A few years back, videos online of people cooking teeny, tiny foods with actual edible ingredients started becoming majorly popular, and now, there are thankfully quite a few accounts doing the same on TikTok.
Scrolling aimlessly through your TikTok For You Page, you can come across some pretty random stuff. Sometimes you keep scrolling and other times it catches your eye and you fall down a rabbit hole of tangential content. So goes the story of me and these tiny food videos after I spotted some content by TikTok user @foodcreator6. The account only has five short videos so far but boasts over 50,000 followers which is further proof that people really love tiny things!
It's not only mesmerizing, but it's also truly impressive just how extravagant some of the mini meals are. @Foodcreator6 has videos of beef wellington, steak, braised pork, and pork buns, all of which use miniature ingredients and mini kitchen tools that actual work. Many miniature chefs use stoves powered by a tea light, and in the beef wellington TikTok, you can see a fully functioning little food processor.
These kinds of videos were popularized online around 2016, but the trend traces back to Japan and the cultural fascination with kawaii or "cuteness." Psychology also suggests that people love watching these videos because it brings a sense of accomplishment and mystical calmness.
There are tons of YouTube channels dedicated to videos of tiny cooking, and now that the trend has circled back to TikTok, it seems the phenomenon won't be slowing down soon, and for that I am oh, so thankful.
