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Andrew Rea

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Andrew Rea
Born
Andrew Douglas Rea

(1987-09-02) September 2, 1987 (age 37)[1]
Mendon, New York
NationalityAmerican
Other namesBabish
Alma materHofstra University
Occupation(s)YouTuber, cook, author
Years active2016–present
Known forBinging with Babish
Websitebingingwithbabish.com

Andrew Douglas Rea (born September 2, 1987; /reɪ/ RAY), also known by the pseudonym Babish, is an American YouTuber, cook, and author. He is best known for founding the YouTube channel Babish Culinary Universe and for creating and presenting its shows Binging with Babish and Basics with Babish. Rea has authored three cookbooks based on the series and has appeared as a guest in several other programs.

Early life

Rea was born September 2, 1987, in Mendon, New York, to parents Annie and Douglas Rea, and raised in Rochester, New York. He has an older brother, David, who appeared in Being With Babish. His nephew, Christopher, made an appearance in one of his videos portraying a younger version of himself. He is of Italian, Jewish, Polish, and Welsh descent. Rea's mother, who died when he was 11, taught him how to cook from a young age, including stew and cookies.[2] As a teen, he began cooking again, and would make stews to "feel closer to her."[3] In 2009, Rea graduated with a BA in Film Studies from Hofstra University,[4] and later worked as a visual effects artist for SwitchFX Inc.[5][6]

Career

Rea's oldest friend is middle school teacher Rashid Duroseau. Together, they created a documentary titled "Water-Proof" about restoring New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.[7]

Rea created the Binging with Babish YouTube channel on August 21, 2006[8] with the name inspired by The West Wing character Oliver Babish.[9] Three videos unrelated to Binging with Babish were uploaded to the account, two in 2007 and one in 2010.

In 2016, Rea was depressed and living with a friend in Queens, New York.[3] He decided to purchase $4000 of camera equipment with the intent of beginning to film again, but the kitchen was the only room large enough to film in the small apartment.[3] Rea filmed himself making a smoothie, and the tripod's placement cut off his face—which went on to be his signature filming style.[3] He began contemplating creating an online cooking show.[3] The first episode of Binging with Babish aired on February 10, 2016, inspired by an episode of Parks and Recreation that featured a burger cook-off.[3][10] Once his channel hit 1 million subscribers, he asked his good friend Sawyer Carter Jacobs (an attorney formerly employed for Condé Nast) to become his business partner.[3]

Rea noticed that a portion of his audience only cared about the cooking, independent of the themed content, as well as the fact that 80% of his audience were males between the ages of 18 and 35.[3] On October 11, 2017, he uploaded the first episode of Basics With Babish, a new series dedicated to basic recipes aimed at amateur home chefs.[11] As people cooked at home more during the COVID-19 pandemic and sought out more cooking content online, Rea's subscriber count increased from 5 million to 8 million in a few months.[3] In response to the increased viewership, Rea increased his weekly output from one-and-a-half to two videos a week, sometimes working as many 90 hours a week. He maintained that schedule for a year-and-a-half, until he suffered from burnout. As his viewership slowed, despite his determination to reach 10 million subscribers, he fell into a depression. His viewers noticed, leaving comments to that effect on his videos, and his fiancé, Jess Opon, along with his business partner staged an intervention, encouraging him to work more realistic hours and stop "obsessing" over his engagement numbers.[3] Heeding their advice, he returned to a one-video-a-week schedule, and began the Babish Culinary Universe, inviting other collaborators to work on the channel, including Sohla El-Waylly, Alvin Zhou, Kendall Beach and Rick Martinez.[3]

Rea has published two cookbooks based upon Binging With Babish. Eat What You Watch, published in 2017 by Dovetail Communications, contains recipes from the show's first season.[12] Binging with Babish, published in 2019 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, includes 100 recipes from various seasons of the show and a foreword by Jon Favreau, of whom Rea is a fan.[13] The book was a New York Times Best Seller.[13] A third cookbook with recipes from the Basics with Babish series was published by Simon & Schuster in October 2023.[14]

In 2021, Rea announced on an episode of Binging With Babish that he would be launching a cookware line. Intended to be a "high quality line of products with a price point palatable for everyday chefs", the line includes Babish-branded knives, bowls, measuring spoons, and other basic kitchen tools.[15]

Personal life

In 2014, Rea married his high school sweetheart; however, they divorced in 2017.[16][4] Rea announced his engagement with Babish Culinary Universe producer Jess Opon in an Instagram post on May 13, 2021.[17] The two were married in Binging with Babish episode 9 Million Subscriber Special by comedian and Universal Life Church-ordained minister Joel McHale.[18] In an October 2023 Reddit post, Rea confirmed that he and Jess Opon had split up in the summer of 2022.[19]

