172: Learning to Cook in Front of the Entire Internet with Jamie Tracey

172: Learning to Cook in Front of the Entire Internet with Jamie Tracey

From AnthroDish by Sarah Duignan

March 10, 2026 · 30 min

About this episode

Jamie Tracey discusses his journey of learning to cook and creating the YouTube series Anti-Chef.

For anyone that grew up without a strong sense of connection to cooking or eating cultural foods, it can be daunting to get into the kitchen and make your own relationship with food. But for today's guest, Jamie Tracey, that lack of relationship was enough incentive to try an honest approach to building something that would last. Jamie is a self-taught creator and Canadian cook that created Anti-Chef, a culinary experiment that plays out in real time on his YouTube series. It captures the good, bad, chaos, and triumph that comes with learning and loving to cook. With more than half a million subscribers, Anti-Chef follows Jamie as he dives headfirst into the hilarious, messy, and human side of trying something new. From Julia Child's most intimidating recipes to Michelin-level masterpieces and celebrity "cage matches," Jamie takes his audience along for the ride—mistakes, meltdowns, and all. In today's conversation, Jamie discusses what food disconnects can look like, how he leveraged his film background and lack of cooking skills to create his heartfelt and entertaining YouTube series, the Canadian food culture and its impact on shaping how he thought about food and eating in…

People in this episode

Host: Sarah Duignan

Guest: Jamie Tracey

Topics covered

  • cooking
  • food culture
  • self-taught cooking
  • YouTube series
  • cultural foods
  • personal journey

Keywords

  • cooking
  • YouTube
  • Anti-Chef
  • Jamie Tracey
  • food culture
  • self-taught
  • Julia Child
  • cooking journey

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Anti-Chef

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