In collaboration with Buzzfeed, the producers of the increasingly popular “Tasty” videos (featured on Facebook) are working on a new project. The new series, wittily entitled “Nasty,” attempts to create new recipes and tutorials that acknowledge the limited culinary resources of the college student.
Leaving the nest and entering an environment comprised of people in their late teens and early twenties can be traumatic in many ways. However, the largest transition for many new college students is going from home-cooked meals to cafeteria food. Food, especially food of high quality or even just in large quantities, is seen as a commodity. There is almost a feeling of scarcity present, with students flocking to campus events that promise slices of pizza or carefully hoarding food in sealed bins and small refrigerators. People begin to push their own boundaries in what they will put into their mouths, cheerfully justifying consuming expired yogurt or applesauce. Even the E. coli scare at Chipotle was not enough to deter the appetites of the students. Apparently, “Everything is fine as long as you don’t eat the carnitas.”
The “Nasty” video project’s goal is to provide college students with quick and easy tutorials using ingredients readily available and relatively cheap. In this way, students can recreate a homey feel for themselves without breaking the bank. The videos also allow for limited access to kitchens as well as kitchen utensils, often only requiring a microwave or a toaster. Some of the upcoming videos include a lasagna made out of ramen noodles and spray cheese, Bacio’s leftover pizza roll poppers, buffalo chicken-flavored pinwheels and a gummy candy fruit salad.
The Misc was granted a full-access, behind the scenes tour of the “Nasty” studio kitchen to see what all the hype was about. Unlike the cheerfully lit and colorful aesthetic that all avid viewers of the “Tasty” videos know and love, the “Nasty” kitchen seemed dingy, and maybe even a bit hazardous to the health. The only appliances were a defrosted refrigerator, a toaster and a microwave encrusted in splatters of food. The only utensils present were a small bowl, a mug and two forks. When asked about the rather sparse kitchen arrangement, and, furthermore, how the chefs planned to cook without any utensils, the producers explained that they used to have a fully stocked kitchen, but the appliances broke down and the utensils were all stolen. However, “You can do a lot with a fork and some tin foil. You just have to get creative!”
Notes for this article end here, as the reporter noticed a roach the size of a small rodent crawling up the wall and fled screaming as the producers captured it and flushed it down the nearest toilet. It took two flushes.
Inspired from the trip to the studios, members of the Misc’s staff decided to attempt a few of the recipes featured in the “Nasty” videos. Someone had some leftover pizza, so the they gave the “pizza pinwheels” a spin.
40 minutes into the pizza pinwheels experience, which translates the first 0.2 seconds of the video, Ed board realized that if they had really wanted to do this, they would have gone to the Culinary Institute. At press time, the editors were found devouring stale vending machine Nildas while idly watching “Tasty” videos.