--- title: Food Trends: 'Kawaii' Cooking Is the Art of Making Tiny but Real Meals description: The incredibly cute culinary trend features real-life ingredients so the mini meals are actually edible canonical: https://time.com/3719905/food-trends-kawaii-cooking-miniature-meals/ author: Helen Regan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-24T06:58:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:34.470Z og:title: Kawaii Cooking Is the Cutest Culinary Trend Ever og:description: Mini edible meals are all over the Internet. og:url: https://time.com/3719905/food-trends-kawaii-cooking-miniature-meals/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kawaii Cooking Is the Cutest Culinary Trend Ever twitter:description: Mini edible meals are all over the Internet. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # See Why 'Kawaii Cooking' Has Become the Hottest Food Trend ## Video: The End Days of WD~50 [Watch (HLS stream): The End Days of WD~50](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yp56vTAs.m3u8) (2:11)  _Published 2014-12-08. One of the world’s most famous chefs prepares to close the doors on his landmark restaurant_ by [Helen Regan](https://time.com/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Feb 24, 2015 6:58 AM UTC by [Helen Regan](https://time.com/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Feb 24, 2015 6:58 AM UTC It’s the cutest culinary [trend](http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/tiny-food-cooking-videos/?fbdd&utm%5Fsource=huffingtonpost.com&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=pubexchange) ever: videos of tiny meals are exploding online. Old collectible miniature stoves, pots, pans and other cooking utensils, that wouldn’t be out of place in a Victorian dollhouse, are used to create mini edible cuisine, in an art form known as _kawaii_ cooking. (_Kawaii_ is the Japanese word for _cute_.) The recipes use real-life ingredients and are cooked over a small candle or flame so you can actually eat them. The craze started in Japan but has caught on worldwide, with thousands of followers posting videos of their creations and a host of YouTube channels dedicated to the pastime. It won’t fill you up, but it sure is satisfying to watch. \[[_Daily Dot_](http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/tiny-food-cooking-videos/?fbdd&utm%5Fsource=huffingtonpost.com&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=pubexchange)\] _Read next:_ [_This Machine Is Surprisingly Great at Playing the Violin_](http://time.com/3718929/kinetic-sculpture-machine-robow-plays-violin/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3719905/food-trends-kawaii-cooking-miniature-meals/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3719905/food-trends-kawaii-cooking-miniature-meals/"},"headline":"See Why 'Kawaii Cooking' Has Become the Hottest Food Trend","datePublished":"2015-02-24T06:58:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:34.470Z","description":"Stop everything you are doing and look at these tiny dishes!","url":"https://time.com/3719905/food-trends-kawaii-cooking-miniature-meals/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink","Bizarre","Videos","Cooking","meals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Helen Regan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/helen-regan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3719905/food-trends-kawaii-cooking-miniature-meals/","name":"See Why 'Kawaii Cooking' Has Become the Hottest Food Trend"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The End Days of WD~50","description":"One of the world’s most famous chefs prepares to close the doors on his landmark restaurant","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/yp56vTAs/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-08T17:13:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yp56vTAs.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3719905/food-trends-kawaii-cooking-miniature-meals/","duration":"PT2M11S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3719905/food-trends-kawaii-cooking-miniature-meals/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```