Why TikTok Creators Are Pretending to Be Personal Cooks

TikTok is an encyclopedia of recipes and food-focused traits, from the viral baked feta pasta to a cookie and croissant hybrid, the place unusual treats are made much more scrumptious due to stunning components and progressive cooking strategies. One of many newest — and funniest — codecs driving meals content material on the platform? For the reason that summer season of 2023, a brand new wave of content material creators is taking on feeds by pretending to be non-public cooks. 

To take part within the development, influencers share a clip of themselves cooking a recipe for a “consumer,” who makes outrageous calls for and choices starting from requesting that the chef spends hundreds of {dollars} on the notoriously costly grocery chain Erewhon to nearly firing them for utilizing pre-minced garlic. However because the movies progress, it turns into clear from the creator’s sarcastic tone that the purported “consumer” is both themself or a member of the family.

This development has its roots in different widespread content material on social media. Actual non-public cooks have been posting on TikTok for years, sharing the method of meal prepping or full days of cooking at their shoppers’ houses in lofty locations such because the Hamptons or Beverly Hills. 

Creators like “Chef Bae” (recognized for customizing dairy- and gluten-free recipes for celebrities) and Jane Olivia (an Arizona-based non-public chef with a give attention to holistic diet), amongst many others, have constructed up strong followings by revealing what their work seems to be like — so it’s no shock that some customers wish to experiment with being a non-public chef in their very own approach.

Particularly widespread amongst life-style creators, the pretend non-public chef development is now one thing that many have adopted as a daily bit of their TikTok content material schedule. Jess Linnea (@jess.billings) usually posts movies of the meals she cooks as a “non-public chef for a high-profile man in his thirties” — in actuality, the consumer is her fianceé, photographer Alex Stemplewski. 

Claudia Harrington (@claudia.harrington) has amassed 492,000 followers on TikTok, and her hottest movies are of her appearing as a non-public chef for her dad and mom, whereas creator Maiya (@lifeasmaiya) has began a sequence that depicts her pretending to be a non-public chef day by day within the hopes she is going to ultimately turn into an actual one.

Probably the most widespread influencers pretending to be a non-public chef is Religion, a 25-year-old content material creator who posts beneath the deal with @faithsfresh. The avid dwelling prepare dinner has amassed 2.5 million followers due to her inventive dairy-free recipes, starting from chocolate-dipped ice cream bars to vegetable soup with grilled cheese croutons. She first started posting final summer season after being impressed by content material from actual non-public cooks. 

“I had by no means seen somebody tackle the non-public chef position, however for themselves. Each non-public chef on social media had precise shoppers, so I believed twisting it in order that I’m the consumer could be humorous,” she explains. “I additionally get pleasure from making enjoyable of myself within the movies, as a result of I really feel prefer it permits extra of my character and humor to indicate whereas I nonetheless get to do what I like, which is cooking.”

The movies have confirmed to be successful, with one explicit clip of Religion cooking crispy tuna rice bites racking up 29.6 million views to-date, and prompting different TikTok customers to recreate the recipe. 

The vast majority of her viewers understands Religion’s tongue-in-cheek movies, however she does obtain the occasional hateful remark from accounts that don’t understand she’s joking. Playful remarks like “My consumer lets her cats stroll on the counters, it’s sort of disgusting” or “I can’t bear in mind the final time my consumer ate a vegetable” are the sort of lighthearted jabs that may be misunderstood. 

The content material creator notes that “the general public who don’t get it at all times really feel the necessity to [tear me apart] within the feedback for my ‘disrespect,’ which simply makes me snort as a result of I’m actually speaking about myself.”

Discovering inspiration from social media and her favourite eating places, Religion says that she develops a recipe as she goes alongside, adapting it to her and her husband’s wants. 

“As soon as I resolve what I wish to make, I simply begin going at it and hope it seems [well]. Fortunately 99% of the time it does. I additionally lately began doing a brand new sequence on my web page the place I prepare dinner meals for my husband [another of Faith’s clients] who’s tremendous choosy, which has allowed me to get extra inventive within the kitchen and make meals I usually wouldn’t because of my intolerances.”

What do actual non-public cooks take into consideration this development?

Interested by what skilled cooks consider folks pretending to be like them, I consulted Atilla Çetiner, a non-public chef at Kaya Palazzo Golf Resort Belek in Antalya, Türkiye. His duties differ from day after day and are largely formed by his company’ requests, dietary preferences, allergy symptoms, and dietary wants.

Working as a non-public chef is rewarding for Çetiner, and he thinks posing as one can empower dwelling cooks, commenting that “loving what you do and bringing vitality into the kitchen is vital for any chef, and role-playing as a non-public chef may be simply as helpful.”

Çetiner believes that the development might help folks additional develop their cooking skills, and that the content material would possibly encourage each creators and viewers to strive extra advanced recipes and new components. 

Religion is an ideal instance of this — she’d by no means made focaccia earlier than being challenged by mates to strive it for her channel, and he or she usually experiments with strategies or processes that some dwelling cooks is likely to be intimidated by, like making cashew milk from scratch or leveraging starches so as to add crispiness.

Why ought to dwelling cooks fake to be their very own non-public chef?

Even in the event you’re not a content material creator profiting from this development to get views, taking part in as your individual non-public chef can foster creativity at dwelling.

As somebody who lives alone in a small studio house with restricted area and home equipment — to not point out a busy schedule — it may be tough to remain motivated to commonly prepare dinner a full meal. Consuming pretend non-public chef content material has helped convey again my love of cooking, and I’ve discovered that these creators normally develop recipes that cater to a wide range of completely different talent ranges, areas, and time constraints. This, in flip, has impressed me to check out their completely different dishes, even on the times once I don’t notably really feel like making a meal from scratch. 

Cooking has been a good way to handle my very own psychological well being, and Dietitian Nutritionist and founding father of Wellness Intelligence Patricia Bannan confirms that the playfulness of the fake non-public chef development can have psychological and emotional advantages.

“By elevating the eating expertise, people can domesticate a deeper appreciation for his or her meals and the trouble that goes into making ready it,” she notes. “This aware strategy to consuming might improve the general enjoyment of meals, scale back stress, and foster a larger connection to the meals being consumed.”

Pretending to be your individual non-public chef makes meal occasions extra of an occasion and fewer of a chore, which in flip creates a way of satisfaction and a eating expertise that’s centered on taste, components, and presentation somewhat than comfort. After engaged on a rigorously curated meal, you’ll really feel achieved and such as you did one thing for your self (AKA, your consumer).

 For Religion, the primary advantages of pretending to be a non-public chef embrace turning into more and more proficient within the kitchen and testing out dishes or strategies that she won’t be aware of. It has helped her progress her kitchen abilities and create a profession out of one thing she is keen about — even with out formal culinary coaching. 

“After I first began to prepare dinner for myself in school, I’d normally find yourself simply throwing a bunch of stuff within the oven after which slathering it in mustard. I want I used to be kidding, I’m obsessive about mustard,” she says. “However creating content material is enjoyable as a result of it forces me to aim to make new issues, and I really feel like aesthetically plating the meals is simply one other inventive avenue that I’ve enjoyable taking part in with.”

In the end, the pretend non-public chef development is one thing that everybody can lean into, from skilled cooks to newcomers, and individuals who have little interest in cooking however benefit from the humor behind the movies. It’s an accessible type of content material that may be tailored to many talent ranges, with a “pretend it ‘til you make it” mindset that may encourage us all to be slightly extra adventurous.