Max Miller (born March 30, 1983) is an American YouTuber and cook known for being the creator and host of Tasting History, a culinary and history fusion web-show that recreates ancient or historical recipes and explains the history around them.[1][2]
Miller moved from New York City to Los Angeles to pursue voice acting. He was hired at Walt Disney Studios in marketing before going into film distribution.[6] In 2015, Miller and a friend went to Walt Disney World while on vacation, but the friend fell ill. As a result, they spent most of the time in a hotel, and the friend introduced Miller to The Great British Bake Off. Miller was not previously interested in cooking and had little experience with it, but was inspired by the show and its blend of history and baking.[7]: 9 He then began cooking on his own, first baking a Battenberg cake.[8]
Miller began to bring baked goods into the office, giving mini-lectures about the dish's history, and one of his coworkers suggested that he create videos on the topic.[9][7]: 9 On December 23, 2019, he created the Tasting History channel.
In 2020, Miller was furloughed from Disney due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and started to spend time on the channel.[10][11] He relegated himself to his upstairs as he did not want to get in the way of his fiancé, who was still working at Disney.[12] He started producing videos and uploaded the first episode of Tasting History in February 2020,[13] continuing to produce videos throughout the pandemic.[14]
The recipes Miller creates videos for are extensively researched. Where possible, Miller uses historical cookbooks but relies on other sources, such as newspapers and other written accounts, depending on the historical period and location each recipe originates from. Miller stresses that he is not a historian, and has more freedom to focus on the stories of foods, rather than academic history. While some recipes he has only made for the show, other historical recipes he has included in his regular cooking repertoire; he believes that part of the fun of the channel is that viewers can decide what to try making for themselves.[15]
Tasting History reached 500,000 subscribers on YouTube in January 2021.[16] When Disney contacted him to resume his job, he decided to quit instead, and focus on the YouTube channel.[17]
In February 2021, Simon & Schuster announced that they would be publishing a cookbook by Miller.[18] The book, Tasting History: Explore the Past Through 4,000 Years of Recipes, released April 2023 and appeared on The New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists.[19][20]
Personal life
Miller is gay.[21][22] In October 2021 he married his longtime fiancé Jose Mendoza.[23] They have two cats named Jaime and Cersei.[7]: 241
See also
Townsends, another channel focused on historical recipes
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