UPDATED 11:16 EDT / MARCH 15 2016

NEWS

Twitch kicks off new Food category with Julia Child marathon

When Twitch launched its Creative livestreaming category by airing a week-long marathon of The Joy of Painting, the livestreaming platform likely had no idea how incredibly successful it would be, but now Twitch looks like it is trying to recapture that magic by kicking of a new Food subcategory with a marathon of Julia Child’s The French Chef.

“As the original TV chef, Julia Child laid the groundwork for all food show hosts today,” Noreen McInnis, Product Marketing Manager at Twitch, wrote in a blog post. “By inviting viewers into her home and addressing them with a friendly and forgiving attitude, she inspired generations of cooks to take risks in the kitchen.”

“Just like Twitch Favorite, Bob Ross, Julia Child wasn’t afraid of ‘happy little accidents’, famously telling her fans, ‘the only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.’ #RealTalk.”

The marathon of The French Chef begins today at 2pm PDT and will air 24/7 until it runs through all 201 episodes.

Interactive cooking shows

McInnis noted that Twitch has been excited to see all of the streamers creating music, games, and other projects under the Creative category, which has allowed artists to get instant feedback from viewers while also explaining their process as they go along. Now, Twitch wants to accomplish the same thing with cooking, which a number of streamers have already been doing without an official category for it.

“Broadcasters have found new ways to connect with their viewers by adding Twitch Chat and live feedback to the standard cooking show mix,” McInnis wrote. “CookingForNoobs created the amazingly artful Bob Ross painting lasagna below (see Twitch’s blog for the image), and Domestic Dan lets viewers choose his Sunday supper ingredients with Twitch Cooks Dinner.”

“FakeGamerGirl, Goldamsel, WorkingChef, ChefLethalPlays, and Lulaboo are a few more examples of broadcasters hosting food streams, and you can check out #Food to see more live cooking, baking and other food shows on Twitch Creative!”

McInnis said that over the next week Twitch will be highlighting the best food streamers through the @TwitchCreates Twitter, and users can recommend streams to be showcased by tweeting them.

Streamers who want to be included in the new directory of Food channels simply need to add #Food to the title of their stream.

Image courtesy of Twitch Interactive Inc

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