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| Munchies (Vice) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Munchies |
| Type | Food journalism, Video production |
| Owner | Vice Media |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Headquarters | Brooklyn, New York |
| Language | English |
| Current status | Active |
Munchies (Vice) is the food and dining vertical of Vice Media launched to produce long-form journalism, documentary video, and recipe-driven content focused on global culinary cultures. It combines multimedia reporting, streaming series, and social publishing to cover chefs, restaurants, street food, and food-related social issues across cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, London, and Tokyo. Munchies grew alongside Vice’s expansions into television partnerships, festival programming, and branded content for companies including HBO, Showtime, YouTube, and Netflix.
Munchies began as a dedicated food channel within Vice Media during the mid-2010s expansion that also produced channels like Noisey and Motherboard, drawing upon Vice’s prior coverage of music festivals like SXSW and reporting connections with outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Wired. Early editorial initiatives featured collaborations with celebrity chefs and restaurateurs tied to figures such as Anthony Bourdain, David Chang, Roy Choi, Massimo Bottura, and Ferran Adrià, leveraging Vice’s relationships cultivated through events including the Cannes Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and the Webby Awards. The vertical developed original series and longform pieces during an era marked by Vice’s corporate deals with AOL, Viacom, and later conversations with investors like Triton Partners and media executives from Condé Nast and Time Inc..
Munchies’ programming has encompassed documentary series, short-form videos, and investigative reporting that spotlight chefs, culinary innovators, and regional cuisines, often featuring personalities such as Gordon Ramsay, José Andrés, Rachael Ray, Alton Brown, and Nigella Lawson. Flagship shows and specials have been produced in partnership with broadcasters and streaming platforms like HBO, YouTube Premium, Viceland, and Amazon Prime Video, while episodes have profiled restaurants located in neighborhoods like Brooklyn, Queens, SoHo, Shoreditch, and Shibuya. Content formats include street-food coverage in markets such as Tsukiji Market and La Boqueria, chef-focused documentaries referencing institutions like The French Laundry, Noma, and El Bulli, and investigative pieces touching on labor disputes at restaurant groups including Compass Group and supplier issues connected to companies like Sysco.
Editorial leadership and contributors for Munchies have included editors, producers, and freelancers who previously worked at publications and outlets such as Bon Appétit, Eater, Food & Wine, The New Yorker, Esquire, and The Atlantic. Contributors have ranged from established chefs like Dominique Crenn and Tom Colicchio to food writers and journalists connected with awards and institutions including the James Beard Foundation, the Pulitzer Prize community, and culinary schools like Culinary Institute of America and Le Cordon Bleu. Production crews have collaborated with documentarians and directors who have credits at festivals such as Sundance Film Festival and networks including BBC and CNN.
Munchies content has been distributed across Vice’s owned-and-operated website, the Vice app, and third-party platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. Broadcast partnerships have placed Munchies series on linear channels such as Viceland and through co-productions with cable outlets including HBO and Showtime. International distribution has leveraged Vice’s offices in cities including Toronto, Berlin, Paris, Sydney, and Mumbai to produce localized content and to syndicate series for regional platforms and festivals like Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and Taste Festivals.
Munchies has been noted in coverage by outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, and Variety for blending pop culture sensibilities with culinary reporting, influencing how audiences engage with chefs such as Heston Blumenthal and movements like farm-to-table through profiles that reference institutions like The White House dining events and advocacy groups including Slow Food. The vertical’s documentary style impacted culinary storytelling alongside peers such as Chef's Table and series featuring figures like Samin Nosrat and David Chang, while also informing discourse in food policy circles involving agencies like the USDA and NGOs such as Feeding America.
Munchies and its parent Vice Media have faced criticism related to workplace culture, editorial independence, and commercial partnerships, with reporting and commentary appearing in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Specific controversies intersected with broader Vice issues involving labor disputes, sexual-harassment allegations linked to media figures, and concerns about branded content transparency when working with corporations including PepsiCo, McDonald’s, and Starbucks. Critics from journalism and culinary sectors such as ProPublica and the Columbia Journalism Review have scrutinized practices around sponsored content and the balance between editorial integrity and revenue partnerships with advertisers and streaming partners like YouTube and Netflix.