Chef / Robot Kneading Dough

About

Chef Kneading Dough or Robot Kneading Dough, sometimes called Backshots Robot, refers to a viral video showing a chef or a CGI robot aggressively kneading dough in a commercial kitchen while also thrusting his pelvis back and forth. The robot version of the video is rotoscoped over footage of an actual human chef working dough in a kitchen. The video of the chef humping the air while kneading dough was first posted to Western social media in November 2022, while robot versions of the video went viral in April 2024.

Origin

Sometime in early November 2022, a video of a chef aggressively kneading dough to the point where he seems to be humping the air was posted to Chinese social media. The original video can be accessed via repost to Newsflare's YouTube^[1] channel (seen below).

The description of the video attributed it to Chef Chen from Xi'an in China's Shaanxi Province. Chef Chen reportedly uses his unique kneading style to ensure that his noodles are "chewy and delicious" and to make his work "more interesting."

On November 20th, 2022, TikToker^[2] @yungcochise posted a version of the clip with a Snapchat bar that read, "The Italian way is the best way 🤌🥖." The post gathered over 14 million plays and 2 million likes in over a year (seen below). The video was also posted to X^[3] / Twitter on the same day, gathering over 94,000 likes in a year.

Spread

Different versions of the video made the rounds in 2023, with TikToker^[9] @bbnospamlmao posting a different angle of the video with a Snapchat banner that reads, "My uncle is making the best pizza." The post gathered over 4 million plays and 600,000 likes since it was posted a year ago on February 20th, 2023. (seen below).

On March 20th, 2023, the Instagram^[4] page @nctnipples posted the video of Chef Chen kneading the dough with a caption that read, "So this is what sir taethyong II meant when he said 'I'm gonna knead your body.'" The post gathered over 5,000 likes in a year (seen below).

Robot Kneading Dough

In April 2024, a version of the clip where the chef was replaced by a robot began making the rounds online. The earliest known video depicting this was an April 7th, 2024, post by TikToker^[5] @zaintoo57, which gathered over 10 million plays and 86,000 likes in 10 days (seen below).

On April 12th, @NpAnatomy posted a cropped version of the robot video to X^[6] with the caption, "Do you think that robots will take human jobs and life roles? 🙄👀" The post (shown below) gathered over 38 million views in four days.

On April 14th, 2024, X^[7] user @porklets posted the video with the caption, "he was built for backshots and they’re making him work. fucking disgusting," while X^[8] user @Maharavati wrote, "Now I know why Wanda Maximoff misses that man so much." Both gathered over 100,000 likes in two days.

Search Interest

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External References