5 Incredibly Calming Cooking Videos to Watch Today, of All Days
TikTok can be a great place to dig for new recipes, discover cool cooking hacks, or laugh at a grocery store musical — all things I normally use it for. But right now, the treasure trove of culinary content is serving a single purpose in my world: feeding me incredibly calming food videos.
It’s unlikely I will ever need to know how to cook eggs in concentric circles like a bullseye, but that doesn’t make it any less fun to watch someone do it to the sound of some upbeat music. And I’m not saying that watching tiny Chinese foods get cooked in a thimble-sized wok is a good use of my time during this absolutely anxiety-spiking week, but it’s almost certainly a better use of it than reading any of the cortisol-spiking things a friend’s relative posts on Facebook or that some pollster says on Twitter.
So, when things get weird and wild in the next 24-ish hours, I recommend you do as I do, and scroll through TikTok, curating your feed until it’s nothing but wizened old ladies preparing tiny traditional foods in the great outdoors to instrumental music. While there are some folks, like AwesomelySatisfying, who specialize in this sort of soothing content and occasionally delve into food, I’m sharing below a few favorite videos from my favorite creators that specialize in calming cooking.
Delightful Dough Flowers
Watching this user turn mounds of dough into rabbits, hearts, and all sorts of other objects — using only simple tools — is simultaneously thrilling and soothing. I love the fun of guessing the outcome, the fascinating way small slices make common shapes, and the simplicity of using dough to make art.
Watch the video here.
Tofu Skin Serenity
I started following this user for her feed full of people making jian bing — a Chinese street food that happens to be among my favorite foods. But there’s so much more. Perhaps the only thing as calming as watching people smooth batter on a spinning surface is this video of a tofu maker pulling the skin off and hanging it: the practiced fold, the gentle care in smoothing it, and, of course, the instrumental music piped over top.
Watch the video here.
Fish and Fro
Do I know why this man cooks all his meals outdoors? Absolutely not. Does it mean that even his videos of making rice take on a haunting beauty because the steaming is interspersed with rushing waterfalls? Yes. Do I love that he never fails to show himself lighting the fire? Of course, everyone’s inner pyromaniac finds that fascinating. Do I understand why he does this in a giant curly wig? No. As TikTok viewers, ours is not to reason why.
Watch the video here.
@feiandgrandparents A simple way to make chicken —chicken salad,you will like##fyp ##foryou ##cook ##food ##cookie
♬ original sound – Villiage life
Grandma’s Chicken Salad
There is truly nothing better in this world than this joy-filled grandmother, her husband who relishes her food, and her adult grandson who helps out as they cook. I will be flipping through this feed constantly for the week.
Watch the video here.
@localchinesefood that’s how noodles make ##tikttokers ##chinesefood ##funwithfood ##localfood
♬ original sound – Chinese eats what
Noodle Slide
This video’s got everything: an intriguing noodle-making method, chopsticks swishing in water, comically long noodles, a waterslide for your food, and, of course, people cooking outdoors. It comes from my favorite account of completely random food videos including sweet potato manipulation, commercial hot pot soup-making, and extremely satisfying deep-frying.
Watch the video here.