There are times in life when, through drunkenness or desperation, we resort to eating food that we know deep down barely constitutes something we should put in our bodies. Whether its that suss 3am burger or the gluggy microwave meal you chipped out of the ice at the back of your freezer, sometimes the need to indulge in the type of cuisine that would make Heston Blumenthal cringe overrides your dietary sensibilities. What you may not have known is there are people who make a living out of what most of us experience as merely a moment of weakness.
While I’d be too scared to eat microwave meals nearly every day out of fear of the inevitable stomach tumours, Freezerburns host Gregory Ng has bravely endured the Supermarket frozen food section for five years to deliver unto us the message that manufactured food tastes okay sometimes.
Gregory’s YouTube channel has evolved from a 40 second a day show to a high production value presentation of a wide range of frozen goods but it appears the last straw has finally thawed. Gregory’s usually sardonic and analytical presentation style melted away on his most recent video, giving way to actual concern over what we choose to feed our children.
His latest review, a Kid Cuisine How To Train Your Dragon chicken nugget meal tie-in, came with a shorter follow-up video in which he went full Jamie Oliver and expressed his opinion of the instant food industry. “That is basically breading with a hint of chicken on the inside.” he says to the camera. “What are we doing people?… we’re feeding this to our kids? This is disgusting. I don’t care if it’s two bucks… I don’t recognise half of these ingredients. This is horrible. I can’t do this anymore.” He announces before walking off camera and muttering “Get this mic off me, I’m done.”
It’s very easy to quickly write this off as an easy stunt to garner attention for his show or to earn some more of that sweet, sweet advertising revenue, but a blurb beneath the video suggests otherwise:
“FreezerBurns was a video food review show on a mission to deliver you real in-depth frozen food reviews, snack food reviews, and restaurant reviews. Gregory Ng was the Frozen Food Master and acts as frozen food chef, critic, and guinea pig.” it says, changing the usual episode text to past tense for the first time.
So where does Gregory go from here? YouTube frozen food critic, as exclusive an industry as it is, probably isn’t prime resumé fodder. Still, it beats eating a cactus on camera. Good luck, Greg.
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