- Why would someone do this to cheesecake?
- (squeals) - It's confetti cheesecake!
- (both sigh happily)
♪ (industrial intro) ♪
- (FBE) So today, we're gonna be doing something a little different.
- Always. Always, because you guys are so extra.
- (FBE) Today is National Cheesecake Day.
- (squeals) - I love cheesecake,
especially chocolate cheesecake. Ahhh. - (gasps) I love cheesecake!
It's my favorite dessert in the whole world.
Every day should be National Cheesecake Day.
- (FBE) And because it's National Cheesecake Day,
we're gonna learn about the history of cheesecake
while you eat and rank five cheesecakes.
- Whoa! That's nice! - Never had it.
- (FBE) You never had cheesecake? - No.
- I grew up in a bakery business. I was a fourth-generation baker.
My dad made very kind of cheesecake so brilliantly,
whether it was a coffeecake cheesecake,
soft cheesecake, the hard New York cheesecake,
so I grew up with cheesecakes.
- (FBE) Okay, so with the first one, we'll be paying an homage
to the origin of cheesecake. - Okay. All right.
Put my learning hat on. - Thank you.
It looks very flaky, but it looks good.
- What?! There's caramel?! Okay, I'm digging in.
- That crust, that's [bleep] homemade [bleep].
That's that-- that's not gonna be the graham cracker crust.
- That's really good. It's definitely different
than normal cheesecake. - You tell me first.
- Best cheesecake I've ever eaten.
- Mm. That's my kind of cheesecake.
- The top is like crumbles of something
and some caramel. It's incredible.
I've never had a loaded cheesecake like this.
- You guys prank us too much, then you give us this.
♪ (angelic music) ♪
- It's very good. It takes like baklava a little bit,
(laughs) especially the crust. - Wow.
That is so good. - (FBE) On a scale of one to five,
what would you rank it? - Like, a four.
- Five. Goddamn, that's good! - Four.
- It's that good. It's a four.
- Three. It's right in the middle. - Four, you know? It is delicious.
- A three. - Three.
- Four. - Why I gave it a three
was because of how much crust there was. (chuckles)
There's just so much. It's literally this big.
- This is a five. That is delicious!
- A four. I really liked the crust mixed with the flavor.
- (FBE) So, many believe cheesecake originated
from ancient Greece. - Oh, wow.
- Oh, I thought it was from the United States.
- (FBE) In fact, the first known written recipe
can be traced as far back as around 200 A.D.
- Oh. I wonder how they made that combination of cheese and cake.
- That was even before I was born. - Of course it was.
20 years ago was before you were born.
- (FBE) The first known cheesecakes were actually flat cheese patties
that were pounded smooth with flour and honey
and then cooked on clay griddles.
- That's interesting, 'cause Greek cheese is very, very good.
- (FBE) So, since we couldn't get the authentic cheesecake,
we wanted to pay homage to its origin by having you try
a cheesecake which incorporates another traditional pastry
of Mediterranean heritage: baklava cheesecake.
- Oh my god! So, it is baklava.
Okay. (laughs) - I can't remember the last time
I had a baklava, but now that I think about it,
yeah, it tastes exactly like it. - It's good, but it wouldn't be
my first choice for cheesecake. I think there are better combinations.
- (FBE) So, this next one is a little bit simpler,
much more classic. Many people would think
that it's really close to the traditional.
- Yeah, that was way fluffier than normal.
Ours is more dense. Yeah, this just looks
like a basic cheesecake. - I knew this was
a New York cheesecake, because I used to bake them
at my bakery. My dad would make 'em,
and you bake 'em in a pan, and the little round tins
they go in, you fill the surrounding pan with water
so they don't burn.
- It's good. You know, nothing that special.
It's a lot-- it's a different texture.
It's a lot more thick. - What's it taste like?
- Cheese and graham crackers. But the cheese's a little--
- Now, this one, I like.
- Cheesecake is so good. - Ah. Yeah.
I could just sit and eat-- well, I will. I'll sit
and eat the whole thing if you let me.
- Mm. Mm-mm. (coughs)
- I haven't had cheesecake in a while.
This just reminds me of how good it is. (chuckles)
- I don't know how to describe it.
It's just amazing. - That's good.
It's so pure, so simple and clean.
