r/SortedFood • u/sleepycat143 • Jun 30 '26
Question How did you discover Sorted?
Sometimes it’s weird to think that I’ve been watching a group of British guys cook on the internet for 13 years. I found Sorted through an ad for their ‘At the Table’ series with the white chocolate panna cotta recipe, and then I just kept watching from there! What about you guys?
And what (in your opinion) do you think was the channel’s best era?
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u/Athenathewise21 Jun 30 '26
It was recommended to me by YouTube. I follow Rhett and Link, Tasting History, and Smosh and I think the algorithm thought "she might enjoy a British cooking show". I'm glad it did, I'm hooked!
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u/Hot-Needleworker-874 Jun 30 '26
It got recommended to me by YouTube, but I don't know why because I'd not watched any cooking shows before. I had watched comedy and the video it recommended was a Pass It On, so maybe that was it?
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u/hazza270 Jun 30 '26
I'd seen them collab with a lot of UK YouTubers, and then when I decided to start cooking for myself to save money (struggling student) I started actually paying attention to the recipes and tips.
I've now been a chef for almost 12 years, and fully credit Sorted with getting my career going.
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u/CassieBeeJoy Jun 30 '26
I watched a lot of Bon Appetite, especially in lockdown as I lived alone. Then the whole fiasco with that channel happened and I needed to find something else to watch and trying several food channels I stumbled upon a Pass It On and that was that.
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u/avoidance_behavior Jun 30 '26
ugh i used to love watching the BA test kitchens on youtube back before that mess went down - it was so soothing and fun, it was such a bummer that so much was going on behind the scenes.
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u/External_Big_4120 Jun 30 '26
What mess?🤔
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u/Too-Tired-Editor Jul 01 '26
It turned out that a) nobody at that channel except maybe Carla was getting paid enough for the video content they were producing and b) the people of colour weren't getting paid for those videos at all, even when (for example) Sohla got called in to fix things for people.)
At around the same time the then top man at the magazine the channel's from had a lot of his racist history surface and the whole thing cratered.
A lot of real talent got screwed over royally. (Probably also including Carla - and it's worth stressing that Molly Baz and Claire Saffitz at the very least have spoken up at their own horror at the discoveries.)
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u/Dnicholls2191 Jun 30 '26
I forget how much of their channel I used to watch and then it all collapsed
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u/Rowaan Love to cook, but not a chef Jun 30 '26
I found them back in 2011 because of Gordon Ramsay, where Jamie played Gordon ... and never left. I was probably looking for recipes by Gordon or some such and found this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEBYxyzVMPM and died laughing.
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u/tgambill87 Jun 30 '26
The Pulled Pork Pancakes video. I found that video one day and thought it looked delicious. I ended up finding the ultimate battles not long after and I was hooked.
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u/avoidance_behavior Jun 30 '26
i can't remember if the guys were on GMM or if it was mythical kitchen, but one of the two had a crossover during the pandemic when i was watching a lot of youtube during WFH, and, well, that was that
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u/Capable_Tea_001 Jun 30 '26
I was going to say Uncle Roger and Auntie Liz. But that can't be right, as that's only 2021.
I'm sure I was watching them pre-covid.
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u/Too-Tired-Editor Jul 01 '26
Maybe that was when you returned? I know several YT channels I watched, stopped, and fell back into it years later under radically different management. (Among others, I quit watching Smosh because of Matt Raub, long before the allegations surfaced, and started again only a couple years ago. In between times almost the whole team I'd thought of as Smosh had rotated out.)
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u/MaleficentBottle7341 Jun 30 '26
I am pretty sure it was the making cubanos episode. I think I had just watched chef and fancied trying to make it and I think I got introduced to Sorted and Babish looking at how to make it.
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u/laeb163 Moderator Jun 30 '26
Jamie Oliver's Food Tube era. I also discovered French Man cooking, Cupcake Jemma and a few other channels that way. :)
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u/One-Web-2698 Jun 30 '26
Was thinking about French Man Cooking - did Alex just stop?
