Remember that online cooking channel from Tamil Nadu, which featured Rahul Gandhi cooking 'Kalan Biryani' (mushroom biryani)? The video went viral on social media and garnered over 90 lakh views in less than 48 hours. The channel, named Village Cooking Channel, recently made a record by garnering 1 crore (10 million) subscribers on YouTube. Reportedly, this achievement made Village Cooking Channel the first YouTube channel from South India to get a diamond play button - a recognition bestowed upon by YouTube on achieving a certain milestone.
In 2018, Village Cooking Channel was launched by 75-year-old Periyathambi - a former caterer by profession - and his grandchildren Ayyanar, Murugesan, Tamilselvan, Muthumanickam and Subramanian. The team of 6 people initially started this channel just as a pass time. "We do farming for 6 months and the rest of the six month, we had nothing to do. It is then when we decided to launch the channel," one of the members stated. But soon, their content went viral, gathering more and more views on each video. The videos generally feature these people cooking traditional South Indian foods and other exotic recipes on agricultural fields, using traditional cooking methods. From liver biryani to pani puri and gulab jamun - they cooked it all on the channel. In each of these videos, we see Periyathambi and his grandchildren cooking these foods in really big batches. They informed that these foods were initially distributed among family and neighbours. But later during the pandemic, they gave the food to different orphanages and other needy people.
Reportedly, Village Cooking Channel earns around Rs. 7 lakh per month from YouTube. To commemorate their achievement, the creators recently donated Rs. 10 lakh to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund (CMPRF) from their YouTube earning. According to their unboxing video, this donation was made to support the state's fight against Covid-19.
Let's take a look at their diamond play button unboxing video:
Also Read: Watch: Rahul Gandhi Turns Chef On Online Cooking Show; Makes Tamil Nadu's Popular 'Kaalan Biryani'