'Binging With Babish' cookbook features recipes from films and TV

This image released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt shows a wild mushroom soup recipe, inspired by an episode of Seinfeld, from the cookbook, Binging with Babish: 100 Recipes Recreated from Your Favorite Movies and TV Shows, by Andrew Rea. (Evan Sung/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via AP)

It all started with a fictional turkey burger. Andrew Rea’s YouTube video series Binging With Babish was born in 2016 when he attempted to recreate the “fussy little burger” described in elaborate detail by Rob Lowe’s character Chris Traeger on a third-season episode of Parks and Recreation. Hungry viewers were soon clamoring for more recipes based on foods that appear or get mentioned in movies or TV episodes, and Rea had a new career on his hands.

Now he has a new cookbook: Binging with Babish: 100 Recipes Recreated from Your Favorite Movies and TV Shows (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). And while the premise might sound more silly than serious, the book – like the video series – is actually full of real meals and desserts that transcend their sometimes ridiculous fictional origins.