Is this the time of year where Future Canoe reminds you that even though things are fine at the moment, you never know when life is going to kick you in the crotch, give you a wedgie, and spit in your face? That's why it's important to

keep struggle meal recipes around. For the past year, I've been receiving recipes from a lot of you guys. Our community is super diverse, so today's categories will be based on continents. We're going around the world to learn about the most down-to-earth parts of our

[Music] cultures. First, we've got to start with an American classic, and no, it's not apple pie. After piercing the bottom with the ligma fork, I'll show you the filling of this pie. Now, what is this, you ask? Exactly what you think it is: the source

of life: aqua! This is a recipe from the Great Depression era called the water pie, and I'm going to show you another pie recipe at the end of the video from this same time period that's even crazier than this. On top of the water, we'll put in 4 tbsp of flour. Apparently,

we're not supposed to whisk it or anything; we just got to sprinkle it on top. Same for the sugar: a whole cup, sprinkled. I guess maybe heating it up later is going to evenly mix it; everything kind of just clumps up and falls to the bottom.

I'm starting to question this method. We'll flavor it with a splash of dessert MSG and top it off with 6 tablespoons of butter, again sprinkled on top. Into the oven at 400° for 30 minutes. First, it's not looking really good, let me just say...

that we reduce the oven to 375, covered with foil, and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Maybe I should have oiled it up first, but after doing some surgery, we'll release the pie and set it in the fridge to cool for at least 2 hours.

To my surprise, the pie actually completely solidified! Butter, flour, and water... I guess we're just eating sweetened up roux at this point. This is looking very unappetizing; I don't really want to eat it, so we've got to do something to improve the appearance.

I feel like putting fruits or whipped cream on top will be changing the nature of this struggle meal, so I'm just going to add some sugar and do a brûlée finish. Looking much better—like a crème brûlée, but off-color. I would cut it from the middle, but it's already a watery pie, so I don't need to destroy it any further.

What do you guys think? Doesn't this look so legit? I feel like if you told me this is like a pumpkin pie, I'd believe it. So let's give it a taste!

Flavor-wise, it's pretty much just vanilla, and the store-bought crust isn't that nice, but this exceeds my expectations so much that, as a struggle meal, I'm going to have to give it a 9.1. If this YouTube thing doesn't work out,

I'll become a water bender! So the sequence of the recipes will be based on my YouTube analytics, and it seems people from these four countries make up most of my subscriber base; hence, these are my favorite countries. Our next video coming up is going to be a family recipe from around the

World, and we're improving our recipe submission method this time. If you want to contribute with your family recipe, fill out this Google Form. I'll link it in the description. I'll save your responses and go from there. Moving on to Europe, our first recipe is from Germany, called

the Toast Hawaii. This is sent from Bee, and nothing about it seems German so far. So we've got two pieces of toast, and we've got to layer them up with ham. Did you notice that I cut the circles in half to cover the corners like a caring mother? Next,

intuitively, we've got to put pineapple on top. I can't find the slices, so we're going to have to go with crushed. Finally, topping it off with a slice of American cheese. I didn't know they sell those in Germany. Oven at 350 for 5 minutes after

the cheese melts. Though Bee told us to garnish it with a cocktail cherry, we're making struggle meals; we're not insane. So I'm just going to garnish the toast with another piece of toast, turn it into a sandwich, cut it diagonally like a pro,

have a cross-section inspection, give the taste, and read one through. I think this bite was starting to be a plane ticket to Germany, but somehow an emergency landed in the eastern part of Washington state. It tastes like a bad Hawaiian pizza. I'll give it a 7 out of

10. Do German people actually eat this? Let me know in the comments. Moving a little bit southward, arriving at the land of social security. This recipe is a Swiss classic from JJ, not the JJ in the thick of it, but the JJ in the Swiss of it. After two slices of

Put a layer on top. My never-ending... the Vermont block is running out. Our next trip is going to be to Minnesota, and we'll just broil till the cheese melts again. We've got to turn it into a sandwich; that's how we pay respect to

Wonder Bread, and then bite down the middle just to disrespect it. This is just a great sandwich. The Swiss quality of life is so high that their struggle meal is pretty much my luxury breakfast. I'll just skip rating it, cuz it doesn't really count.

