Coming to audiences live from his modest tree stump, one of the Internet’s biggest stars isn’t a TikToker or a gamer. He is an herbivore named Tiny Chef, who stands proudly at 8 inches tall. He goes by many names (The Chef and Cheffy, for starters) and has many talents, some of which include baking miniature desserts, prepping teeny vegetables, playing his tiny banjo, and Irish dancing. We can’t get enough of him and The Tiny Chef Show.
Created by The Tiny Team, the show is a series of stop motion videos of the Chef cooking, sharing and entertaining over 602,000 followers on Instagram alone. The show won the 2021 Webby Award for Weird in Social, and a 2021 People’s Voice Award for Arts & Entertainment in Social Series.
We spoke Adam Reid (affectionately called Madam) and the Chef himself about what inspired them to create their fun cooking show, and what lesson the chef would like viewers to walk away with.
What inspires you to teach children plant-based cooking?
Tiny Chef: Cooking esh for evwybody and as I blaways shay, teachem’ young an theyll faw in lub fo wife.
Can you give us a window into this process and how long it takes to produce your cooking videos?
Tiny Chef: Blell, I jusht shing and cook and do my fing and the tiny team wooks frough all dat footage. I dont weawy know actuawwy. Ask Bozi or Madam or Bashem or Bashel or Miss Mate.
Madam: It does take a small village to make each video of Tiny Chef’s as special as can be. On average, a single minute of cooking in Chef’s kitchen can take 1-2 weeks from start to finish, depending on how complicated the recipe is!
What lessons do you hope people take away from The Tiny Chef Show?
Tiny Chef: Blenjoy yourshelf in evwyfing you do.
Madam: I feel there’s so much we can all take away from Cheffy and how he handles himself in his tiny kitchen. His passion, his kindness and empathy for all creatures. One of my very favorite things Chef says is “Be Bold and Take Whisks.”
What did your Webby win mean for you and the team?
Tiny Chef: Abshowutewy evwyfing.
Madam: We were all overjoyed about Chef’s Webby win and I think it really gave him a boost when he needed it most. This is his audience, and they are the ones that vote, so I think that kind of LUB means more than anything there is and Cheffy really felt that deeply. He STILL talks about it. And not when it’s really the subject, he’ll just work in his Webby award mid-conversation.
What’s next for you?
Tiny Chef: I’m heading to da Manchestow Blacademy of Cooking Show Hoshts wif da team where I’m gonna hone my skiwwz. Fank you.
Madam: Chef is heading to The Manchester Academy for Cooking Show Hosts (aka MACSH.ORG) in England! We are all so excited to see what comes next for him and the Tiny Team is here to support him 200% in all his tiny endeavors.
