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This article is part of a larger delicious package all about the health and glory of real cheese. Check out more here.
SAY WHAT YOU want about social media, but if I can help a guy make a living off grilled cheese, how bad can it really be?
Tyler Kaminski, 26, is the creative and culinary force behind @Chef_Tyler, a cross-platform phenomenon with more than 3 million followers on YouTube, more than 1 million on TikTok and Instagram.
Among Kaminski’s posts you’ll find food-focused travelogues, taste-tests of vegan meats, and grilling tutorials. But none of those videos compare in terms of success to his grilled cheese content. Checker-boarded across his content pages are cheese-pulls galore—diagonally sliced sourdough strung together with slim ropes of gooey melted goodness.
“Cheese, especially when it’s melted, is like eating a hug,” he says.
Kiminski grew up in Vermont (home of the vaunted Cabot Creamery, naturally) and learned to cook from his mom. He took his skills to Syracuse University, where he operated a grilled cheese business from his dorm room, which he advertised through social. He’d started turning a profit, but then COVID screwed all that up. Except the social media part, which started raking in the followers. (Who in COVID didn’t need a hug—human- or cheese-based?)
Up until October of 2024, Kaminski had a job with Price Waterhouse Coopers in New York City. Now he says his channels are large enough and provide consistent enough income to take @Chef_Tyler full-time.
Plot-twist: Kaminski has known he’s been lactose intolerant since high school. There are some cheeses, however, Kaminski can’t pass up. He says he’s learned to manage his symptoms through avoidance, careful selection (some cheese have little to none of the enzyme that triggers responses), and appropriately timed doses of lactase supplements.
“At this point, pretty much every time I eat cheese is during the videos,” he says. “When I’m not filming, I’m not making grilled cheese, and I usually do eat dairy-less meals.” The rest is about mitigation to help him stay lean: He bookends his workdays with long walks and tries to eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.
Everything in moderation. Except for cheese pulls.
Paul Kita is a Deputy Editor at Men’s Health, where he has covered food, cooking, nutrition, supplements, grooming, tech, travel, and fatherhood at the brand for more than 15 years. He is also the author of two Men’s Health cookbooks, Guy Gourmet and A Man, A Pan, A Plan, and the winner of a James Beard Award.
