How many times have you found yourself snapping a photo of a dessert to post on Instagram or searching YouTube for inspiration for a recipe to thrill your lunch guests? Social networks have irrevocably changed the food industry, and the new game changer in this area is TikTok. Hashtags related to content like recipes have billions of views. #food alone has almost 600 billion views, while #yummy has 92 billion. Even if you’re not a TikTok user, you probably haven’t missed trends like pasta with feta cheese and dalgona coffee, which have flooded other social networks as well.
An example of a viral TikTok recipe
@feelgoodfoodie Baked feta pasta with cherry tomatoes!! Recipe on blog • Inspired by @grilledcheesesocial ???? #tiktokpartner #LearnOnTikTok #fetapasta #recipes
In this article, find out how the currently most popular social network in the world affects how we buy and prepare food and where and how we eat.
Although various food-themed content can be found on TikTok, such as restaurant reviews, food tastings, or grocery shopping, the most common are recipes. What perhaps distinguishes them from other trends is that they are conceptually simpler, do not require too many ingredients and are prepared in just a few steps. This is especially interesting for younger generations, who are learning to cook with TikTokers’ recipes. Users today are looking for quick but healthy meals, which they can easily prepare in the absence of time, while having the quality and comfort of a home-cooked meal. TikTok abounds with just such recipes, which are also easy to understand and visually attractive.
How strong the influence of TikTok is is well confirmed by the examples of stores that noticed the demand for certain products that were a trend on this platform. Thus, more and more websites and shelves feature specially highlighted products that are necessary for preparation according to recipes that are popular with users.
In addition to inspiring us to try various recipes and gastronomic challenges, it seems how on TikTok we also like to choose restaurants whose content we like or if the content creators rate them positively. A survey among TikTok users in the US found that 36% of them visited a restaurant or ordered food from it after seeing a TikTok video about the restaurant. They were attracted by food that looked extremely tasty and tempting in the videos (55%) or something unique in the restaurant’s offer (51%). When making decisions about restaurants, the research showed that TikTokers are most influenced by the opinions of users they personally know and trust about restaurants, while on the second place is the video content of TikTok food influencers. Not less important and especially interesting in the context of tourism, it seems that it is not difficult for TikTok users to even visit another city, in order to find something special and different to try there.
An example of an innovative and original restaurant offer
@tildeathdouspart So Creative! ???? #fyp #foryoupage #socal #unicorn #disney #spongebob #cottoncandy #polarplayground #dateideas #ItStartsOnTikTok #foodies #datenight
Whether it’s about special dietary needs or national cuisines of countries that are interesting to us, and we haven’t visited them so far, or we haven’t tried better or less-known dishes of those cuisines, we can find all these topics on TikTok.
Perhaps the best example of a dish that has traveled the world is Korean street food Dalgona candy. Dalgona gained popularity after TikTok users started recreating an idea they saw in the Netflix series The Squid Game. Also, an Italian cocktail attracted attention, after the video in which the actress Emma D’Arcy revealed how her favorite drink “Negroni Sbagliato with Prosecco” went viral. The users laughed when the actress pointed out the preparation with prosecco, which in the Sbagliato version of the “cocktail with a mistake” does not need to be mentioned, because already from the name it can be concluded that it is not according to the original recipe that includes gin, but the “wrong” one, which just got its name because allegedly, the waiter took the wrong bottle when preparing the cocktail, the one with prosecco instead of gin.
Original Negroni Sbagliato video / audio trend
@hbomaxbr Emma D’Arcy falando “negroni… sbagliato… prosecco…” não sai da minha cabeça há 3 dias #ACasaDoDragão #HouseoftheDragon #Rhaenyra #Alicent
Content creators who represent national dishes have a great responsibility to the audience because TikTok’s algorithm can reward them with millions of views. This is a great opportunity to promote the best that their country has to offer. Content creators who talk about specific health problems and the need for customized nutrition also have a big responsibility. With them, the topic is particularly sensitive. For users who are looking for such content, it helps to find other users with similar problems and with their content it is easier to adopt new eating habits.
TikTok is also full of tips on how to adjust your diet to training, which can be useful when introducing new foods or when you need to increase your intake of some specific nutritionally rich foods. Additionally, a topic that is increasingly present is related to various eating disorders. However, while it is important to raise awareness about them, just as it is to promote a healthy and active lifestyle, the challenge is to find content that is expertly based. In the future, the platform will have to invest even more in order to provide content that will be appropriate and safe for users, and to educate users on how to responsibly access the content they see and think critically about it.