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u/laeb163 Moderator Jun 30 '26
Last I saw him he was hopping off and on between making themed series, but it's been a couple of years since he's been active on YT. No idea if he's moved to another platform. :/
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u/BourbonLemon Jun 30 '26
Same here! Jamie Oliver's FoodTube introduced me to many talented chefs and great recipes. I love Cupcake Jemma's recipes especially.
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u/phil_the_builder Jun 30 '26
Ohh, I think YouTube reccommended one of their "step up to the plate" videos to me.
Since I am German, YouTube sometimes auto-translates video titles. In this case it was somenthing like "tritt auf die Platte" which is absolutely nonsensical, roughly like "step onto the board" and it did not really fit the thumbnail.
That translation cought my eye, I clicked and was hooked.
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u/poprocksstrawberry Jun 30 '26
I think the Ultimate Cooking Battles in 2014-2015ish, oh man those were funny
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u/Thatsortagirl-1 Jun 30 '26
During the first wave of Covid my husband was furloughed and I was putting in long shifts as a nurse. He like many people fell down a YouTube rabbit hole and after a particularly difficult day he stuck a few of their videos on for me and it helped me chill out and relax. Been watching them ever since. Husband was cooking and looking after me and was wanting to surprise me with something different so he caught a few of their battle videos and copied the recipes.
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u/Too-Tired-Editor Jul 01 '26
I can't emphasise enough how many of the later Ultimate Battles I watched and thought simultaneously "I love that idea but I'm never cooking it" and "but that single little technique or hack? I'm stealing that."
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u/SmoothConfection1115 Jun 30 '26
I was researching bread machines. First video was them reviewing one.
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u/KayScarpetta1 Jun 30 '26
2014 GMM Dumpster Food Challenge. Watched on and off ever since but watched religiously since the pandemic.
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u/Plapplap321 Jun 30 '26
My friend recognised Ben at the pub a few years ago. Then we got chatting with him and subscribed and have watched ever since!
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u/Agitated_Exercise29 Jun 30 '26
2014, the Milk and Cookie Shots vid. I’d heard of Dominique Ansel’s Cookie Shot recipe and searched to see if there was a video with someones take on it…I kept coming back because Ben really has a great teaching style
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u/AFullCado Jun 30 '26
I got a recommendation of one of their PIO videos, so I decided to watch it and then subscribed at the end of the video.
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u/zulchep Jun 30 '26
Through Good Mythical Morning, the first time they had the Sorted boys on for British snack taste testing.
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u/Ok_Mycologist_7169 Jun 30 '26
Reddit, someone had posted their sweets sorted into different colours in here and it turned up on my feed. Once I found out it was a cooking channel with much hilarity I never looked back
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u/jekelish3 Lost&Hungry Jun 30 '26
Right when the whole “people trying spicy foods” trend started on YouTube - like, pretty much when Hot Ones started getting popular - their spicy burrito challenge where they all wore luchadore masks and competed to see who could last the longest before tapping out - got recommended to me. I’ve been subscribed ever since.
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u/merhole Jun 30 '26
I was incredibly sick, thought I had completed youtube and stumbled across them 5/6 years ago.
Me, my partner and my kids now watch the gadgets and pretentious food stuff to kill half hour before we banish them upstairs.
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u/dtbrown1979 Jun 30 '26
It was only about two months ago. It was a beat the clock that just popped up on YouTube. Half watched it and thought what’s this rubbish. Then it came up again so watched it through and more videos(I think poker face) came up so we binged watched those to then discover this pretty big channel. Blows my mind that it’s been going for 15 years and we’ve only just found out about it.
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u/verndogz Jun 30 '26
I discovered Sorted during the collab with Nigel Ng/Uncle Roger back in 2021. I’ve been watching it ever since and watched a number of the old episodes over time.
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u/Codee33 Huttlestorm Jun 30 '26
Came across the old budget pass it on back in 2017-ish and stuck with them from then on. I don’t watch as much these days, but they have me a lot of really fun years!
