Lynn Yamada Davis, Cooking with Lynja TikTok chef, died at age 67

Lynn Yamada Davis, a TikTok chef known for her comedic cooking videos, has died at the age of 67, her son announced on social media Friday. Her son said his final moments were “super peaceful,” and he was surrounded by friends and family when he died.

Her daughter, Hannah Mariko Shofet, told The New York Times her mother died of esophageal cancer.

In a video posted to social media, Davis’ son showed a series of photos of him, as a child, a college student at MIT, and one after he graduated with a degree in civil engineering. “She’s so cool,” he said of his mother. Her son showed pictures of Davis as a young mother with his older brother, a professional soccer player, and said that she was a “proud mom.” There were photos of their old kitchen and photos of Davis running — she ran eight marathons, her son said.

The mother of four children, according to a profile for the MIT Alumni Association, she started making Cooking with Lynja videos with Tim, her youngest child. Follower growth was slow at first until a 2021 video on making a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich became a viral sensation on TikTok.

Davis has close to 30 million followers across various platforms, where she posts over-the-top videos of her cooking, often joking with her children. On TikTok, where Davis has 17.8 million followers, he appears in videos tasting food around the world but he most often cooks it from home.

She made wagyu steaks after complaining about the $100 price tag and eating sandwiches while dipping her feet in a kiddie pool — all the time maintaining a grandmotherly aura. An alter character “Little Lynja” would appear in the videos often admonishing her or giving her cooking instructions.

In 2022, Davis won a Streamy Award, which honors excellence in online video.

She was the “internet’s grandma,” her son said at the close of Friday’s video. “She was the best,” he said, adding he was glad her audience got to experience how wonderful a person she was. “Thank you so much for these last couple of years. We had so much fun making videos.”