Web Video / Townsends

Jon Townsend, the main host

Townsends is a YouTube channel exploring the culture of 17th, 18th and 19th century America. It is mainly hosted by Jon Townsend and deals with topics ranging from cooking, crafts to lifestyle.

The channel has an official website where goods such as clothing and kitchen appliances are sold.

The channel provides examples of:

General, multiple series, short series, non-series

• Ban on Politics: Jon had to come out and publicly state the channel is strictly non-political, unless to give brief context on historical events, and he does not appreciate modern politics being brought up by viewers in relation to a previous video.
• Big Fun: Many videos later in the channel's run are hosted by rotund Ryan Kerr.
• Edutainment Show: The channel teaches about 18th century culture.
• Indestructible Edible: There are two videos on hardtack or ship's biscuit, known for long shelf life and extremely dense consistency, making it a staple for long travels such as sea voyages.
• Tranquil Fury: Jon is clearly annoyed, at one point appearing to be on the brink of tears, in The Intrusion Of Modern Politics On Our Youtube Channel, but he maintains a calm and collected tone and demeanor as he addresses politics-related drama that arose from a previous video. Even without watching it, the video's title is a dead giveaway.

18th Century Cooking

• Cooking Show: As evident from the title, this series presents historical recipes from the 18th century.
• Does Not Like Spam:
  • There are dishes that Jon refuses to cover on the channel due to their being too much against his tastes or flat-out terrible. In the morel mushrooms episode, he doesn't cover any historical recipes featuring them since they drown out the mushroom's flavor.
  • The stewed crabs. The hosts and the cameraman are visibly disgusted.
• Long-Runners: 20+ seasons and ongoing.
• Poverty Food: Many videos cover dishes eaten by peasants, poor soldiers etc.
• Running Gag: Nutmeg is a frequently used spice in this series, which becomes a meme within the fandom.
• Sick Episode: Weird, Hot Cereal "Panada". The thumbnail even depicts Jon as sick and wrapped in a blanket, with a caption saying "What do YOU eat when you're SICK?"
• Trademark Favorite Food: Jon generally enjoys the dishes covered in the series, but he goes to great lengths raving about morel mushrooms, and refuses to make actual historical dishes containing them in order to not drown out their flavor.