Slate’s ‘Epic Meal Time’ is Called ‘Gastro Lab’

If Harley Morenstein, Alex Perrault, and Sterling Toth are the purveyors of Caligula-style food porn by way of their web series Epic Meal Time, then Dan Pashman and Mark Garrison are writing the Talmud to food porn’s Kama Sutra via Gastro Lab. (Sorry. It’s Analogy Wednesday here at Tubefilter.)

The New York duo with a history in public radio and broadcast journalism “challenge your assumptions about consumption” by bringing an analytical eye to conventional food items and figuring out ways to eat them “more awesomely.”

In their latest Gastro Lab installment, Pashman and Garrison ponder how to incorporate the three qualities of Girl Scouts – Courage, Confidence, Character – into novel, edible concoctions highlighting one of the youth organization’s greatest contribution to the world: Girl Scout Cookies.

Previous episodes of Gastro Lab showcase Waffles Gone Weird, Grilled Cheese Made Great, Snack Mixology for Dummies, and a handful of other expository analyses of new ways of cooking classic foods. The recipes won’t make you salivate or vomit to the same extent as, say, a video on how to make a Turbacon, but they’ll illicit looks of want and disgust just the same.

Pashman and Garrison got the gig on SlateV after their podcast for “eaters, not foodies” went gangbusters. The Sporkul airs weekly and features discussions and debates with hosts and esteemed guests on “the most ridiculous food-related minutiae, always seeking new and better ways to eat.” If you don’t listen to it already, you should.