Twitch meets Real Life
After one of my co-working streams on Twitch ended, I should have been searching through my follows to find another so I could get more work done. Instead, I was hungry. So I maybe, just for a bit, glanced at the Food and Drink category and found an incredible streamer who happens to be local and we’re now friends.
For those of you unfamiliar with Twitch, it’s an online streaming site where people from all walks of life live stream cool stuff and we get to watch it for free. My favorite part about Twitch is that you get to interact with the content creators at the same time they’re creating their art. It feels so much more personal and real when you can ask questions or offer encouragement and the streamers respond to you directly and immediately.
Now Twitch is dominated by gamers. If there is a game you play on console or PC, odds are someone is streaming it right now. But that’s not all that’s on there. For instance, the first channel we followed on Twitch was “Horseshoes and Hand Grenades,” a comedy stream hosted by two funny and generous best friends. Cursed Dragon Ship Publishing streams our launches and cover reveals and updates live on Twitch. MissMollyMakes dropped what she was doing one stream because I shared that I failed making a jelly roll cake and had no idea why. She literally pulled up one of her recipes and streamed her making the cake, teaching me each technique for each step. Seriously, Twitch is the place to be if you want to support small businesses trying to make the dream come true.
Which brings me back to a couple weeks ago when I searched the Food and Drink category instead of working more. I found Chef Steve who was prepping meatballs and Sunday gravy for his food truck: More than Pasta. He was funny and hard working and raising money for charity and . . . LOCAL! What are the odds? A random chef I found on Twitch, certainly not my first, turns out to be a couple minutes from my house. I forwarded the info to Kevin and we made plans to visit his food truck on Thursday.
After ordering two dishes–fresh pasta with Sunday gravy, Italian sausage, meatballs, spinach, and mushrooms and smoked meat ravioli with marinara sauce–we headed out to Fortress Beerworks to eat, having not had a chance to talk to the busy chef. But we did jump on Twitch when we sat down and Chef Steve was shocked that we didn’t bang on the door to say hi. (It was also a blast to be the focus of jealousy in the chat since we got to try Chef Steve’s talent on a plate.)
Never ones to disappoint, Kevin and I vowed to return the next week for a hug–and more delicious food. Naturally we kept up with the stream during the week as Chef Steve handmade each piece of his dishes. During one of the streams, someone in the chat mentioned the Little Debbie Valentine’s Donuts. Chef Steve said he loved Little Debbie’s snacks. Of course, we had to bring him some. (We couldn’t find the donuts, but did find the Valentine snack cakes.)
And these are the delish dishes we got to sample this time. Prepare to be jealous.



So now we’re friends. We’re inviting Chef Steve to our next themed dinner night. I hope he likes board games!