From the UK, they suggested a toast sandwich, but not just any toasted sandwich; it's a sandwich with a piece of toast in the middle. So while the toasts are toasting in the toaster, we'll soak the other toast with butter to go

into the other toast. Season it on top with your sister sauce, put it in the middle. You probably need more butter and seasoning than this, honestly. If I don't look at the crust, I wouldn't know the middle is just a piece of bread. It is moments like this I get

reminded how good butter is. The inside is so moist and flavorful; it's almost juicy. This is a 10/10. I guess British cuisine is taking the lead in the struggle meal category. Beans on toast is already struggling enough on its own, but yeah, Salugi over here is

giving us a variation. To the beans, we're going to add a teaspoon of curry powder. We went through the whole colonial period just for this step to happen. This is starting to look like that bashi spiderweb soybean thing, and

Connor here asked me to use 'ret', but if they're using American cheese in Germany, it's going on top of the beans. We're putting it in the oven to melt it. The curry powder is making it look a little yellowish. The curry flavor works really well with the sweetness of the baked

beans. The cheese, I can do without that, but still, I'm very impressed. I've been eating baked beans for so long, never thought of putting curry in it! Another high score: 8.5. British people know what's up!

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Check out the link in the description and try it out for yourself! So, Hex/C calls this the Polish applesauce pasta. I was afraid that it's going to be what I think it is, and it is. We're cooking the apple slices in butter, sugar, and cinnamon.

a mound of sugar, so maple syrup again. We'll simmer that on medium-low till it's slightly caramelized. And very unapologetically, we'll add in the macaroni. I would be a little grossed out if it weren't for what I'm about to do

at the end of the video, so I'll keep an open mind and give it a taste. It's like an apple crumble, but instead of brown sugar oatmeal on top, it's slimy macaroni. It's not that bad! It's like biting into an apple, but

there's a bunch of worms in it. I'll still eat it though! I'll give it a 5 out of 10. Since we're already in Poland, we're doing another recipe in the general Slavic area. It's a strawberry pasta. What's up with Slavic people

putting fruits into pasta? So, to whole strawberries, we're adding sugar and some heavy cream. I don't have cream here; I'm using milk. Mash it up into a sauce consistency and then, very unapologetically again, adding the pasta. I see what they're doing here; they're

trying to pretend it's Bolognese. I mean, tomato is a fruit. [Music] This finished recipe is from Teo. Right, a struggle meal from Teo. Didn't know it can get like that. Teo told us to cook the beef and onions until it's nice and gray.

And I realized my ground beef is already nice and gray. Which shade of gray is this? So we sauté the onions and beef till it's even more nice and gray. Season with salt and just a little bit of ketchup. We add in the macaroni finally.

Feeling like a real pasta dish. Let's just give it a taste straight out of the pan. It tastes pretty good. Apparently, this is a well-known dish in Finland called "NY pasta." Lacking a bit of creativity, it's like a picky American kid's meal. I'll give it a 6 out of 10.

Using the same beef mixture, we'll put it on a piece of toast. I was only going to do one German recipe, but this guy is hella persistent, so we're going to give his German lasagna a try. After a layer of meat, we'll put some sauce, which is ketchup,

help with another layer of toast, toast and cheese. Okay, I have to say this is the best-looking sandwich we've made today so far, and I see what Felix meant about lasagna, cuz this is layers of different stuff. The cooking process is a little complicated, but other than that, this is

totally a German sloppy joe. 8.7 out of 10. All the way from Spain, my real mom calls it the arroz a la cubana. I took Spanish for half a semester in high school, but I think that means Cuban rice. To start, we'll crack one egg into the

pan and also sear... have a banana. Okay, don't judge me because all of you will be doing the same thing. The intrusive thought is too strong, so I'm just going to do it. Feels much better. We'll just let this sit up when the eggs are cooked through.

