TikTok food trends are popular recipes and food-related fads originating on the social media platform TikTok. Food trends were popular in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, as many people spent more time cooking at home while engaging with social media for entertainment.
Food-related content on TikTok is often categorized under the hashtags #TikTokFood and #FoodTok, which each have millions of posts. Some TikTok users share personal recipes and dietary habits, while others use step-by-step cooking videos to grow their online presence.
The popularity of these trends has had an influence on interest in cooking among younger generations, discussions about body image, the marketing of food products on social media, and temporary food shortages.
Several TikTok content creators, such as Eitan Bernath, Poppy O'Toole and Emily Mariko have gained recognition through their recipes and content. Some of the most notable TikTok food trends include the leftover salmon bowl, baked feta cheese pasta, and pesto eggs.
Impact
Body image TikTok food trends are sometimes seen or used as templates for a healthier, nutritional lifestyle for viewers to follow. However, many of these posts are created by users who lack professional qualifications to promote these ideas. Quite often, these food trends are associated with lifestyle tips, therefore influencing their diet, daily tasks, and personal routine. On the other hand, TikTok food trends can encourage and stimulate body positivity and allow people to promote the importance of self-satisfaction relating to body image if they so desire. These food trends can be an opportunity to express themselves and their personal diet choices, while also not conforming to the ideas created by novice users.
'What I eat in a day' videos have been criticized for causing more harm than good. These videos are meant to give an inside look into influencers eating habits; however, Cara Harbstreet says that the cost, time, and energy it takes to produce this day's worth of food, is often left off-camera. Harbstreet, MS, RD, LD, of Street Smart Nutrition, states that the main issue is that influencers are saying, "If you eat like me, you can look like me." This contributes to an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating and disordered eating behaviors.
Food shortages TikTok food trends have also caused food shortages of ingredients highlighted in viral videos, For example, the baked feta cheese pasta trend resulted in feta shortages, with a cheese seller based in Rhode Island, one that would usually sell about two-thousand pounds of cheese per week to their regular customers in the city, being out of stock of feta at the height of the trend.
Dangerous trends According to food safety experts, there are some viral TikTok trends that should be avoided. According to Janilyn Hutchings, instructions given on TikTok for making grilled cheese sandwiches in a toaster risked causing kitchen fires, because toasters are not designed like panini presses.
Increased interest in cooking The easy-to-follow nature of TikTok food trends, recipes, and tutorial videos has led to an increase in youth interaction with the platform. TikTok has proved itself to be an accessible platform for teaching youth groups about basic cooking skills and nutrition. The short duration of TikTok videos requires more compressed and clear recipes, taking away from the complexity usually associated with cooking. With 92% of U.S. adolescents having access to the Internet on a daily basis, TikTok has become an extremely accessible source of information for them to gain practical information, including cooking skills.
A popular trend for college students was folding a tortilla wrap into four triangular pieces and filling it with at-home ingredients such as vegetables and cold meats. Jeremy Scheck, an undergraduate at Cornell University, began to create TikTok content about his passion for food and his recipes when the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020. When school transitioned online, Scheck shared trending recipes such as crispy potatoes and fried rice that sparked interest for college students like himself.
Popularity of TikTok recipes among college students may stem from their interest in staying away from fast food. These trends also help college students feel more comfortable in the kitchen.
Marketing TikTok has turned into a marketing platform for many brands as cooking-related products gained popularity in the past year. Surveys have proven that using TikTok as a marketing tool has been a successful investment for restaurants or individual food items. The instant feedback allows each company to discover what factors affect the popularity of their products through both reactions to and numbers of views of posts. For instance, Nutter Butter's TikTok has repeatedly dueted TikTok stars including Bella Poarch to reach a larger audience. Another example is when Dunkin' Donuts launched a collaboration with TikTok star Charli D'Amelio to promote a new beverage and the corporation as a whole. From this, Dunkin' cold brew sales rose 20% and 45% respectively in the first two days after the launch. On top of that, the first collaboration video concluded with a 57% increase in the Dunkin' mobile app downloads (corresponding to downloads within 90 days preceding).
It also benefits corporations by providing recommendations to improve their marketing strategy, food items, décor, or any other factor illustrated in the ad. Some input that drives future marketing decisions on platforms like TikTok would include the attractiveness of the items advertised, innovation regarding new and interesting products, and the level of ease for the consumer to purchase the product after seeing the post. Drivers such as these can eliminate possible negative connotations surrounding a product and influence positive reinforcement, feedback, and action for and by the consumer. An example of a company that implements these strategies is Chipotle Mexican Grill. One of their social campaigns is creating TikTok challenges like #GuacDance and #Boorito, in which they create interactive content that follows current social media trends to stimulate an increase in revenue. In particular, #GuacDance became the largest "branded" challenge in the United States with hundreds of thousands of user responses within the week-long event. This campaign resulted in the more than 800,000 sides of guacamole given out on July 31, 2019.
