yesterday might be easily forgotten tomorrow. However, it is equally exciting to think of the new varieties of entertainment still to be discovered; mediums still unanticipated. The reinvention of Bon App\u00e9tit reassures me, though, that even these rapid transformations can result in something deliciously delightful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When homework threatens fiercely on the horizon, when the grey sky oppresses even your greatest ambitions, when you are feeling as if there is everything to do but want to do nothing: this is when you turn to Bon App\u00e9tit. Though its magazine has been in publication since 1956, Bon App\u00e9tit has seen increasing success […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2183,"featured_media":11534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11414"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2183"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11414"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11536,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11414\/revisions\/11536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}