Jon Townsend (Townsends)
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About
Jon Townsend is an 18th century (1700's) reenactor who teaches about life in Colonial America on his YouTube channel, Townsends.[1] His YouTube channel is most known for his cooking videos, which feature 18th-century recipes and cooking methods. He also runs an 18th century (and early 19th century) clothing shop "Jas. Townsend & Son Inc."[2]
History
Jon started his YouTube channel on December 23rd, 2008. However, he didn't post his first video until February 4th, 2009. The video (shown below) shows Jon modeling one of his revolutionary war uniforms of the continental army, and has only 38,000 views.
18th Century Cooking
Jon started his cooking video series on October 31st, 2011. In his first video (shown below), he shows what would be a soldier's rations during the American Revolutionary War. No cooking was involved in this video, however.
On November 7th, 2011, he would post his first actual cooking video (shown below) by cooking various pumpkins. One he simply cuts in half and roasts on the campfire, another he stuffs chunks of pear which are seasoned with spices and butter into a pumpkin and roasts it. The last pumpkin he cuts up and fries with cinnamon.
Nutmeg
Much of Townsend's recipes include nutmeg, which has made "nutmeg" a meme among his fandom. On March 18th, 2016, he posted a video diving into why nutmeg was such a popular colonial ingredient (shown below).
Controversy
Jon ran into controversy after doing a video for a dessert called "Orange Fool" on July 3rd, 2017, (shown below, left) which some watchers believed he was using to take a jab at then-president Donald Trump.[3] On July 6th, 2017, he posted a follow-up video (shown below, right) stating his frustration with modern politics getting in the way of his trying to educate people about colonial American life.
Online Presence
Townsend has over 1.7 million subscribers on YouTube.[1] He has been praised online for his relaxing content. Wired[4] covered his channel at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
