Meet the TikTok Creator Who Is Reinventing American Classics With an Asian Spin

Bouncy mochi Twinkies inspired by boba tea flavors. Mac and cheese smothered in a creamy miso-corn sauce. A Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme made with a scallion pancake and gochujang slaw. If you’ve ever scrolled through Frankie Gaw’s Instagram feed, then you’ve likely paused and delighted at these playful reimaginings of iconic American foods.

In his TikTok series, "Turning American Classics Asian," Gaw reinvents his favorite childhood foods, complete with eye-catching new packaging that blends nostalgia with innovation. Gaw’s approach is more than just a creative exercise—it’s a masterclass in finding fresh inspiration in the familiar. We caught up with the food creator behind Little Fat Boy about where he finds his spark, the story behind his cross-cultural creations, and what he does when he’s in a cooking rut.

When did you start cooking and how did it go from a hobby to a full-time career?

I come from a Taiwanese background, so my family has always been a huge food family. I grew up watching them make dumplings and noodles, but I felt like they never really let me into the kitchen. They would just let me watch. When I was in my twenties, I realized if I didn't learn how to make the foods that I grew up loving, all of these recipes and traditions were going to die with our generation. I started documenting the recipes that my grandma and aunts make so I could remember them.

Before you became a food creator, you were a designer. How did your previous career influence and inspire Little Fat Boy and your cookbook First Generation: Recipes from My Taiwanese-American Home?

Right away, I had a pretty distinct vision in mind of how I wanted to document the food. I felt like, at that time, the food that was being given space to shine was always Eurocentric food or it would be food through a Eurocentric lens. I wanted to do stylized table spreads with the Asian cooking that we eat in our families’ homes, nothing that you would find in a restaurant, and give it that photo shoot moment. I thought it would be so cool to see Asian grandma food in an elevated way.

In "Turning American Classics Asian,” you remake iconic snacks and dishes with an Asian twist. How did you come up with that idea?

I was making food videos and there was a moment when I thought, ‘Oh, I've had this whole past life as a designer,’ and I was feeling this itch to bring that back into my work and into cooking. The other piece of it was that whenever I go to a grocery store, it more or less feels the same as when I was in grade school. It's literally the same products, same flavors. Why hasn't this changed when food culture has shifted so drastically the last 10 to 20 years? Those two things came together at the same time and I thought it would be really fun to rebrand dishes and make them my own.

Not only do you develop the recipes, but you also come up with new, very striking packaging. What’s your development process like and which comes first—the packaging or the food?

It always starts with the food. I have a running list of all the snacks and the dishes that I grew up loving that are super American, so I usually just start with that. For example, one of the last ones I did was Cheez-Its. I knew it had to be cheesy, I knew it had to be a cracker; those were the constraints that I needed to work with. But from there, I could take it wherever, so in that case, I was like, a Cheez-It could easily pair with chili crisp. Once I've made the tasty thing, then I think about how to create a story around it. I love diving into deep topics, but doing it in a way that feels unserious.

What inspires the packaging?

I would say in terms of food styling, plating, and even just graphic design, I'm always referencing things from the past. I look to a lot of vintage cookbooks, especially old Asian cookbooks. The photos in those are really vibrant and colorful. They have so much personality and that has inspired my aesthetic. I also look at a lot of old American art and labels and I mix the two together. For example, for the packaging that I made for a Twinkies box, I have some flowers on there that are representative of old illustrations from Asian snacks.

What happens when you’re in a cooking rut or stuck on a recipe?

Honestly, I will usually take a nap or take a shower. Or I'll just hang out and take my mind completely off it. Sometimes, you just need to reset.

When it comes to ingredients, are there staples that always end up in your shopping cart?

I'm always grabbing coconut milk. I'm always grabbing some form of chili crisp or hot sauce equivalent. I never not have Kewpie mayo. It’s a great base for so many different sauces and dressings. Then I'm also grabbing glutinous rice flour, like mochiko. I always love using mochiko rice flour to make mochi, cakes, or bread.

Aside from developing new recipes and making videos, what else are you working on?

I'm in the middle of writing my second cookbook, so I'm just doing a ton of recipe development.

Are you able to share what it’ll be about?

It's an Asian American cookbook that celebrates the subcultures of Asian America across history with dishes inspired by that. I get to travel a lot more for this one. There's a lot more research involved, so that's been really fun.