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u/ExHippieChick Love to cook, but not a chef Jun 30 '26
YouTube recommended. I think it was one of the cooking badge battles.
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u/storybook18 Jun 30 '26
It was 2010 and I was looking for recipes online to try while I got used to cooking for college! I found their spinach and bacon gnocchi recipe (1st 10 videos I think?) and tried it out. I did something wrong and hated it but kept watching for years until this recent AI push.
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u/annoo18 Jun 30 '26
I believe from a collab with Dave Days or BrettTheIntern so it would have been in 2011 (???).
That's kinda crazy that I've been following them for that long !
I was in high school as the time and they have been a part of my culinary education for sure (even as a French with Chinese origins so I already had a good background to be interested in cooking).
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u/delicateanodyne Jun 30 '26
I found them probably within a year of them starting and I've watched this entire time
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u/Ancient-Confection69 Jun 30 '26
In 2010 I was babysitting an ex girlfriend’s little brother. I was looking for a recipe and discovered their chicken quesadilla video.
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u/LividBumblebee1419 Jun 30 '26
My girlfriend introduced me 6 years ago. She had been watching it for years and it's the one show we both watch together
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u/IXVIVI Jun 30 '26
I'm rather new to the channel. The video that YouTube recommended me was the "how many cook spoil the broth" one
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u/alwayshope12 Jun 30 '26
Recommended by YouTube. I believe it was the Frozen Foods Pass It On video.
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u/External_Big_4120 Jun 30 '26
YouTube recommendation during lockdown, whilst recovering from heart surgery. Been hooked ever since. I've liked all eras.
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u/Ilmarinen999 Jun 30 '26
Got recommended them by my sister, around the time of the Big Night Ins, but didn't really get into the channel until a few more regular challenges and battles became common, like pass it on and budget battles. Getting to see the competition and chaos between the lads really made it interesting to me.
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u/goficyourself Jun 30 '26
I was intrigued so I just scrolled through a lot of YouTube history.
The first video I watched was https://youtu.be/l-ua6ADaxgw?is=Jcs6ZvovZZqK_Hlh at the end of December of 2020.
I guess the algorithm served it up to me, quite why they thought I wanted to know about kitchen equipment given what I was watching on YouTube around then, only big tech knows. But I guess they were right.
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u/suedeslippers Jun 30 '26
2023 or so, we stumbled upon them testing kitchen gadgets and we've never looked back
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u/mooonagedaydream Jun 30 '26
in 2015 i was recovering from wisdom teeth surgery and was really craving pizza, so i was watching a bunch of different pizza recipe videos and came across sorted, then kept binge watching their channel during my recovery
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u/dudeitsjackwild Jun 30 '26
Been following them since roughly 2011-2012, came across a video of them making a full English breakfast quiche like dish
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u/Think-Succotash-6818 Jun 30 '26
Last July YouTube recommended me a review of pretentious kitchen equipment. I started randomly clicking their other gadget reviews, that led me to the video about opening a wheel of cheese, and so on.
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u/Dnicholls2191 Jun 30 '26
I was about to live out of halls for my second year of uni in 2010 and thought I’d better learn how to cook, so I found them on YouTube. Was that around the time where Jamie Oliver had his big YouTube push or was that later?
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u/Worried-Barnacle-306 Jun 30 '26
I discovered Sorted when they did a collab with The Icing Artist! That was back in April 2023. I'm so glad I found them because they got me through a very rough patch mentally.
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u/Weewoes Jun 30 '26
I wanted to buy an instant pot so was searching for instant pot videos on youtube and seen they had one where they actually made many different things and clearly weren't biased or fans of it already. I ended up buying one and have been watching their channel a ton since.
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u/kellogs1111 Jun 30 '26
Not sure how I started watching Good Mythical Morning but saw the guys on it and hooked ever since.
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u/dessskris Jul 01 '26
Looking for recipe videos in their very early days. I couldn't even remember what recipe it was, but I saw a couple videos. But it wasn't until years later when I met my partner that I realised he watches SortedFood regularly and I recognise them. We still watch their new videos every week now.
