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As people quarantining at home this summer look for ways to fill the time, they're flocking to online classes, intense workouts...and TikTok. The social media platform, now reportedly two billion app downloads strong, has proven to be an entertaining respite from external stresses and the pressure to be productive during these times.
On TikTok, you can log an endless number of finger scroll-miles watching users dance to catchy pop anthems or act out skits that only get funnier the more you replay them.
Quick home cooking clips have also claimed a major corner of the app and taken on a life of their own.TikTok has made stars of ordinary home cooks eager to share food hacks and elevated personalities like vegan influencer Tabitha Brown, whose three million followers delight in her warm and playful recipe advice.
Where TikTok's cooking content diverges from other platforms is in its focus on creative recipes and authentic production, sans polished set-ups and lighting schemes.
Best practices advised by the TikTok Creator team highlight the importance of approachability: "Videos are not only instructional but also feel like they're coming from a friend," TikTok representative Christine Alabastro told us, and, "voiceover is a great way to incorporate a human touch and personality into a video."
Much like other areas of the app, the food world on TikTok feels democratic — as long as your contribution is clever or time-saving, and it feels authentic, there's a good chance that users will recreate it in their own kitchens.
From there, a trend picks up speed and feeds into itself. The more often users see it on the app, the more motivated they are to try the original, or put their own spin on it.
Popular food trends on TikTok right now are aesthetically pleasing twists on familiar dishes.Anneta Konstantinides, a lifestyle editor at Insider who reports on TikTok, says, "I'm definitely seeing miniature as a huge trend for these TikTok pieces, and influencers have said the same to me as well."
At the time of this article's publication, videos with the hashtag #MiniTutorials have 2 billion combined views. A particularly popular mini food idea, #PancakeCereal, has 985 million combined views and has inspired scores of spinoffs, including cookie cereal and donut cereal.
Konstantinides believes the trend works because it's cute but also reflects nostalgia and our current mood. "Cookies, pancakes, and cereal are all things we had as kids when we were living at home with our parents, and now we're making them for ourselves while in quarantine. I think it brings us back to our childhood a bit, especially those of us who can't be with our parents right now," she says.
Dalgona coffee, the beautiful whipped beverage that has origins in various countries including India, Greece, and Libya, and was popularized by Korean YouTubers in early 2020, is another one that comes up again and again.
"It's truly perfect for Instagram and TikTok," says Konstantinides. "It looks impressive in photos and it needs a bit of time to make, which we all have right now! And the fact that you can so easily tweak the recipe and make so many kinds of whips, even vegan, has made it very accessible."
While the above trends can take some time to master, users are also looking to cut corners in the kitchen."Much of the current food and drink content on TikTok is focused around hacks...there's a lot of content right now that's about simplicity and using ingredients that you already have in your home, rather than a really elaborate recipe or cooking tutorial like you'll see on YouTube," says Mary Keane-Dawson, group CEO of influencer marketing platform Takumi, which advises clients on food and drink content strategy on TikTok.
Examples include demos on how to cut a large and unwieldy watermelon or freeze herbs and olive oil in an ice cube tray for easy storage and meal prep. Many of these tips and tricks have floated around the Internet for years, but TikTok, with its 60-second clip limit and tools to easily add text, voiceovers, and other effects, lends itself perfectly to the genre.
It's telling that even when users are stuck at home and theoretically have all the time in the world, they still find comfort in optimizing that time and making their lives easier. Another explanation is that as stay-at-home orders drag on, the initial shiny excitement of creating complex meals wears away and people just want to stay fed with little effort.
While we can't predict the exact recipes that will become popular in upcoming months, we're guessing that aesthetics, nostalgia, and hacks will remain relevant themes in home kitchens everywhere, for a long time to come. If you want to try some of the best TikTok food trends, we've included recipes, tips, and recommended products below.
Here's how to make 3 of the best TikTok food trends at home: Read the original article on Business Insider