In South Asia, several villages and communities have YouTube or Facebook channels and actively participate in their success. Through traditional cooking classes, the villagers show their culture and their daily life to the whole world. An activity that explodes the vantage points on the platforms and raises enough money to fund the village’s needs. These once isolated ‘YouTube Villages’ show their faces to the world.
They cook for the whole village, that is, for almost 400 people. In this video, fifteen women cut off mackerel heads, dip the fish in boiling oil, prepare a curry sauce, which they then serve to the entire village. This is how you make curry mackerel in Bengali style. This is the latest video from the AroundMeBD youtube channel, released a few days ago and featuring many such vlogs. A virtual dive into the traditional cuisine of Shimulia in Bangladesh.
Founded in 2016 by internet cafe owner Liton Ali Khan, the channel highlights village cooks and chefs, who show in front of the camera the different ways to cut giant fish, show how to cook beef or present the village’s favorite dish: beef. with curry entrails. If the content is simple and affordable cooking classes, this channel reveals the daily life of this community living in western Bangladesh.
Viewed approximately 1.3 billion times, videos quickly became an economic model in their own right. “All villagers, regardless of their financial situation, creed and religion, can come and eat here [préparée pour les vidéos]†said Delwar Hussain, director of the channel’s videos, in the magazine Rest of the world.
If the meals prepared for the videos make it possible to feed part of the village, the revenue generated by the billions of cumulative views will be used to develop and support the village.
The AroundMeBD chain employs about fifty people in the village, including 17 women. They are all trained on-the-job to become cameramen, editors or program director. As the chain grew, the company installed children’s games and repaired damaged homes. It even covers the medical costs of working villagers.
“Youtube Village”: trend in South Asia
In South Asia, the “Youtube Village”, as Shimulia is called, is a growing trend. “As the internet reaches villages, rural communities are finding ways to showcase their unique food cultures and monetize audiences around the world, using platforms such as YouTube and Facebook”explains Rest of the world.
According to the media, culinary channels are also successful in India and Pakistan, while in Indonesia a mechanic named Siswanto reaches 2 million subscribers to his channel, according to France 24†
(ETX Daily Up)