We'll plate it up like a true artist. That looks like it hurt! Now, to finish the rose alak kubana, we're going to top it off with some rice and, optionally, we're going to go above and beyond and season it with some tomato sauce. Looks like a healthy, balanced

flavorful breakfast to me, but haters gonna say I have middle-school humor. We've got to get everything onto this rice scoop and take a very well-rounded bite. I like the combination of eggs and tomatoes and rice, but the banana in there is bringing in some tropical

dessert flavor that doesn't really work with the egg. This dish looks the best so far, but I'm going to have to give it a 5 out of 10. Diana from Ireland sent us the recipe. She calls them "crew beans," which is funny, cuz I'm such a "cool beans." I was a little

concerned that she straight-up asked for pig's feet. I'm not really into pig's feet. What's more concerning is that my local grocery store had them readily available. Starting to second-guess the type of community I'm a part of. So, according to Diana, we've got to boil the

feet with no salt, so I guess we're going all out. Really got to soak up those toes. We'll let this boil for a long, long time—like 2 hours—to aromatize my apartment. Later, when it's cooled, we'll just pull the meat and collagen off the

bones. This step is more complicated than I thought—an intimate session of holding hands with a pig, which is terminology my ex-girlfriend uses when she talks about me to her friends. The pieces are a little too big, so I'm going to chop it up and season it with a lot of salt and

pepper, garlic powder, and the remainder of my cheddar cheese. We let the mixture sit overnight to settle. After a whole night in the fridge, all the collagen in the feet firmed up, just like how microneedling firmed up my sister's face. Well,

cut it into long strips. The goal here is to trick my roommate into eating them, thinking they're mozzarella sticks. Following a standard breading procedure of flour, egg, and panko...

something tells me this is not an authentic Irish version of a crubeen. All this work spent on feet, and now all I have is fried bits of jelly. It's actually not that bad; it tastes like a more tender version of salami. It's better than that—it's fatty,

salty; the crispy bits contrast with the soft texture of the feet. I'll give it an 8.5 out of 10. I'm totally digging this! I wonder how good the real thing tastes. Our next recipe is from Yan. She's

an American college student sharing a dorm room meal. All dorm room meals qualify for this episode, because all college students struggle. I'm making this recipe because I feel bad for her, because she went to a college that's not worth going to. And since she mentioned it, I guess we'll

call this recipe "The Hotel Breakfast." So, some oats, crack an egg, pour some water, mix that in, throw some spinach in at the end. Spinach is my favorite vegetable because I can't really taste it. I'm going to microwave this for about a minute or so. Another great part

About spinach is how relatable it is. After it's finished, it shrinks into almost disappearing. I really hate oatmeal because it's like horse food, but let's give it a taste and see. The egg in there helps a lot; it makes it taste less sad and kind of creamy, too.

With the vegetable and the whole grain oats, it's really balanced. It's pretty smart; I'll give this a high score of four out of 10. Our friend Zip Z. Zipper calls it the Canadian poutine, which is great. I feel like I haven't had KFC since high school.

So basically, just layering fries, gravy, and cheese on top. I got the chicken tender combo, so I'm going to cut a few pieces of the tenders, add gravy and American cheese, and put it in the oven for about 5

minutes. My first bite of poutine in my life! It's amazing; I love it! I feel like generally Americans like to rag on Canadians for absolutely no reason, just because they think they're cool or something. Only the lamest losers in America will

talk negatively about Canada. Like this dish over here, it tastes great. It's KFC ingredients—an American franchise—topped with American cheese because Canada doesn't have...

