Alvin Zhou is the American chef, engineer, and senior video producer who became BuzzFeed Tastys most recognizable face for oversized food creations. Born in Fremont, California to Chinese immigrant parents and a Columbia University graduate in engineering, Zhou turned a teenage cooking necessity into a Senior Producer role at Tasty by 2019, where he holds the record for the most giant foods made by a single chef on the channel.
TL;DR
- American chef and food video producer, born August 13, 1995 in Fremont, California
- Chinese-American, learned to cook at age 15 when his mother moved to China to care for his grandfather
- Graduated Columbia University in 2017 with a degree in operations research and engineering management systems
- Joined BuzzFeed Tasty as food video producer in 2015, promoted to Senior Producer by 2019
- Best known for the Make It Big series and aesthetically-driven cooking videos with relaxing music and no narration
Key facts about Alvin Zhou
| Born | August 13, 1995, Fremont, California, USA |
| Nationality | American (Chinese descent) |
| Education | Columbia University, B.S. Operations Research and Engineering Management Systems (2017) |
| Employer | BuzzFeed Tasty, Senior Producer since 2019 |
| Signature series | Make It Big, plus contributions to Tasty Japan |
| Famous videos | 2-Minute Chocolate Chip Cookie, Red Mirror Cake, 5 Layer Cheesecake, Mozzarella Stick Onion Rings |
| Records | Most giant foods made by a single Tasty chef |
Early life and learning to cook at 15
Alvin Karl Zhou was born on August 13, 1995, in Fremont, California, to Chinese immigrant parents. When he was 15 his mother moved to China to care for his ailing grandfather, leaving Zhou to feed the family during her absence. He has described learning the basics over the phone with his mother, picking up stir fry and saute techniques across speakerphone calls, motivated in part by wanting an alternative to constant takeout.
After high school in Fremont, Zhou enrolled at Columbia University in New York, graduating in 2017 with a degree in operations research and engineering management systems. A friend lent him a professional camera during college, which he used to start filming his own cooking. That portfolio caught BuzzFeeds attention in 2015, when he joined Tasty as a food video producer while still completing his Columbia degree.
Alvin Zhou career timeline
- 2010 Begins cooking at age 15 after his mother relocates to China
- 2015 Joins BuzzFeed Tasty as food video producer while studying at Columbia
- 2017 Graduates Columbia with a B.S. in operations research and engineering management systems
- 2018 Tasty crosses 1.5 billion views across digital platforms, Zhous Make It Big series gains traction
- 2018 Tasty wins Audience Choice Award at the Food Film Festival
- 2019 Promoted to Senior Producer at BuzzFeed Tasty
- 2020 Launches his personal YouTube channel with first video, focusing on slow-paced cinematic cooking
- 2021 onwards Expands Make It Big back catalog, contributes recipe videos for Tasty Japan
- 2024 to 2025 Continues as Senior Producer at Tasty, working from the New York City metropolitan area
Alvin Zhou signature style and visual approach
Zhous videos sit at the intersection of food photography and ASMR. He typically does not speak in the videos, letting carefully composed shots, ambient soundtracks influenced by Studio Ghibli films, and on-screen subtitles do the work. The style stands out on Tastys main channel, where most videos are voiced or quickly cut, and has helped his work travel beyond the recipe-tutorial format into something closer to short-form food cinema.
The Make It Big series exaggerates everyday foods to absurd scale: a 16-pound chocolate chip cookie, a wedding-cake-sized mozzarella stick, a five-foot-wide sheet pan dessert. The gimmick works because each build still has to deliver a recognizable version of the original dish, which forces real engineering thinking from his Columbia background. The series has produced more giant foods than any other Tasty chef.
Notable work: Make It Big and the visual cooking style
Make It Big is the series that most viewers associate with Zhou. The format takes a familiar dish and scales it up beyond practical bounds, often by 10 to 50 times. Episodes have included giant mozzarella stick onion rings, oversized chocolate chip cookies, and a 5 Layer Cheesecake that became one of Tastys most shared dessert videos.
His personal YouTube channel, opened in 2015 but with the first video posted in 2020, takes the same aesthetic into longer-form recipe content. The work draws comparisons to Japanese cooking channels and to the slower, more atmospheric style that Bon Appetit and NYT Cooking developed in the early 2020s. Tasty Japan has also licensed several of his recipes for Japanese-language audiences.
Awards and recognition
- 2018 Audience Choice Award, Food Film Festival (Tasty team)
- Internal Tasty record Most giant foods made by a single chef on the channel
Impact and cultural relevance
Zhou represents a generation of food creators trained by short-form video platforms rather than restaurant kitchens. His background as an engineer is visible in the precision of his builds: the math of scaling a cookie recipe by 50, the heat-transfer thinking required to bake an oversized cheesecake all the way through, the structural decisions in a wedding-cake-sized mozzarella stick. That technical eye is part of what separates his Tasty work from the more chaotic chef-character style of Alexis deBoschnek on Chef Out of Water.
Within the broader YouTube food space, Zhou sits alongside chefs like Nick DiGiovanni and Guga Foods who have built large audiences through high-production-value cooking content. His decision to stay at Tasty rather than go independent makes him a quieter influence on the genre, but the visual language he developed has shaped how oversized-food content is shot on platforms beyond YouTube as well.
Alvin Zhou FAQ
How did Alvin Zhou learn to cook?
Zhou learned to cook at age 15 when his mother moved to China to care for his grandfather. He has said he learned basic techniques like stir fry and saute by phone calls with his mother, motivated by wanting alternatives to constant takeout.
Where did Alvin Zhou go to college?
Zhou attended Columbia University in New York and graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in operations research and engineering management systems. He was already working at BuzzFeed Tasty during his studies.
What is the Make It Big series?
Make It Big is Zhous signature BuzzFeed Tasty video series in which he scales everyday dishes up to dramatic sizes, often by 10 to 50 times. Examples include a 16-pound chocolate chip cookie, oversized mozzarella stick onion rings, and a wedding-cake-sized cheesecake. Zhou holds the internal Tasty record for the most giant foods made.
Is Alvin Zhou Chinese?
Zhou is American, born in Fremont, California, and is of Chinese descent. His parents are Chinese immigrants and his cooking is informed by the home-style Chinese dishes his mother taught him over the phone during his teenage years.
Does Alvin Zhou have his own YouTube channel?
Yes. Zhou opened a personal YouTube channel in 2015 but posted his first video in 2020. The channel features longer-form, atmospheric cooking videos with ambient soundtracks influenced by Studio Ghibli, distinct from the faster pace of his work for BuzzFeed Tasty.
What is next for Alvin Zhou
Zhou continues as Senior Producer at BuzzFeed Tasty in the New York City metropolitan area, working across the Make It Big back catalogue and Tasty Japan licensing. His personal YouTube channel publishes more sporadically but with high production value. Follow his updates on Instagram (@heyitsalvin).
