Meet Slutty Cheff, The Anonymous Writer Behind The Memoir, Tart

In a corner of the internet overflowing with polished food videos, over-filtered brunch plates, and algorithm-friendly content, Slutty Cheff arrived with quite the bang. Anonymous and painfully honest, she writes about food the way most people think about sex—and about sex the way most people wish they could think about food. What started as a casual Instagram account became a fast-growing cult following, then a book, and now there’s even chats of a TV adaptation in the works (and Lena Dunham is involved).

Her memoir, Tart, written over a whirlwind six months, navigates Slutty’s time working sixty-hour weeks in London kitchens and often being the only woman in the room. Her writing is visceral, deeply graphic and unapologetically honest – and makes you believe that no, AI is not (yet) good enough to take over a writer’s job. We caught up with the chef turned author to chat about her memoir, her experience working with Dunham and her best dating advice.

How did the Slutty Cheff persona begin?

It started just for a bit of fun, really. It wasn’t some strategic plan to create this platform that would then turn into a book deal. I wanted to have an Instagram account to look at memes and funny stuff on social media. I didn’t want to have my personal name because I had been off social media for a few years – I find it quite depressing to look at because the reality of people’s lives is often so different from what they post. So I just did this funny Slutty Cheff thing purely for fun, really. And I was doing quite a lot of cooking at the time, so it was all very spur of the moment. One random day, I created an account, and that was kind of it.

Photograph by Jacob Lillis

The food-and-sex concept—how did that come about?

I was really interested in food and cooking, but perhaps more when it comes to the personal stories that are related to food and cooking—the human stories—versus recipe books or academic stuff around food and history. It’s more the sort of mundane day-to-day personal things that exist around food.

Eating food is one of the things all human beings connect over, and sex is the same.

The sex thing just felt like an obvious tie. Food is very primal. Eating food is one of the things all human beings connect over, and sex is the same – it’s just about desire, so there’s an obvious overlap. It wasn’t an intentional thing – I just wanted to speak about sex as well, because that is a fun point of conversation. When I made the account, I was like a 22 or 23-year-old girl. That’s all I was talking about with my friends anyway. So it was very fun to write these illustrious stories.

Did you know you wanted to work in food from a young age?

No. I wanted to be a fashion designer, then a singer, then a princess. I never thought this was going to happen. The idea of writing a book seemed academic and elitist to me. I wasn’t very good at school, so I didn’t expect to write for my job. That’s been a real surprise. I’ve always kept a diary, though. I always liked writing, but I didn’t think it would be a job.

Are you glad you made the decision to stay anonymous? You’ve said you’ll do a face-reveal at 1M – will you really?

I’m very glad to be anonymous. I don’t have any desire to meet people. I have the perfect excuse to not attend anything ever because I’m like, sorry, I’m anonymous. I don’t think I’ll hit a million followers because you need to either be really mega-famous in Hollywood or you need to abide by a certain social media game plan—creating reels with your face and smiley voices and ads. I’m not going to do that. I’m just going to continue to write random stuff, which I don’t think has a big enough audience to get me to a million followers. If I were about to hit a million, I would get AI to create a system where it would continuously delete the millionth follower.

Photograph by Zeyaad

And Lena Dunham—are you working with her on the TV adaptation of Tart?

Yes, I am working on a TV adaptation now. Lena has been an amazing mentor to me. Girls was completely formative for me—the way I think about sex, writing, comedy, and mental health. She’s very influential to me. She’s very human, which I’m very grateful for because this period has been full of business meetings with strangers. When you meet someone so human who is also one of your biggest inspirations, it’s a great honour and privilege. When we met, it was a very instant connection. And I can tell because when she hugged me, it felt nice. Usually, when people hug me, I don’t like it. I felt comfortable in her arms.

Lena Dunham is very human, which I’m very grateful for because this period has been full of business meetings with strangers.

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For someone new to your work, what do you hope they take away from the book?

If you like sex and food, then you might like it. I think it shows a good understanding of the world of hospitality – but a brief one, not super in-depth and boring. It shows a bit of the energy of working in hospitality. It’s very honest, perhaps to the point of my regret, because I feel very cringe and embarrassed now. It captures the thrills of being young and seeking contentment without knowing where to get it.

I think it shows a good understanding of hospitality—but a brief one, not super in-depth and boring.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Have a day off, mate. Don’t think too much about things. I’d do nothing different because then I wouldn’t have this book, and I wouldn’t be having this lovely conversation with you now.

I’d do nothing different because then I wouldn’t have this book, and I wouldn’t be having this lovely conversation with you now.

Do you have a favourite food-and-sex metaphor?

Okay, I’ll tell you my honest one (it’s not very nice): ham wallet. I think it’s disgusting but very visceral. I tend to prefer the visceral over the elegant.

Photograph by Jacob Lillis

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Any dating advice for people trying to find love in London?

Get the fuck off the apps. There should be a nationwide ban. It’s the worst thing to happen to sex ever. People are having more sex, but not good sex. It’s quantity over quality.

What’s a dating red flag for you?

Someone who tries to modify the way the chef is cooking something. Like asking to switch ingredients or change how it’s cooked. It says you’re not willing to let go of control or let someone else do something for you. Obviously, you can’t help allergies, but I think you should try new stuff. You’ll be surprised at how it’s actually kind of nice.