Latinometrics recently posted some statistics on their Facebook page about how many people are watching YouTube videos made by various chefs, including Martha Stewart and Gordon Ramsey. Turns out Doña Angela, a 71-year-old grandmother living in rural Michoacán whose cooking demonstrations are filmed with a cell phone camera by her daughter, is far outperforming many much more famous chefs. Latinometrics provides a handy graphic. And Mexico News Daily provides more context:
Doña Ángela, a 71-year-old grandmother living in rural Michoacán has surpassed the viewership of culinary icons Gordon Ramsay and Martha Stewart on YouTube.
Her channel "De Mi Rancho a Tu Cocina" ("From my ranch to your kitchen") has over 4 million subscribers, far less than Ramsay's more than 19 million and yet her videos get more views than both Ramsay and Stewart (who has a little over 800,000 subscribers). According to the website Latinometrics, Doña Ángela's last 25 videos had close to 300,000 views, surpassing the almost 250,000 of Ramsey and less than 100,000 of Stewart. That makes "De Mi Rancho a Tu Cocina" the fourth most popular cooking channel currently on YouTube.
Without a big production team, a fancy demonstration kitchen, and bevy of assistants behind the scenes, Doña Ángela's kids film her on their cellphones as she cooks in front of her a large flat comal stove in a rural, wood-paneled kitchen.
In her recipes Doña Ángela highlights traditional processes in Mexican cooking like the nixtamalization of corn and shows off local ingredients that she herself raises and grows. She speaks with a distinctive regional accent and is watched by Mexicans around the world hankering for a nostalgic taste of home.
I've checked out some of her videos, and they're great. For instance, here's a video of her making mole—and it looks delicious! (And if you don't speak Spanish, don't worry, the videos have subtitles).
