Awesome Food

Craving a burger? Satisfy your visual appetite with this impressive stop-motion animation by tomosteen. Using nothing but colorful LEGO bricks, he painstakingly assembled a juicy cheeseburger – with fries and a Coke. The smooth animation, detailed construction, and playful presentation make this plastic creation look (almost) good enough to eat.

TED-Ed’s Stephanie Honchell dives into the bizarre origin of Graham crackers, created in the 1800s by minister Sylvester Graham, to curb Americans’ sinful urges. Believing that bland, whole-grain foods could temper lust and promote moral purity, Graham and other reformers promoted a strict diet as a path to salvation. Animation by Anton Bogaty.

Trader Joe’s shoppers know they have some great cheeses. In this video from Epicurious and cheese expert Liz Thorpe tries every TJ’s cheese she could get her hands on. She weighs in on 40 different cheeses, from snack staples like Unexpected Cheddar to funky faves like Blue Stilton, and oddballs like Sweetheart White Stilton with chocolate and caramel.

Oh yes, cheese please. Every month, Jasper Hill Farm curates some of its best cheeses in limited-quantity gourmet gift mailers for Cheese Club members. We got lucky and have been savoring June’s 8-piece collection featuring two wheels of Special Edition Harbison Mini, washed down with amazing Sandeman Ruby Port — the first collaboration of its kind.

Got a minor but oddly impressive skill? This person certainly does, and it’s oddly satisfying to watch. Using nothing but chopsticks and incredible patience, they meticulously separate individual black and white grains of rice. It’s the kind of thing that would leave most of us cross-eyed in seconds. Original video by Douyin user 43444719487.

Graphic and product designer Tsujio Ippei from TOAL inc. created this playful wrapping paper that makes every gift look like a loaf of bread. A book becomes a split-top white bread. A can of tennis balls becomes a french loaf, and a bike helmet becomes a sourdough boule. Currently a concept, but they’re planning to put the gift wrap into production soon.

The best chefs know how to combine ingredients in brilliant and unexpected ways. The Art and Science of Foodpairing offers a systematic approach to pairing flavors and aromas to help create perfectly balanced dishes. With in-depth details on 150 key ingredients and roughly 10,000 food combinations, it’s a fantastic source for creative inspiration.

Pastry artist Amaury Guichon bowls a perfect 300 game with his latest chocolate creation. His edible bowling alley is accurate, from its pins to the branded bowling ball and the amazing wood-grain alley floor. We loved watching him carve the pins on a lathe and then making them shine like the real deal.

No dessert encourages you to play with your food more than Jell-O. But where did this colorful and jiggly treat come from? Weird History Food offers the story of gelatin-based desserts and their occasional forays into strange savory dishes. Thanks to its soft consistency, it’s one of the few foods that follows us from the cradle to the grave.

Giada de Laurentiis’ exclusive 14”-tall, 1.5 lbs. hollow dark chocolate easter egg is a true standout. Crack it open for a surprise handful of creamy chocolate-hazelnut gianduja bites. Giadzy’s chocolates are made by a seventh-generation chocolatier in Asti in Northern Italy — a region known as the chocolate capital of Italy.

When stacked, this set of six small plates looks like a shiny ceramic cheeseburger. The colorful plates are great for serving up small snacks, side dishes, dips, or condiments. Fix some real burgers and load them up with ketchup, mustard, mayo, pickles, relish, and chopped onions (if you’re into that sort of thing.)

Most of the foods we eat come from grocery stores or restaurants, and we know they’re safe to eat. The poopie show explores eight forbidden foods that may not kill you, but that you probably should still avoid. Other than banana peels, don’t try eating any of the things in this video, especially not a beehive full of bees.

Ever wonder how food factories can crank out so many burritos? Well, they use a machine like this one. Watch as the Solbern BF2 SS uses its rolling, spinning plates to transport tortillas down the assembly line while gently folding their sides to wrap around ingredients. Is anyone else hungry for Mexican food now?

Real raspberries come in shades of red, black, yellow, or purple. But the food industry decided that wasn’t enough and invented its own fake flavor, blue raspberry. Weird History Food looks into the origins of this sugary, synthetic concoction which doesn’t appear to be based on anything occurring in nature.

This short film by Luis takes us to Paris to find the five best croissants in the famed French city. But it’s not just the flaky and buttery pastries that make it so entertaining. It’s Luis’ deadpan food reviews amid a typically Parisian protest. He also went searching for pizza during another chaotic scene in Naples, Italy.

Soy sauce is made from soybeans, wheat, salt, and water. Food Kingdom visited a Korean factory that makes a more complex condiment. There, they combine 15 ingredients, including vinegar, pears, mushrooms, kelp, garlic, and pepper. After cooking and straining, the liquid sits in urns and is finished with more fruit, sugar, and wine. Strangely, we saw no soybeans.