Average Betty

Last updated

Average Betty is a short-format, food entertainment web series written, produced, and performed by Sara O'Donnell. The web series debuted on iTunes in August 2006 as an innovative blend of cooking and campy comedy sketches. The unique format caused some people to question if Average Betty was even a cooking show at all. [1] The show attracted millions of viewers and it received accolades from both new and traditional media, including Fox News, Yahoo!, and the food editors at the Los Angeles Times, and The Tampa Tribune. [2] [3]

Contents

The Food Editor at The Tampa Tribune, published a full-page article featuring sixteen color photos, "Bye-Bye, Betty Crocker Hello Average Betty," in the Flavor Section. [4] A preview of the article, "Betty Has A Recipe For Web Success", made the front page of The Tampa Tribune. [5] In October 2007 Average Betty made the Los Angeles KTTV-Fox 11 10 o’clock news in a story called Average Betty Heating up the Internet! [6] In November 2007, Average Betty again made the Fox 10 o’clock news, this time in her hometown of Tampa Bay, Florida. [7] In December, 2007, iTunes named Average Betty a "Best of 2007 Podcast".

The show has evolved beyond its campy comedy sketch origins. It now includes creative recipes, cooking demonstrations, and interviews with celebrity chefs, such as Michael Chiarello, Ming Tsai, and Stephanie Izard. [8] Adam Gropman, of LA Weekly, describes O'Donnell as "an Internet phenomenon, a self-created culinary personality finding an audience without the benefit of a book deal, magazines or a TV show."

In 2011, O'Donnell became one of 16 YouTube cooking channels selected for the first class of YouTube Next Chefs, which included $10,000 of grant money, $5,000 of equipment, and expert tutoring from Google/YouTube. [9] The program is intended to focus attention on up-and-coming food vloggers. AverageBetty's web traffic increased significantly as a result, averaging 75,000 to 100,000 monthly views on YouTube. [10]

Awards and accolades

Related Research Articles

Tex-Mex Cuisine in America

Tex-Mex cuisine is an American cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the Tejano people of Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern United States to the rest of the country.

Cooking show Television genre that presents food preparation

A cooking show, cookery show, or cooking program is a television genre that presents food preparation, often in a restaurant kitchen or on a studio set, or at the host's personal home. Typically the show's host, often a celebrity chef, prepares one or more dishes over the course of an episode, taking the viewing audience through the food's inspiration, preparation, and stages of cooking. Due to time and production constraints, most, if not all, cooking shows employ filming shortcuts such as video editing, food modeling and photography, and prepared ingredients to speed up the cooking process and ensure a smooth and seamless production.

Betty Crocker Brand and fictional character

Betty Crocker is a brand and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes. The character was originally created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921 following a contest in the Saturday Evening Post. In 1954, General Mills, an American Fortune 500 corporation, branded the red spoon logo, giving various food-related merchandise the Betty Seal of Approval. A portrait of Betty Crocker, first commissioned in 1936 and revised several times since, appears on printed advertisements and product packaging. On television and radio broadcasts, Betty Crocker was portrayed by several actresses, on radio by Marjorie Husted for twenty years, and on television by Adelaide Hawley Cumming between 1949 and 1964.

Curtis Stone Australian chef, author and television personality

Curtis Travis Stone is an Australian celebrity chef, author and television personality. Stone has been the fresh food and recipes ambassador for Coles Supermarkets in Australia since 2010.

KCOP-TV Television station in California, United States

KCOP-TV is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet KTTV. Both stations share studios at the Fox Television Center in West Los Angeles, while KCOP-TV's transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

Robert Earl Deen is an American television chef, TV personality, and restaurant manager.

Chris Cosentino

Chris Cosentino is an American celebrity chef and reality television personality known as the winner of Top Chef Masters, a competitor on The Next Iron Chef and for his appearances on Iron Chef America. He is known for his haute cuisine offal dishes, and was chef-partner at Incanto in San Francisco. Forbes Traveler called Incanto "perhaps America’s most adventurous nose-to-tail restaurant … On offer are lamb’s necks, pig trotters and a five-course nose-to-tail tasting menu perhaps including venison kidneys and chocolate-blood panna cotta." Incanto closed on March 24, 2014. In December 2014, he opened Cockscomb, a restaurant centered around his updated interpretations of classic San Francisco dishes.

Chef at Home is a Canadian cooking reality TV show presented by professionally trained chef Michael Smith. Produced by Ocean Entertainment, it debuted October 5, 2004 on Food Network Canada and in the United States was aired on ION Life until September 17, 2015.

<i>Betty Crocker Cookbook</i> Cookbook by General Mills

The Betty Crocker Cookbook is a cookbook written by staff at General Mills, the holders of the Betty Crocker trademark. The persona of Betty Crocker was invented by the Washburn-Crosby Company as a feminine "face" for the company's public relations. Early editions of the cookbook were ostensibly written by the character herself.

Ludovic Lefebvre is a French chef, restaurateur, pop-up impresario, author, and television personality. He trained with the great masters in France for 12 years before moving to Los Angeles. He was quickly awarded the prestigious Mobil Travel Guide Five Star Award at two different restaurants, L'Orangerie in 1999 and 2000 and Bastide in 2006. He then went on to create LudoBites, a multi-city restaurant tour, followed by opening two restaurants in Los Angeles, Trois Mec and Petit Trois. LA Weekly named Trois Mec Best New Restaurant Los Angeles in 2013, Los Angeles' Best Restaurant in 2014 and 2016, and named Ludo Best Chef 2015.

