What are food miniatures and why are they all over my Instagram explore page?

Instagram foodies are taking things down a notch. Lots of notches, actually. You may have noticed food miniatures taking over your IG explore page and wondered, like us, WTH?
“People can’t get enough of seeing their favorite treat in the size of their finger,” miniature food artist Shay Aaron told Instagram.
He has refined his cooking know-how to enhance his craft. For example, he once enrolled in a six-month baking course of full-sized foods, just to learn more about pastries.
However, most of his miniatures are actually made of polymer clay, but can also include resin, glass, wood, metal and paper.
Kim Clough (@fairchildart_miniatures) makes tiny clay sculptures of steak, pie, and all kinds of other foods.
“I love miniatures because it gives you a sense of being able to control a large part of the world in a small contained space,” she wrote on Bored Panda.
She also makes her food sculptures from polymer clay.
@WendyMiniCity, meanwhile, actually COOKS her miniatures in video.
The tiny edible foods genre of videos are racking up millions of views across the internet, and fans are liking and sharing them fast and feverishly.
Known as the “Kawaii’”(Japanese for “cute”) food trend, it all started in Japan.
In the last year, digital consumption of these miniscule real meals has created quite a crop of skilled chefs who create meals and food items using real ingredients, and served on scaled-down kitchenware.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHUYklTA4iL
Welcome to the big, wide world of tiny cooking. Hungry yet?