Welcome to my Bio Page! Here’s my Recipe Shop! Follow my YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or Tiktok for more!
I’m a nerdy, super passionate chef and author who LOVES all forms of food & storytelling! Below are my FREE recipes & cooking tips to make you a better cook in your own kitchen + my FREE writing guides to inspire you to keep telling your own stories! I also have two fiction novels, an upcoming cookbook, and endless videos you can enjoy!
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW - My Quick Start Guide
I’m a CIA-trained chef who’s made recipe videos on the Internet since 2013. 13 years! I’ve also traveled the globe, written fiction novels, produced a viral romance short film, and made tons of creative mistakes in my life so you don’t have to! I love to give career advice and teach people about food & storytelling. My Youtube library is filled with thousands of delicious recipes, BTS moments from film sets, food hacks & writing tips, interviews with other creatives, and more!
To save you time, here are quick links to my best recent playlists of content—These will provide you with the most value, the fastest:
Now, a bit about me…
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MY BACKSTORY… but short!:
I grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, USA. ****I was a chubby, overly-pensive kid born to a loving family with money struggles. I watched way too much Food Network to be socially healthy, BUT it inspired the career I have now!
I loved food so much as a teen… I grew to weigh 310 lbs... However, I came out as gay at 17 and it changed my life. I exercised, cooked healthier, lost 110 pounds, and was accepted to my dream college of The Culinary Institute of America in New York, but my family was still broke…
****To survive steep tuition without any student loans, I wrote 27 scholarship-winning essays, competed to win collegiate cooking competitions, did summer restaurant work, and became a three-time James Beard Foundation National Scholar. Earning a total of $175,000 to pay for college, I graduated CIA debt free in late 2016. Then my professional food media career started:
During this time, I also authored two fiction novels: PRAX and the Hazardous Countdown: a LGBTQ YA Sci-fi Adventure & *SCRAPS: a* Gay Skateboarding Romance. We also have a viral SCRAPS: Short Film. The full SCRAPS feature film version we’re shooting this summer of 2026!
When not cooking, producing or writing, I love to play softball and dodgeball, slay monsters in Dungeons & Dragons, struggle through CrossFit workouts, or go for long nature walks listening to comedy podcasts and audiobooks.
After 10 years of being an overworked employee for all these huge media corporations, I’m finally committing to just growing my own art and audience. With your support, I plan to dedicate the rest of my life to cooking delicious food, making funny videos, and writing diverse queer stories of every genre for books, tv, and film. I want my work to impact and add value to real people’s lives, help YOU grow in what YOU love to create, and support other hard-working artists and dreamers like my younger self. Life is hard, so we may as well make it creative and full of scrumptious food!
Thank you for joining me. More to come! <3 - Matthew.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lESyM-fdgfE&list=PLYzBQ8Dkg3imrqunQ-SBQBQdUEyr56vuh&index=2
This playlist has all of my recipes I’ve done as a Chef & Producer at BuzzFeed Tasty. Some of my favs are:
[Tamales Around Latin America](Tamales Around Latin America)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBQJR7zb13c&list=PLYzBQ8Dkg3il1m8_40841sLW5rSFLRxrx&index=1
This playlist has all of my Fresh & Simple Episodes I did with EatingWell! Some of my favs are: