Shouting Chinese chef stirs up buzz on social media

Yelling and cooking have proven a recipe for success for one chef in China, where his shouty how-to videos have recently gone viral.

Between Sina Weibo and video platform Kuaishou, Yi Zhuo of Yueyang, Hunan Province has collected nearly 1.5 million followers for his fun 17-second cooking clips. The main ingredient is screaming. “Add water! Beer! Put in the meat! Salt! Oil!” the twenty-something chef yells in a clip teaching how to make braised pork.

Yi’s nearly 400 fast-paced videos cover a wide range of Chinese cuisines, from his spicy native Hunanese to Western desserts. “My followers tell me to calm down and they’ll learn, but I am actually not bad-tempered,” said Yi.

Often seen flinging bowls, plates and utensils, Yi said he purposefully creates a cacophony to show his viewers that cooking can be fun.

The drill sergeant-style commands, however, are just a byproduct of the format.

“I have to shout because of the time limit,” Yi explained, “I tend to lose control of the volume of my voice when I have to speak quickly.”

Although the videos are short, Yi spends at least three hours to prepare for each dish.

Riding his recent fame, Yi is now a full-time live-streamer. He has branched out to a snack shop on WeChat, but admits he has so far been struggling to monetize his popularity. “Maybe I will find a part-time job,” Yi said.