[Music] We're entering the Asia category, so be prepared to see a lot of rice. Our boy Chain recommended this traditional

stovetop meal of lard over rice. I think it would be better with bacon grease. I don't have any right now, so I'm just going to use my never-ending duck fat. I heated some up just to, you know, kill off potential bacteria and

This is like a fried rice; we'll mix the fat into it, just simply season with soy sauce. I was kind of joking when I said fried rice earlier, but it tastes exactly like that. It has a very balanced mouthfeel; you probably need a good quality

soy sauce though, cuz it's the only flavor there. 7/10. Our next recipe is from my PO Box, along with some gifts. When you send me gifts, you get special treatment! This is called a Tamago Kake Gohan. It's very

simple; it's just cracking one egg into rice and whipping it like there's no tomorrow. Together, we would beat it on the couch, but I'm kind of tired. When the egg gets really fluffy and coats the rice, we put it in the ramekin, sprinkle a layer of

furikake. This is like a seaweed crème brûlée over here. It kind of tastes like heavy cream or mayonnaise over rice, and I forgot to season it, so I can totally see this going sweet or savory, both ways. I'm going to put some soy sauce in it,

probably going to make it [Music] better. Anyways, Jennifer sent me a bunch of snacks, so we're going to make her recipe. Basically, we just want to boil a bunch of rice till it's nice and creamy, and after about 20 minutes, we'll crumble

an entire piece of soft tofu into the rice. You know what this reminds me of? Baking tofu, like how Auntie Helen, Big Uncle Roger...Hot! If it's too dry, add some water and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Finally, season with salt, MSG, or

A big tablespoon of chili oil. This is looking like... what I don't really want to say here, but let's give it a taste. And... red!  It tastes like the second half of working through a tofu soup; could use more seasoning, so I'm going to give it some.

Potential: an 8 out of 10. Moving on to one of my favorite countries! We're doing a sweet version of Ro tea. The problem is, I can't find Ro tea, and I don't really want to get Nutella right now because when I get it,

I have to finish the jar within 2 days. We're going to improvise and make a caramel sugar non. So we start with a bunch of sugar in the pan and char it [Applause]. Put a piece of naan into it to coat it

all over, and then finally drizzle the caramel on top. Didn't get the sugar temperature right, but I think a naan tanghulu would be pretty cool. I do enjoy, in life and dessert, the occasional bitterness, but this is completely... uh... charred! Totally my fault. I

will take Shen's word and give Ro (with Nutella) a 9 out of 10. Also, I've been wondering what this scent I've been sniffing is, and I realized I put a plastic plate on a burning hot stove. I guess the old "future Cano" is coming back for the

rest of the episode. Another Taiwan recipe, another block of rice, cuz some stereotypes just write themselves! This recipe is from Denise Go. I don't know if she's Taiwanese, but she's specifying meat floss, and I think that's a Taiwanese product, so we're just going to group

This Taiwanese rice porridge is made by boiling rice until it becomes creamy. We add chopped sweet potatoes and boil for about 20 minutes, adding water as needed. The rice will break down, and the sugar from the sweet potatoes will be released, creating a texture similar to pumpkin pie (but in reverse).

Here's why I chose this recipe: We bought a whole box of meat floss for a previous Taiwanese recipe, and I needed to use it up.  We'll add a lot of it to this porridge. Let's also add some furikake—it's a South Asian equivalent of oatmeal with beef jerky.

I didn't expect how good the macros are; meat floss is basically protein powder.  The seaweed in the furikake is overpowering, though; it steams and releases a fishy flavor that clashes with the meat floss and the sweetness of the potatoes.

Other than that, it's sweet, salty, creamy, and comforting—all the good stuff! I'd give it a 9 out of 10.

Jack McC sent us a recipe from Down Under. Obviously, we had to use Vegemite! I don't think I've ever said this out loud, but I'm a huge fan of Vegemite. It tastes like umami and costs under $5!

How can people be obsessed with miso paste and other fermented sauces, yet sleep on Vegemite?

