As a girl who was a kid in 2006, I can confirm I did play cooking mama and I still think about her tips as I cook today

Fun fact, over cooking eggs can make them super watery. Meaning, that the longer they waited for it to dry up, it just got worse and worse.

I am a classically French trained chef and I legit count cooking mama as an inspiration for joining the field.

Okay but the not shaking the baby bit is surprisingly educational. Shaking newborns can cause them brain damage, and its been recognized as symptom of abuse. That cooking mama was teaching about that, even if not saying it directly, is so cool

THEY'RE TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE??

first time watching, genuinely thought it was a long complicated bit, until the sudden realisation that there is more than one guy

the feature where you have to blow into the device on cooking mama 2 haunts my childhood. literally ended up in tears once. best game ever created

19:03 I seriously love that the overwhelming amount of warnings about shaking a baby are included lol. As someone who works in childcare, learning about 'Shaken Baby Syndrome' is soooo important especially because it can be caused by something most people don't even think about. Like no one (at least you hope so) makes the conscious decision to shake a baby- but heats of emotional action are a thing! So constantly plastering everywhere the importance of being gentle with the babies is so nice. Because like- imagine a kid whose gonna be an older sibling playing the game. It's a nice (kind of) subtle way of teaching how to gently take care of babies.

My favorite thing about the way Cooking Mama was advertised was instead of saying "Hey, do you not like the food at home? We'll teach you how to cook!" they went with "You need a new mother entirely and we will replace her" 💀💀

It's hilarious that mama named her kids "Apple" and "Strawberry". Also, the heavy japanese accent just makes the experience better

6:48 “we decided to do something a little harder than popcorn”

*accidentally cooks eggs so long they look like popcorn*

i always thought the shopping mini game was so odd and bizarre until i developed social anxiety and realized that the whole game is basically a social anxiety simulator

Honestly, I'm really glad that they emphasize not shaking the baby even if its super memeable. At least its memorable, might be the first exposure kids have to shaken baby syndrome.

no joke these games taught me how to stir fry really well lol.  I am like 80% sure cooking mama had a major influence on my ability to cook decently

"Imagine making waffles SO good your dad starts talking to you again."

I died.

ok im so sorry i just got there i thought that was just two of the same guy but theres actually two of them this isn't an edit. im crying real tears

she named her kids apple and strawberry? shes really dedicated to her craft

Did… Did yall drain the crabmeat? You’re supposed to drain the water from the crabmeat—

the fear of failure or being seen as incompetent being a barrier to learning to cook is so real. i live with my parents and theyre always in my business so 💀

I was deeply obsessed with Cooking Mama 2 when I was a kid. I legit partially credit it for my enduring love of cooking to this day. Not necessarily because the mini games translated that well to cooking skills, but because it introduced me to a lot of new dishes my parents didn’t cook, which inspired me to learn to cook them my self.

10:35 years, but how soon before Papa is replaced by Chad?  May we never forget BST’s treachery 😢