- After the baklava one, I'm gonna give this a four.
- Just so good! Five. - A two.
I just didn't like the taste as much as the other one.
- Five. - Four. Yeah.
I like this one better. - Five. You know,
I really love simple. - Five.
- This one, I would give a five. I like very traditional cheesecake.
- Five. It's so good. Classic. Can't go wrong with it.
- Five out of five. It's simple. It's classic.
I like classic things. - Four. It's not, you know,
something crazy like, oh, say, white chocolate raspberry
(chuckles) or some of my other favorites.
- (FBE) All right, so this one is actually New York style cheesecake,
and many consider it to be one of the most popular
types of cheesecake. - All right. Well, I don't like it.
- (FBE) Many say when New York dairyman William Lawrence
discovered cream cheese in 1872, it influenced the modern age
of American cheesecake, because initially,
traditional Greek cheesecake was made with ricotta cheese.
- I love that. Cheesecake is so old.
I never knew that it had this classic history.
It makes me respect it more.
- (FBE) The next one is gonna be considered a little bit
more eco-friendly and very different ingredient-wise.
- It's gonna be a vegan one, isn't it?
(gasps) [Bleep] yeah! I was just gonna say
I'm gonna have to look up a vegan cheesecake.
Ooh, this is Oreo cookie. I'm gonna guess that this
right in here is the middle of the Oreo.
- It's just full, packed of sugar.
And it's beautiful.
- Nah, fam. It's the consistency that is a little off.
- Hmm. Mm-mm. So, I'm not a fan of Oreos, and so the crust
is a little much for me. - This is creamy, and it's good.
And the crust is good. But it's all chocolatey.
I do not like chocolate. - This tastes a little bit
more chocolatey, and I really like the chocolate.
- The filling doesn't really have a whole lot of flavor.
It's just creamy.
It doesn't taste like cheese. It doesn't have that tang.
- It's not that I don't like it. It's just not my thing.
It also tastes like it's not really... cheese.
- Something tells me that's not regular cheesecake.
- It would be a three, 'cause it didn't taste like a cheese.
- Five. - I'll give this one a five.
- I give it a two. - Three only because of the top.
The middle is very good. - A five.
- I'd probably say a two. - Five.
- Five. It kind of tastes like cheese, but not too much
so it's overwhelmed with cheese and cheese and cheese.
- Right. It's just so good. - Two, 'cause it's--
now it's got a funny aftertaste. - Not a fan, especially with
the aftertaste I'm getting. This... sorry.
You're the cheesecake that got the one!
- This one was actually a vegan cheesecake.
- It's different. (chuckles) - Wow. Did not expect that.
Cannot tell. - I'm surprised.
It tasted good, because... I'm not judging vegan people
or anything, it's just most vegan things I have,
I don't really like 'em. - I gotta have the real deal.
I can't-- I can't eat diet stuff. I'd rather eat less of the real thing.
You know, it just changes the flavor.
- (FBE) So, this next one is very different from the rest
and a really unusual flavor or combination.
- Okay. Ketchup flavored.
- This is the point where a prank comes in.
Okay, I'm really nervous.
- Okay. So, pistachio on top.
Looks like there's raisins in it
and maybe sweet potato. - Looks very weird.
- That is not the proper color. It's green and orange.
That doesn't sound right. - This does not look great.
Not great.
Why would someone do this to cheesecake?
- It looks gross.
(spits) That's disgusting!
- Goddammit.
Okay, that's better than I expected.
But it is savory. - I don't know what it is.
I don't like it. That's all I know.
Ooh! I don't like that at all.
- I don't like that. No thank you.
- Cheese. Cheese. That's real cheese.
- Ew. I don't-- - That's real cheese.
- What the [bleep]... is that? That's disgusting.
- (muffled) Napkin!
Well, and now we know where the booger-flavored candy
from Harry Potter ended up, because that was terrible!
- I actually like it. It's sweet and salty
at the same time. - I'll be kind and give it a one
just for ingenuity. - A one. I no like-y.
- A two. - A zero.
- A zero. I would toss this out! - Solid one.
- One. - This was a big zero.
- (both) One. - I can't stand that!
- Four for this. I know it's kind of salty
a little bit, but it's good.
- (FBE) All right, so that one was actually
a honey wasabi pea cheesecake. - Yeah, it tasted gross.
