Why You Don't See Chefs' Faces In Tiny Food Videos

If you spend any amount of time on the internet (and chances are you do, because you're reading this), you're likely familiar with the concept of Tiny Food. However, if you've been living under a rock, here's Tiny Food in a nutshell: People create tiny versions of their favorite recipes using equally tiny kitchen sets.

Needless to say, the amount of time, effort, and talent that goes into crafting these videos is astounding. Probably very few of us have the patience to make TikTok's viral pancake cereal or dice already-microscopic ingredients for a dish that will only be the size of a bottle cap when completed. And yet, the Tiny Food content creators do it on a regular basis. TinyCakes, for instance, posts a new clip on TikTok for their 3 million followers nearly every day.

So, who are these chefs with the minuscule kitchens and seemingly endless dedication to their bite-size art form? And why do we never see their faces in any of these videos? Don't they want recognition for their efforts? The answer is simple, but it may surprise you. 

When it comes to Tiny Food chefs, many prefer to stay anonymous. In a YouTube video by Insider, one tiny chef said they keep their face out of their videos because they'd "rather have the channel focus solely on the art." Further, Tiny Food is about "making a small universe," and staying out of the shots lets viewers truly "immerse" themselves in the world.

Similarly, The Atlantic wrote that seeing a pair of "gigantic" hands working in a tiny kitchen is both "mesmerizing and weirdly funny." With only creators' hands cluing us in that both the food and kitchen are tiny, we can focus on the wonder of it all.

Although fans sometimes express curiosity about the chefs, many seem to understand the unspoken agreement of anonymity and are simply happy to view a tiny world through their eyes. One person commented on a Tiny Kitchen Instagram post, "I want a tiny kitchen to play in and forget all my troubles." Another compared the setup to that of a dollhouse. Sounds like the perfect chance to break out the trendy baking kit with finger-sized equipment!