Written by Chloe Thornton
Over one billion people spend part of their day-to-day lives scrolling through TikTok, trying to find funny, interesting videos. While some of these videos are just Family Guy clips along with weird mobile games, others are informative and help expand our worldviews and culture. TikTok has users all across the globe, helping people branch out from things they see in just their day-to-day lives. Among these people, 63% of teens have TikTok downloaded on their phones, computers, and other smart devices. This means that the majority of teens in the world today are being introduced to all sorts of recipes from many different cultures.
Food TikTok (otherwise known as Foodtok), is a main genre of the app where creators post their favorite recipes, typically from their cultures. In this category, there are thousands of videos about Greek, Mexican, Jamaican, Korean, and Indian foods, along with many others. There are also dozens of pasta-making and restaurant review videos in the genre; however, those don’t make as big of an impact in terms of food culture in teens. Foodtok is one of the most diverse genres of TikTok and is making a huge difference in cultural appreciation. Foodtok videos have been viewed over 43 billion times by TikTok viewers, and it went viral around 2021. It has been the cause of many different food trends like ice cream fruit roll-ups, sourdough bread, and homemade pasta.
As I mentioned previously, 63% of teens have TikTok, which exposes them to foods and recipes they probably wouldn’t have known otherwise. Teens from before social media was invented, only had a chance to get to know cultures that they were exposed to in person or read books about. TikTok is expanding food culture for teens by giving them the ability to find a recipe from a culture that interests them. Plus, all of this can be done with a search or two. Google is also a great platform to help teens find new recipes; however, with TikTok, people can share their stories and traditions that go along with these recipes. This is something that Google recipes aren’t necessarily able to do.
Some parents don’t believe TikTok is an appropriate app for their kids to have, which is a valid opinion considering a fair amount of the videos on the app could be deemed inappropriate and unfit for a younger teen/tween to be watching. However, being able to learn about different cultures at an early age is a good thing. TikTok has parental control settings where parents can link a teen's account to their own so they can monitor screen time as well as restrict certain video topics to keep TikTok safe for their teen. This allows them to be educated and use the resources of the app, while also staying safe on the internet.
Most FoodTok creators use their videos as a way to share their childhood traditions and their favorite recipes from their cultures. They enjoy sharing things about themselves while teaching others how to make their family's foods and desserts. One of my most watched FoodTok creators, Maria Koutsogiannis, has a food series called “All Things Greek” where she shares Greek recipes she believes everyone should know how to make. I find her series to be interesting, and I’ve enjoyed making some of the recipes she has shared. My favorite recipe of hers is her pita bread recipe because even though it is a simple recipe, it goes well with so many Greek sauces and dishes. So far it is the only recipe of hers I have tried, but I believe it’s pretty good and I hope to try more of her recipes soon.
Restaurants also use TikTok as a way to grow their business and post their menu items as well as behind-the-scenes footage. Many influencers use the app as a way to post restaurant reviews, which helps the ratings of restaurants and makes them more popular. Teens who live in these areas can watch these videos to grow their awareness of the cool places around them and be able to discover foods that interest them. Restaurants aren’t the only food places that benefit from these TikTok videos, there are also plenty of coffee shop and café review videos. These videos mainly showcase cool pastries (which are interesting if you enjoy European pastries as much as I do).
In summary, Foodtok is a great way for teens to learn about cultures that they don’t belong to themselves. Through the app, teens get to discover new foods and recipes to broaden their knowledge of cooking. While letting your teen have social media might seem a bit nerve-racking, it teaches them how to be safe on the internet which they will need to know for when they are older. In general, TikTok is expanding food culture by having a platform that allows for diverse content posted by people across the globe, which is important for the future of the world!
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