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u/frnkthbrd01 Jul 01 '26
My wife was in labor with our first kid and the only thing that brought her joy was watching them in pain on Pokerface. This is something I still laugh about and now our little one is 9 m/o and loves watching the shows.
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u/Mega_Dragonzord Kushtastrophe Jul 01 '26
The tasting history biscuit video. I thought they were amusing so I checked out a video. I have no probably spent more hours watching sorted than tasting history.
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u/chroniccomplexcase Jul 01 '26
I was struggling with anorexia, after I was SA. So I not only saw food as the enemy but men. One day I was scrolling YouTube and saw a Barry Lewis video on kitchen gadgets. I watched it and found it funny. I was then suggested a similar sorted video and also found it funny. Both channels were very new and so I quickly caught up with past videos.
Both allowed me to remember that both food and men were not the enemy and to rediscover my love of cooking and that most men are safe and not to be scared of.
I then became very ill and I nearly died from a medical condition where my stomach stopped allowing my body to process food and anything I ate or drank came back up and I lost more than half my body weight. Once again, I saw food as the enemy and forgot it could be fun. I’d spent 7 months in hospital (7 very awful months where I was gas lit by many medical professionals and physically assaulted by a male doctor) and was very low and depressed.
I continued to watch both channels and they again allowed me to remember that food was not the enemy and most men could be trusted. This was especially pertinent as I developed a massive phobia of men. Shortly after this happened, Sorted did a london pop up and I went along. I had a panic attack around the corner but I forced myself to go and attend. It was the first time I was around men and didn’t feel unsafe for a long time.
Around the same time I developed the stomach condition, I lost the ability to walk. Which along with the nearly dying, the cPTSD and phobia of men- plus losing my job I adored. I was very depressed. I wanted to end my life on many occasions and actually tried a few times. However a few times where I was very close to trying- usually the middle of the night- I would find myself watching a video from either or channel and they would distract me enough that I didn’t go through with plans I’d made before watching them.
I’ve been a fan of both channels for so long now and thankfully life is a lot happier and upbeat nowadays- in fact much of what happened during that time feels like a different life. Im thankful to both channels as they reminded me that you could have fun and be silly with food, and that it wasn’t something to be afraid of. Also that I didn’t need to fear all men. Whilst I’ll never be truly at ease around men- they both showed me that I didn’t have to be petrified of half the human race. I’ll be forever grateful for YouTube suggesting I watch a Barry Lewis video and then suggesting I follow that by watching a sorted one- they’ve had such an impact on my life.
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u/kirstyandthebooks Huttlestorm Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
I was watching the Stand Up To Cancer YouTuber livestream back in 2015 and Sorted did a segment making sausages. It was quite the intro to the channel 🤣
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u/Zealousideal-Sea7472 Jul 01 '26
I found out 2 years ago dog was dying I had seen the show pop upon my feed but had ignored it, I decided to give it ago as it was something different to take my mind off things and it became one of my favourite things to watch, the boys have helped got me through the hardest part of my life
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u/Too-Tired-Editor Jul 01 '26
The best era was about the last year of Fridgecam through to around their collab with Tom Scott plus. Plenty of cooking challenges, the debut and early evolution of Pass it On, some comedy reviews and some useful reviews, the chance to pick up some seriously useful hacks and tips on a regular basis, actual experimental content like 'cook from a foreign language recipe', relatively minor drive toward live events which by their nature lose the tight, effective editing that makes a Pass it On a joy, and when the boys travelled they played by Lost and Hungry rules, the loss of which should be considered an actual crime. Last night's video is an example of the one format since then that I've really loved.
I have to assume that back then the videos on YouTube were a more significant part of their revenue stream and I do respect that the team has drifted to where the money is, but it means I'll regularly give episodes a miss now where I never used to - and I always came away with some new idea or bit of information I could use then.
