Why can’t I stop watching Hamptons private chef videos on TikTok?

Let's just all pretend we're picking fresh produce from a billionaire's garden with Meredith Hayden of Wishbone Kitchen this summer. | TikTok

I can’t escape them, but I also can’t look away: All over my For You page, TikTok creators are taking me through days in their lives as Hamptons private chefs. They pick vegetables to use each day from pristine private gardens, prep in big perfect kitchens, and serve lobster and steak poolside. Last month, I joined Slate’s internet culture podcast ICYMI to talk about this growing TikTok niche. With beach house season in full swing, the saturation of private chef content is making me feel almost like I’m in one of those ritzy Hamptons towns, too.

The private chef-to-TikTok star pipeline gained steam last summer. The scene’s breakout star is Meredith Hayden of Wishbone Kitchen, with 1.8 million TikTok followers today. Hayden, who is young and likable, blew up last summer by showing a 17-hour day in her life as a live-in Hamptons private chef to a client who has since been revealed as fashion designer Joseph Altuzarra; it has 24.3 million views as of this writing. Not long after, the New York Times profiled Khristianne Uy, known as Chef K, who went from cooking behind the scenes for the Kardashians to being a microcelebrity on her own thanks to the platform.

Their success has spurred a new genre: Hamptons private chef content. There is Reilly Meehan, who cooks venison for a well-heeled poodle in a Nancy Meyers-worthy kitchen; Juliana White, who runs a private chef service called Plate in Progress; Rob Li, who captions his videos “POV: You’re a private chef for a b*llionaire in the Hamptons”; Ayla Ochoa, who recently cooked a pizza party for 48 guests; and more. As these creators gain traction — along with clout, sponsorships, new clients, and dedicated viewers — more private chefs are inclined to also turn their day jobs into content in hopes of gaining the same perks from their oft-obscured jobs.

The initial appeal of this corner of TikTok is the obvious sense of aspiration. But, as Hayden told Thrillist last year, it’s also the “peeling back the curtain” on both a family in the Hamptons and a “non-traditional career.” It’s a chance to get answers to the questions we ponder while watching the clock at our own jobs: What does wealth really look like? Is someone working a noncorporate schedule and ~pursuing their passion~ happier or less stressed than someone at a 9-to-5? With Hayden having pivoted from working at Condé Nast to private cheffing because of the pandemic, it’s a chance to see an alternative to the corporate grind in a way that’s also more comfortable and chill than most food jobs. Could I do that, too?

The thread I find so interesting is the labor undergirding it all, because even if it happens in a pretty kitchen in the Hamptons, it’s still work (17-hour days!). When I get wrapped up in the fantasy of these videos, I’m not imagining hiring the private chef but being the private chef. It’s a fantasy of labor that just happens in circumstances that appear more beautiful than my reality. I’d love to cook like that all day, I think. For creators, that work remains a tether. It seems that no matter how successful they become as creators — perhaps successful enough to make social content full-time — their public appeal hinges on the daily grind of private cheffing.

Hayden has returned to the Hamptons this summer for what she’s calling Season 2. That perspective is echoed by fans: Pamela Wurst Vetrini, who also shares a lot of Real Housewives content, posts a weekly video in which she recaps what she calls “everyone’s favorite TikTok reality series, I’m a Private Chef in the Hamptons.” Indeed, following the Hamptons private chef niche, along with much of TikTok, is like microdosing reality TV.

Ultimately, that these chefs are in the Hamptons for a season at a time, just like the participants on Summer House, only adds to the appeal. Though I continue to watch Hayden in the winter, when she cooks for herself in Brooklyn, that isn’t the draw. For better or worse, it’s the knowledge that soon enough, she’ll be back in the Hamptons. Through the screen, so will I. — Bettina Makalintal, senior reporter

Other reading:

Some speculation as to why Lana Del Rey recently worked a shift at a Waffle House, thanks to the Cut.
Guernica editor Adam Dalva remembers his late brother through pizza in an essay on Literary Hub.
“The Problem With National Dishes”: Author Anya von Brezmen shares essential food for thought in an interview with Saveur.
Devin Kate Pope had some thoughtful questions for Rebecca May Johnson, author of the fascinating recent book Small Fires, in Autofocus Lit.
In the New York Times, a nice homage to Brooklyn’s Caribbean Social Club, one of the city’s last Puerto Rican social clubs and a time capsule of an older Williamsburg.