There's a strange trend spreading from Japan of people posting videos of themselves making miniature meals
There's a strange but fun new video trend that started in Japan but is building up into a global YouTube phenomena: Miniature food.
The "Kawaii" (Japanese for "cute") food trend began building pace over the past year. YouTube creators are filming themselves cooking miniature meals using real ingredients and teeny tiny utensils. There's even sized-down crockery and stoves, and often the cooks serve their creations to little dolls and toys.
One of the most popular channels, Miniature Space, which features a nimble-fingered chef making everything from miniature cakes to tiny cheeseburgers, has more than 460,000 subscribers. The most-popular video - a mini food cake - has been viewed more than 3.8 million times.
Another popular video, viewed more than 3.6 million times is this mini pancake.
A recent report from video intelligence firm Tubular Labs found that miniature food videos make up 3% of the total views in the food category.
We asked Bengu Atamer, cofounder of content network BuzzMyVideos, why the miniature trend has become so massive over the past 12 months.
She said: "I think in general, cooking/food is a massive interest topic on YouTube and when you add the 'cute' factor to it, then you create a potential trend that speaks to not only a specific interest group but appeals to a broader audience through making content shareable. The cute dimension adds up emotion to the content, hence increases its chance of shareability."