The Best Thing I Ever Ate is a television series that originally aired on Food Network, debuting on June 22, 2009.

Fabio Viviani is a chef, restaurateur, and cook book writer who has appeared on reality television. He also sells a range of wines. In 2005 he moved from Florence to Southern California. In 2008 he appeared on the reality television competition series Top Chef, where he was voted the "fan favorite"; since then he has had a second career as a television host, on-air personality and product pitchman.

Nadia G Canadian chef

Nadia Giosia, known professionally as Nadia G, is a Canadian celebrity chef, comedian, and punk rock singer. She is known for hosting the television shows Nadia G's Bitchin' Kitchen and Bite This with Nadia G, both of which aired on Food Network Canada and Cooking Channel. Giosia also launched a feminist rock, comedy, and food festival in Los Angeles in 2015 called Riot Grill and plays in punk rock band called The Menstruators. Giosia lives in Los Angeles, California.

Jeffrey Saad is an American chef, author, restaurant owner, television personality, and real estate broker from Chicago, Illinois. He is currently the host of United Tastes of America on the Cooking Channel and Estate Director with Compass in Beverly Hills.

Carol Kicinski

Carol Kicinski is a gluten-free advocate, TV chef, magazine founder and editor-in-chief, gluten-free recipe developer, cookbook author, food writer. She is the founder of Simply Gluten Free Omnimedia, Inc. Kicinski is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Simply Gluten Free magazine. She presents monthly episodes as a gluten-free TV chef on Daytime, a nationally syndicated morning television show produced by NBC-based WFLA-Tampa Bay. She has been gluten-free for more than 20 years. In 2018, Kicinski launched a gluten-free mineral make-up line, Beauté Minerals.

Bacon cake is a dish made with bacon, either savory or sweet, and generally baked in an oven, although it's sometimes cooked in a skillet on a range top.

Recipe Rehab is an American cooking competition television program that originally debuted as a short-form web series on YouTube on April 2, 2012, and subsequently became a half-hour television series on October 6, 2012 as part of the ABC station-primarily syndicated Litton's Weekend Adventure block. As such, it was the first web series produced as a YouTube original program to become a weekly network television series. Since September 28, 2013, Recipe Rehab has aired on CBS as part of Litton's CBS Dream Team Saturday morning block; first-run episodes continued to air until July 25, 2015, with reruns airing until September 26. The television program is designed to meet educational programming requirements defined by the Federal Communications Commission.

Baking mix Dry foodstuff used in baking

A baking mix is a mixed formulation of ingredients used for the cooking of baked goods. Baking mixes may be commercially manufactured or homemade. Baking mixes that cater to particular dietary needs, such as vegan, gluten-free, or kosher baking mixes, can be bought in many places.

<i>Cooking with Dog</i> Television series

Cooking with Dog is a Japanese cooking show web series. It premiered on YouTube on September 9, 2007. The show features a Japanese woman known only as "Chef" who prepares the featured dish of the episode while her toy poodle Francis narrates the process. While Chef speaks in Japanese, Francis narrates the episodes in English, a decision designed to expand the show's audience. Though initially focusing on Japanese cuisine, the show later expanded to include cuisine from other regions. New episodes were uploaded each Friday, before switching to a different release structure in early 2017. Despite the show's popularity and public appearances by Chef, the identities of both Chef and the show's producer are intentionally undisclosed out of privacy concerns.

Josef Centeno is an American chef, restaurateur and cookbook author who specializes in Tex-Mex cuisine. He was nominated for a James Beard award for Best Chef in February 2020.

References

  1. ↑ "Average Betty Pushes the Cooking Show". Archived from the original on 2008-09-30. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
  2. ↑ "Tubemogul Rich Analytics for Average Betty".
  3. ↑ "Average Betty". 12 September 2007.
  4. ↑ "Bye-Bye, Betty Crocker Hello Average Betty". 2007-09-05. Archived from the original on December 14, 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  5. ↑ "From Betty Crocker to Average Betty". 2007-09-05. Archived from the original on December 14, 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  6. ↑ FOX. "FOX 11 - Los Angeles News - foxla.com". KTTV.
  7. ↑ FOX. "Tampa Bay news, weather forecast, radar, and sports from WTVT-TV - FOX 13 News - FOX 13 Tampa Bay". FOX13news.
  8. ↑ "Average Betty Reinvents the Celebrity Chef Interview in Aspen". 2009-06-29. Archived from the original on 2013-01-23. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  9. ↑ Lynch, Rene (2012-02-02). "YouTube sees food videos as recipe for success". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
  10. ↑ "Sara O'Donnell and the Making of "Average Betty"". blogs.laweekly.com/. 2012-04-13. Retrieved 2012-04-13.
  11. ↑ "Yahoo". Yahoo.
  12. ↑ "TASTE AWARD Winners Announced in Hollywood at Food and Fashion TV, Film & Web Celebration". 2012-01-16. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.