Filmography

Online

Year Title Role Notes
2016–present Binging With Babish Presenter Also creator
2017–present Basics With Babish Presenter Also creator
2017–2018 Sean in the Wild Self – guest 3 episodes
2018–2019 The Burger Show Self – guest 4 episodes
2018 Good Mythical Morning Self – guest 1 episode
2018 It's Alive! Self 2 episodes
2019–present Being With Babish Self Also creator
2019 Hot Ones Self – guest 1 episode
2019 Youtubers React Self 3 episodes
2019 You Suck at Cooking Self 1 episode
2020 Stump Sohla Self 10 episodes
2020 Build Self – Guest 1 episode
2023 The Adam Friedland Show Self – Guest 1 episode
2023 Mythical Kitchen Self - Guest 1 episode

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2017 The List Self – guest 1 episode
2019 The Chef Show Self 2 episodes
2019 Rachael Ray Self 1 episode
2019 CBS This Morning[20] Self 1 episode
2020 Live with Kelly and Ryan Self – guest 1 episode
2021 The Kelly Clarkson Show[21] Self – guest 1 episode
2023 The Adam Friedland Show Self - guest 1 episode

Bibliography

  • Eat What You Watch: A Cookbook for Movie Lovers (2017) ISBN 978-0998739953
  • Binging with Babish: 100 Recipes Recreated from Your Favorite Movies and TV Shows (2019) ISBN 978-1328589897
  • Basics with Babish: Recipes for Screwing Up, Trying Again, and Hitting It Out of the Park (2023) ISBN 978-1982167530

References

  1. ^ Andrew Rea (October 27, 2017). Livestream #1 | Basics with Babish (video). New York: Binging with Babish – via YouTube. I'm a Virgo, I'm not a Libra. September 2nd.
  2. ^ Weiss, Josh (October 21, 2019). "'Binging With Babish' Creator Dishes On New Cookbook, Chilling With Jon Favreau, And Our Fascination With Food In Media". Forbes. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k McGurk, Stuart (May 1, 2022). "Andrew Rea: the YouTube chef cooking up a storm". the Guardian. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Sommers, Michael (December 3, 2020). "The Untold Truth Of Andrew Rea". Mashed.com. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  5. ^ Shaffer, Claire (June 21, 2017). ""Binging with Babish" Faithfully Recreates TV and Film Recipes for an Online Audience". Newsweek. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  6. ^ Andrew Rea (September 18, 2018). Binging with Babish: Banana Pudding Pizza from Doug (video). New York: Binging with Babish – via YouTube.
  7. ^ Andrew Rea (April 26, 2019). Surprising Rashid | Being with Babish (video). Babish Culinary Universe. Retrieved July 6, 2021 – via Youtube.
  8. ^ Rea, Andrew. Babish Culinary Universe (video). New York City: YouTube.
  9. ^ Fuhrmeister, Chris (May 5, 2017). "'Binging With Babish' Turns Dishes From TV Shows Into Real Food". Eater.com. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  10. ^ Rea, Andrew (February 10, 2016). Binging with Babish: Parks & Rec Burger Cookoff (video). YouTube.
  11. ^ "INTRODUCTION/TOOLS". Basics With Babish. Binge Entertainment, LLC. October 11, 2017. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  12. ^ Rea, Andrew (2017). Eat what you watch : a cookbook for movie lovers. Brooklyn, New York: Dovetail. ISBN 978-0998739953.
  13. ^ a b Rea, Andrew (2019). Binging with Babish : 100 recipes recreated from your favorite movies and TV shows. New York City: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-1328589897.
  14. ^ Rea, Andrew (2023). Basics with Babish: Recipes for Screwing Up, Trying Again, and Hitting It Out of the Park. Brooklyn, New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1982167530.
  15. ^ "Babish Cookware". Binging With Babish. Binge Entertainment, LLC. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  16. ^ Binging with Babish Answers the Web's Most Searched Questions. YouTube. WIRED. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  17. ^ @bingingwithbabish (May 13, 2021). "Big day yesterday!". Archived from the original on December 26, 2021 – via Instagram.
  18. ^ Binging with Babish 9 Million Subscriber Special: Kettle Corn from Community (feat. Joel McHale). YouTube. Babish Culinary universe. June 1, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  19. ^ Rea, Andrew. "I want to open up about some things". Reddit. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  20. ^ "Binging with Babish": How to recreate famous dishes from movies, TV, retrieved January 4, 2022
  21. ^ "How To Make 'Game Of Thrones' Lemon Cakes With Andrew Rea Of 'Binging With Babish'". The Kelly Clarkson Show. Season 2. January 6, 2021. NBC.
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