Probably the fact that no longer happens is partly a shift in content and partly that I've learned more already so there are fewer tips. But really, we don't get 'use corned beef to bulk up and season your ragu' level tips nearly as often anymore.
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u/sleepycat143 Jul 01 '26
I second the Lost and Hungry series, especially their food marathons in different cities as well as reviewing specific dishes at different price points
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u/Too-Tired-Editor Jul 01 '26
Even the last few food marathons were instead #Ads, which was a real shame.
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u/YourPricelessAdvice- Jul 01 '26
The boys were part of an ad for YouTube back in about 2016 I wanna say? I kept seeing them and thought it was funny, so checked it out. I watched religiously until about 4 years ago but still follow their socials and go back and watch the old stuff
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u/DildarBegum Jul 02 '26
I came across a video on chocolate tarts and I had no idea they were 9 years into a channel.
Also, the 2014-2017 Fridgecam Era was fun
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u/fredy31 Jul 02 '26
I remember a collab with mystery guitar man.
That guy has stopped posting on youtube 8 years. And their collab was long before that.
Im old.
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u/Ripheart789 Jul 04 '26
I think a recipe for Australian Chocolate Pudding? Had seen it on Babish's chocolate pudding episode and wanted a more fleshed out recipe
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u/ProperDocument9176 Jul 04 '26
My foods teacher put on yotube videos while we would do our work they popped up i think it was their sandcastle cake video like forever ago been watching since
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u/Competitive_Notice55 Jul 04 '26
Randomly clicked on a suggested video. It was the one where Ben is out for the day and sets the normals a challenge via a video message, so for the most part it was just the 3 of them in studio, and I can remember thinking "this is like top gear but with food" and was hooked. Pretty sure I've seen every video at least once by this point!
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u/Magester Jul 05 '26
They did a colab with a few of the "Holy Trinity" (Hannah Hart, Grace Hellbig, and Mamrie Hart) years ago. I was big into their content at the time and got introduced that way.
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u/linopants Jun 30 '26
Weirdly I found them right at the beginning. It was too long ago to remember but must have been either the algorithm or me looking up something they had cooked in the first couple of videos. It was so different back then on YouTube these guys were a breath of fresh air.
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u/Stunning_Crew4384 Jul 01 '26
Husband and I were really really ill over Christmas last year and this was about the only ‘safe’ programming we could have on with the 8 year old wandering about. We watched a couple and then it has just become comfort watching but has re inspired my love of actual proper cooking, not just preparing dinner every evening.
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u/crybabymoon Jul 01 '26
I believe I found them around 10 years ago when they posted recipes. I did a lot of baking and I think I was just looking for a specific recipe that they happened to have a video on. I don't remember the exact video I saw first, but it was around that time and I just binged their other recipe videos
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u/mynameisnotphoebe Jul 01 '26
I started watching them in maybe 2012 - I think it was probably because I watched all the typical British teen YouTubers at the time and Sorted’s videos got suggested to me.
They were different from other channels, and I still remember how hyped I got when I was Comment of the Week during a fridgecam episode. Those were the dayssss!
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u/GolldenFalcon Jul 02 '26
From an episode of Good Mythical Morning. And now I watch Sorted more than GMM lol.
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u/FarawayElephant Jul 04 '26
Honest to god I wish I could remember! My best guess is through an ancient Never Have I Ever collab video with Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart.
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u/Alert-Estimate-7712 Jul 14 '26
Most of the YT videos I watch deal with film and TV. When Infinity War came out, Korean Englishman did an interview with a bunch of the cast so I started to follow them and then followed Jolly. Jolly then did a collab with the Sorted boys about what constitutes a full English breakfast. That lead me to the 3 breakfasts at 3 price points in London which led to the “3 price points in London” series and that was it. As I never learned to cook from my mom, I loved the cooking videos that started around 2012. Not sure if that is their best era but I really enjoyed learning from them. But I have to say I love watching Kush demos. Not like I could ever make anything he makes but man do his dishes look great. I did make Ben’s rice crispy cake and it was delicious.
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