- That was one of the worst desserts I've ever tasted. It's just shameful.
- Those flavors do not go well AT ALL together! No!
Where is this from? Who invented this?
WHY did you invent this?!
- (FBE) Cheesecake has evolved from its traditional plain flavor
to sometimes adding fruit or syrup to now having almost every flavor
of cheesecake you can think of, from sweet to savory.
- Yeah. Yeah, that's good. I like to try new things,
but I would never in a million years have that again.
- We change a lot, the cuisine, and that's what makes it really good.
Sometimes, of course, you long for the original one
or what you've been used to eating, but definitely it's something to try,
and you know, you will never regret it.
- (FBE) Finally, since we're celebrating
National Cheesecake Day... - We sure are.
- (FBE) ...here is a celebratory cheesecake.
- What is that? - (both) One, two, three!
- (both gasp) - (squeals)
- It's confetti cheesecake! - (both sigh happily)
- It's a birthday cake cheesecake! - Isn't this just straight cake?
This doesn't even look like cheesecake.
- (chuckles) I don't taste any cheese in this.
- It's just creamy, creamy, creamy, except for the cake, but that's good,
'cause the cake kind of breaks up the creaminess
and everything. - I don't know how I feel
about this one. The taste is not that great,
but it looks nice. - This one's pretty good.
Not the best of them, but has a very regular cake
kind of taste. - Frosting. Cheese.
- And that's cheese. - This is my favorite so far.
- Oh, that's disgusting. It is so sweet.
I mean, the taste. It tasted gross.
- Oh my god. It's so good.
- That's a winner. It's not overly sweet,
and I can handle it. It's actually-- it's very tasty.
- I give this one a three. - It's gonna be...
(whispers) a two. - This would definitely be a one.
- Please, can I go over? It's the last one.
Like, a 50. I'm not over-exaggerating.
It's that good. - Four. It's good.
It just wasn't the best. - Negative 14. It was gross.
- Three. - Five.
- Four. - Four.
Yeah, nothing beat the baklava cheesecake.
- Three. But I certainly would love to see this
with candles in it for my next birthday.
That would be great. - (FBE) It seems like
there's a national holiday for almost every food group
out there nowadays. - Yeah. There's so many.
- (FBE) And as of today, there's approximately 313 food holidays.
- Wow. There's 365 days a year, so they should just fill it up
to all the days. - I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish
that you'd be off for school on those days.
- (FBE) National Cheesecake Day is celebrated on July 30th
of every year. - First time I hear about it,
but when I leave, it'll go on my calendar.
- (FBE) Do you consider these real holidays?
- No. It's not a holiday. They don't even call it
a holiday, do they? They just call it
a National Cheesecake Day. - Everything has been made up
by industry to create a buzz. It's an official holiday.
We have to wish people a Happy Cheesecake Day on Facebook.
(chuckles) You know, or on Instagram or whatever.
- (FBE) So finally, we wanna know what is the best cheesecake
or flavor of cheesecake you have had in your entire life?
- I'm not gonna lie. I'm gonna go with that baklava one.
It was really good. - Coffee cheesecake.
I was hoping that you guys had that, but ah, darn. (laughs)
You didn't. - The best that I've had
is probably that vegan one. That was really good.
- The birthday cake one. This was me.
- I like classic cheesecake. It's just the right amount of cheese,
just the right amount of sweetness. It's small. It's simple.
I think that might be the best.
- Confetti cheesecake! - Oreo.
Oreo cheesecake from here. It was delicious.
It was the best one I've had in my life.
- My dad used to make a marble cheesecake.
It was with just chocolate dripping through the cheesecake
with a top and a bottom. It was like coffee cake. So good.
- Plain, New York deli cheesecake that I grew up with.
And then when I got to New York, I was going everywhere
and eating cheesecake. I just love it.
That luscious, little ridge of dense, lovely creaminess
with a little bit of tang. Oh! Just the best.
- Thanks for watching us enjoy some great cheesecake
on Generations React. - If you like cheesecake,
then subscribe. Shoutout to Lucario Lover.
- Bye! - Hey, guys. Vartuhi here.
Thanks for watching this episode of Generations React.
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for reactor and staff Q&As, company news, and more! Bye, guys!