Q&A With ‘Dinner Is A Show’ Webseries’ Kerstin Norburn

Meet a Foodie is our new Q&A series featuring cool foodies who are up to some awesome stuff – whether they’re running a wildly successful restaurant, revolutionizing the way we cook and eat, or just doing new and fun things with food. Know of a foodie doing great things? Let me know!

I have a firm belief that if you add googly eyes to anything, it’ll be adorable. While I was working from home after graduating from film school, I actually made paper googly eyes for my recliner and fireplace, because they looked so much more fun that way. So when Dinner is a Show shared one of its videos with me on Facebook, I took a liking to it immediately, since it features many of my favorite things: Food, googly eyes, puns, cute stuff, and awesome creativity with video!

Dinner is a Show is webseries that follows the super cute adventures and misadventures of various foods by Kerstin Norburn, who is based in Melbourne, Australia. If you’ve ever wanted to see a club sandwich as a nightclub, what it’s like for eggs as they’re hard-boiled, or Banh Mi’s misunderstanding of their name on a sign, you’re in luck, because Dinner is a Show has that and so much more on its YouTube channel. And yes, the food is real.

Norburn was nice enough to take the time out to speak with me about the webseries and her favorite places to eat in Melbourne, as well as share some awesome photos from the series. Check out my Q&A with Kerstin below!

What inspired you to start making these food shorts?

I love the backstory of food. I love that when you think about different types of food generally they all have a story to tell. So Celery thinks she’s fat. Carrots always hang around in a bunch. A roast can be both a meat meal and a good natured public ribbing. So in fact Dinner, becomes the show.

I was originally going to make a series where actors dressed in food costumes but it all got way too complicated. I wanted something that was fast and fun and, I guess, fresh. It’s a low-fi production for sure, but for me that’s a definite part of the appeal.

And of course, I really like puns. So any sort of food pun is going to inspire. Kebab-eret, Sand-witches, Julius Caesar Salad. The possibilities are endless.

How did you get started with the first one? Is there anything that usually inspires each video?

I think the first one we filmed was On The Rocks, a tragic love story of two Oysters. We went down to the local beach with a couple of oysters and some stick on eyes and went from there.

The first one I wrote is yet to be finished. Called Twelve Angry Dinner Pieces it’s about Chicken marinating and how while they start off very different ingredients, over time, they find out what they have in common.

What’s the typical process like of making one of the videos?

I write the scripts often depending on what food I’m thinking about. So that could be what we’re having for dinner, or what we’ve eaten out, or something I’ve seen online but certainly what’s in season.

We rope in friends and family to record the voices. Luckily, we have a couple of friends who are actors so they certainly help bring the episodes to life. But often the voices are our own.

The filming is certainly what I would call ‘fast food making’. The videos are mainly shot at home just using my iPhone (and it’s not even a 6). My partner is in charge of staging (that’s a very big term for a very relaxed situation) and moves the food with a toothpick.

Then I edit them, add some sound effects and they’re ready to be devoured by the public.

What was your favorite video to make? Which one was the most challenging?

They’re all really fun to make. I get a such a thrill from them. When you put eyes on a piece of food it sounds stupid but it really comes to life. So, as for a favourite…Well we do eat the food after filming and the day we made Banh Mi I was very hungry so maybe that one? Or Pikelets? S’Pies? Oh, I love Beet It, too.

The challenging ones are either the ones with very small characters (I don’t think I’ll be making another video with chick peas and I have an idea Against the Grain using barley but no idea how to film it) but also when we were at the beach filming When The Chips Are Down…the local seagulls were quite delighted with us bringing them lunch. We had to film super fast.

Googly eyes – some folks think they’re cute, others think they’re creepy (I think they’re cute). Personally, where do you stand on the topic?

CUTE!!! No discussion. CUTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEE.

When you’re looking through the phone filming and an eye falls out THEN it’s creepy. It’s like a little horror show. We gasp in fear.

Which food do you hope to work with that you haven’t worked with yet?

Some exotic ingredients that require us to travel to far off fabulous places to acquire and film them.

What is your favorite food?

Too many to name. Garlic in all it’s forms is up there. But that could be because I’m still tasting last nights cauliflower with garlic labne, olives and currants.

WhERE are some of your favorite places to eat?

We’re spoilt for choice here. We live in a great foodie area, Collingwood in Melbourne. Lots of great exciting restaurants, lots of pop ups. I’ll list a few of our favourites…

• Lazerpig for great pizza
• Gertrude Street Enoteca for general loveliness
• Rockwell and Sons for funky fun food
• Anada for super Spanish
• Smith St Alimentari for deli deliciousness
• Major Major for a brilliant breakfast
• Great Ramen and Korean and burgers and Asian and …the list goes on and on and on
• Oh and then it would be wrong not to finish your night with a cocktail or two at The Everleigh

Be sure to follow Dinner is a Show on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook!

Images Courtesy of Dinner is a Show