Code Like a Chef
Animation, 2023
Duration: 2 months
This personal project tackles my fear of learning to code by blending it with my passion for cooking. Through stop-motion animation, it explores the parallels between the methodology and execution of coding and cooking.
Problem:
Coding is so difficult
Solution:
Through evaluative conditioning, a psychological approach, I paired it with my love for cooking — and surprisingly found more similarities than differences
Outcome:
Kick-start
Explored the shared logic, creativity, and sequencing behind cooking and coding to uncover how these two processes could be meaningfully combined in one cohesive project.
mind-mapping
compare and contrast
Analyzed and broke down cooking and coding into three stages — pre-production, production, and post-production
Also decided to present the relationship between them through animation to best capture their parallel relationship across the process.
cooking process
cooking process
coding process
formating
Formating
I built the animation around the theme of a sunny-side-up egg—one of the first dishes I learned to cook—drawing a parallel to my first experience learning how to code.
The storyboard visualizes the full journey, from purchasing ingredients to cooking and plating, reflecting the shared process of experimentation and creation between cooking and coding.
Prototyping:
Egg = HTML = ingredients
Salt, pepper = CSS = seasonings
Pan = <body></body> = container
Spatula = Javascript = effect/ movement
Final Outcome Production
Inspired by Tomosteen’s Lego-cooking videos, I combined actual food with coding text made from cardboard to play between reality and animation. Dramatic sound effects is added to create a cartoon-like quality that captured the audience’s attention
P.S. The process of learning a new skill can be difficult and frustrating but I hope this little animation could encourage you to combine it with something you enjoy and maybe it would become a little more interesting!