List of TikTok food trends
2020
Cloud bread
Cloud bread is a light, fluffy low-carb bread substitute made from egg whites, corn starch, and sugar. Cloud bread gained popularity on TikTok in July 2020, and user @linqanaaa is credited for bringing it to the platform.
Dalgona coffee
Dalgona coffee is a whipped coffee drink made by combining equal parts of instant coffee, sugar, hot water, and then whisking the mixture until it forms a frothy texture. Although dalgona coffee originates from Macau, it gained popularity in South Korea where it was named after dalgona, a type of Korean candy. The trend emerged on TikTok in March 2020 during the COVID-19 quarantine in the United States.
Decorative focaccia bread The decorative focaccia bread trend, under the hashtag #focacciaart, emerged on TikTok in the spring of 2020. Users began decorating their homemade focaccia loaves with designs made from vegetables, herbs, and other edible ingredients.
Hot chocolate bombs
Hot chocolate bombs (also known as cocoa bombs) are chocolate spheres filled with hot chocolate mix and confections, such as marshmallows. When placed in hot milk, the chocolate shell melts and releases its contents.
Eric Torres-Garcia (@erictorresg on TikTok) is credited with popularizing cocoa bombs on the platform in December 2020. The trend surged around the 2020 Christmas season, prompting some bakers and store owners to add these confections to their menus. Torres-Garcia claims he posted the first cocoa bombs video on TikTok and has since trademarked the name. Since then, many creators have attempted their own variations of the confection.
Mini pancake cereal
Mini pancake cereal consists of miniature pancakes served in a bowl, often drizzled with maple syrup and butter, to resemble traditional breakfast cereal. The trend was first introduced in April 2020 by Sydney Melhoff (@sydneymelhoff on TikTok). Following its popularity, users developed variations of the dish using different foods, including cookies, donuts, and croissants.
2021
Baked feta cheese pasta
Baked feta cheese pasta is made with a few simple ingredients: cherry tomatoes, a block of feta cheese, olive oil, pasta, basil, and garlic. The tomatoes and feta are baked together in the oven until softened, then mashed into a sauce and mixed with cooked pasta.
The dish gained popularity due to its simplicity and ease of preparation. A Finnish food blogger named Jenni Häyrinen (@liemessa on TikTok) first introduced the recipe in 2019, but it gained popularity on TikTok in February 2021. The trend became so widespread that it led to a temporary shortage of feta cheese in Finnish grocery stores.
Baked oats First popular in the spring of 2021, baked oats is a breakfast dish similar to traditional oatmeal, but it is baked instead of cooked on a stovetop. The recipe typically uses oat flour and can be customized with a variety of different flavors.
Chili oil eggs TikTok user Jen Curley (@snackqueen on TikTok) popularized a different, spicier approach to the TikTok viral "pesto egg" recipe. As opposed to using pesto, Curley uses chili oil, giving the eggs a complex umami flavor.
Flamin' Hot Cheetos salad TikTok user @rxthism created a viral recipe by adding Flamin' Hot Cheetos to a salad mix. The dish, which has garnered over 4.5 million views, consists of Flamin' Hot Cheetos, hot sauce, cilantro, cucumbers, and lemon juice. The dish reflects a broader food fad in September 2021 on TikTok where users incorporate junk food into dishes.
Frozen honey The frozen honey trend gained popularity on TikTok in the summer of 2021, with users consuming partially frozen honey directly from plastic bottles. By August 2021, the hashtag #FrozenHoney amassed nearly 600 million views on the app.
The origin of the trend is unclear, though NBC News noted that ASMR creators had previously consumed frozen honey in their YouTube videos due to the satisfying sound it produces. However, reports emerged of some users on the app had experienced digestive issues, such as diarrhea, after consuming large amounts of honey.
Leftover salmon bowl The salmon rice bowl trend was originally developed by TikTok lifestyle influencer Emily Mariko. The recipe was first introduced on August 25, 2021, but was revised multiple times with the final variation uploaded on 21 September 2021. The video received 40 million views and inspired 155 related videos.
The dish consists of mashed salmon and rice, heated in a microwave with an ice cube on top to create steam. It is then topped with mayonnaise, soy sauce, and sriracha and eaten with kimchi and dried nori seaweed squares. The dish gained popularity due to its simplicity, use of leftover food, and short preparation time of under 5 minutes.
Nature's cereal Nature's cereal is a trend on TikTok developed by user @natures_food in March 2021, where traditional cereal is replaced with fruit; and the milk is replaced with coconut water. Some users claim this cereal relieves constipation and boosts energy. The trend gained additional attention when singer Lizzo posted several videos of herself enjoying the dish.
Pesto eggs