A Lilliputian kitchen: This kitchen is in your hands literally

NT Features

What looks like a giant hand pours some water into a skittle to prepare tea. The tiny skittle is placed on a tea candle to boil. The host then adds a pinch of tea dust and sugar. The hand then delicately strains the tea into the teapot using a filter paper. A voise says, “It is said that tea brings happiness, so serve it hot with some cheeselings to turn the evening tea break into a fascinating experience.” Then the video dissolves into the cups waiting on a match-box sized dining table.

Videos of miniature cooking are going viral. So why is this such a rage on the internet? It appears that these tiny captivating creations fascinate viewers. In Japanese culture, tiny food epitomizes an art form. In any culture, small is cute, small is aesthetic, small pulls at the heart strings.

These enchanting kitchens aren’t limited to Japan. You can find them on the Indian blogosphere too. In this video, it’s dosa for breakfast today. The batter is prepared in the traditional way. But instead of frying it on a stove, it’s fried on a mini stove lit by a candle on a tiny frying pan. A crisp dosa, of a size suited to a family of ants, lands on the plate.

But that’s not it! Tiny kitchen lovers have tried their hand at desserts too. To name a few, we found videos on full-fledged recipes of desserts like rasmalai, paneer jalebi, and not to forget the adorable finger-ring sized doughnuts.

Another captivating video begins with the host using a pin-sized rolling pin on a board to roll the dough. She then cuts out perfectly round doughnuts and lets them sit. Then she fries and glazes the minuscule doughnuts ending with sprinkling them with jimmies. Just so you don’t forget, you can gobble them all up in one go.

The videos on miniature spaces are presented without music, and at times, also without any narration that is usually present in other cooking tutorials. The reason being that they are not actual cooking tutorials. Their enjoyment value comes from watching and hearing someone else perform with precision.

The fascinating sounds in the video comprise the spattering sounds of tadka, the gurgling of the boiling water, and the sprinkling of a dash of masalas.

Explaining why she was “obsessed” with this subgenre, Farah says, “Watching miniatures is something that gives you control. You can set up this tiny undisturbed universe to look exactly how you want it to.These videos are a total throwback to your childhood and watching them feels satisfying and meditative.”

These videos not only are a source of gratification but also take us on a nostalgic ride to our good-old childhood days. Parul, a business analyst, says that the tiny kitchen reminds her of the dollhouses she and her cousins played with when little girls. The little gang would cook using candles as stoves. “We would tiptoe into our grandmother’s kitchen and pick the smallest bowls and use them as vessels in our choti kitchen, says Parul

Sometimes it’s not cooking, but just the thought of baking a cake that scares you of the chaos you’d cause in the kitchen. “With flour not just on the kitchen counter, but all over you. Baking could be a nightmare. You could also lose control over things,” says Shalini. But watching a miniature cooking video gives the viewer a sense of control. “You can mess up but the ingredients and everything else still remains under your control,” concludes Shalini, a miniature cooking enthusiast.

Miniature food tutorials bestow the viewers with a sense of control and satisfaction. Working with food gives comfort and joy. The images are not only nourishing but enticing: the tiny refrigerator that holds one strawberry on an entire shelf, or the jar grinding a few a few grains of dal is fascinating.

It doesn’t matter if your life is chaotic. It’s very reassuring to know– there is this world out there that you can control. This tiny thing is in your hands, you can deal with it.