Chaos Cooking Is Taking Over TikTok for All the Right Reasons

Embracing the unknown can be a scary proposition. But as TikTok is quickly learning, it can be a delicious one, too.

Over the last few weeks, the hashtag #ChaosCooking has taken over certain sections of the app, with nearly two million mentions to date. And though the cooking method is far from new, it's one every chef — including total beginners — can try. And love. 

First, a little history.

Chaos cooking, before becoming trend-ified, was born from the long line of chefs who looked in their fridges and thought to themselves, "Yeah, I can make something with this." Be it fusion cooking or, as some chefs called it a few years back, "con-fusion" cooking, the idea of tossing whatever you've got in a bowl and seeing what comes out has indeed created a few standout dishes. As Daily Meal pointed out, you can think of it via dishes like Wolfgang Puck's Buffalo Chicken Spring Rolls or, as Eater noted, the forever loved and loathed Sushirrito. The term even has a major moment in season two of "The Bear," proving professionals (albeit fictitious ones) are into the idea, too. 

But, for this new crop of social media chefs (both professionals and at-home cooks), it's creating something even better in the kitchen — a lack of fear of messing things up or having to get something "right."

"I joke around sometimes and say that my channel is inspirational and aspirational because I don't try to pretty it up," Matthew Bounds, whose TikTok account @YourBarefootNeighbor has amassed nearly one million followers thanks to its irreverence and its welcoming tone, shared with Food & Wine. "We're not doing these 'chefy' type things. We're just cooking normal food. And I think that's where a lot of people really gravitate toward it because it is not intimidating." 

As for why Bounds believes so many social media users love and engage with the hashtag, he says it comes down to relatability. 

"It just is what it is. Most people, when [they're] trying to cook a recipe, have to look at the recipe at least 15 times. Then, I will still mess up a step, or I realize that I forgot to get something at the grocery store. And so, I just leave it all in," he says. "I don't go back to the grocery store. I don't go to another grocery store if they don't have it. I just get what they have, and we make it work. I think that's real life for a lot of people." 

There is, however, an added benefit to all these mixed-up recipes: providing people with more confidence in the kitchen when they're ready to take the next step. 

"I'm still learning to cook every day, but I never aspired to be a Gordon Ramsay type. I don't call myself a chef; I'm just a guy who cooks stuff," Bounds says. But, once in a while, inspiration strikes to push himself. "I'm gonna be doing sous vide for the first time. We're going to go into it eyes wide open, no expectations, and we're all just gonna see how it turns out together." 

The good news for Bounds is, no matter how it turns out, it's all going to be OK. Because with chaos cooking, there is no "wrong." Only "try again tomorrow."