Know it has all the flavor you need, and it can go on any type of carbohydrate. Anyways, put a slice of cheese on top and just toast it. It kind of tastes similar to American cheese, since the rating of this one is very dependent on my opinion on veggie...

might... I'm not going to rate it. This next one from Janet is an Australian sushi. It's basically, instead of a piece of fish, it's a piece of avocado on top. I mean, I guess I already pay extra for avocado when I get my poke bowls; this would just

be without fish. We season it just like salmon: some soy sauce or wasabi, if you want. I cannot believe my own tongue right now, even though it always lets me and other people down. I really think I'm eating salmon, but not just any salmon—the best salmon I've ever had. I guess

when something's full of unsaturated fat, you can't really tell the difference. I can't believe how good this is! Why have you guys been hiding this from me? I'll give this a 9.5 out of 10. I cannot believe this; how did that go through my life?

[Music]  Another depressingly great recipe from the Great Depression era. This is an official Ritz recipe; used to be written on the back of the Ritz box. The company claims that this is what it's going to look like at the end. I highly

doubt that... I've told you guys this before: apple pie is my favorite dessert. It's what made America great in the first place, and this is going to be great. I haven't had Ritz since high school, and this time, no bully is going

to take it away from me for making the thing. Right now, the recipe requires exactly 30 crackers; the whole sleeve is 30, that'll make my life so much easier and show a great marketing strategy from the company. Unfortunately, a whole sleeve is 32. I guess I'll just eat it when I

became an adult, I realized that science is not for the enlargement of intellectual imagination; it's for getting people what they don't deserve. The chemistry over here is 2 cups of water, a cup of sugar, two teaspoons of cream of tartar, which is going to bring out that

apple tart flavor, and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Once that comes to a boil, we'll drop the whole crackers in, and then don't touch it. Boil for about 10 minutes. I'm going to stir it a little bit, cuz I'm getting a little concerned, but you

don't have to do that. So, to complete the apple flavor profile, we're going to squeeze in a little bit of lemon juice. And after preparing the pie crust, we'll pour the whole pot into it. Set that aside; we'll work on our crumble. Personally, I much prefer a

closed pie, but I think crumble is the most popular. To a cup of crushed Ritz crackers, we'll add about half a cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of butter. Season with cinnamon. I guess the strategy here is not even to imitate the

flavor and texture of apples; it's playing on the flavor association of cinnamon. I guess the corporate chef at Ritz understands the absolute rule of cooking: that people are gullible. We'll evenly distribute the crumble on top, and from a distance, it looks just like an apple pie.

So let's close up the distance and it looks even more like an apple pie.  These wet pieces of Ritz have a uncanny resemblance to cooked apples. The first round of baking is at 425 for 15 minutes, and then lower the heat to 375 for another

20 minutes. This is what it looks like after baking. We're stepping into the scary category, so I'm going to let it sit in the fridge. We'll evaluate overnight. Stepping into risky business over here again, holding back the urge to cut it from the middle, cuz I'm actually

curious to what this thing looks like. I have to say this is some insane stuff. It's crazy to think that 100 years ago somebody came up with this in a lab. We have to give it a serious taste and rate it. 11/10? No way! No

way! It's not even a mock apple pie anymore; it kind of tastes even better than apple pie! The texture is just so soft and tender; it meets my teeth very well, and the acidity is nice, too. Take a look at the filling; could you tell that was

cracker? I didn't switch it out mid-way through cooking just for the video, by the way. You guys know I'm way too lazy to fake videos. Definitely a 9.8 out of 10! Oh my God! Anyways, thank you for those of you who shared recipes with us. I

chose the concept of 'struggle meals' around the world to demonstrate that across the globe we have the innate ability to make the best in the midst of a tough time. Not everyone's born with a silver spoon in their mouth, and not every chef cooks with Wagyu and caviar.

When you're holding a pack of instant noodles and have a monotone voice, you make the best of what you have. And I have faith in all of us that we can see the opportunities we've been given and persevere for a better tomorrow, I think.

That's what struggle meals are about, I think. That's what this community is about. I cannot be more grateful for the 3 million of us. All right, thank you.

Struggle Meals Around The World | My Subscribers' Recipes

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