Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 29, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba C2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2025 How TikTok has changed the way we cook Social kitchen T IKTOK’S future — and even its present — in the U.S. is as murky as a sleepy girl mocktail, which is, of course, one of hundreds of recipes that have gone viral on the platform. Newly sworn-in U.S. President Don- ald Trump issued an order telling the justice department not to enforce a law banning the site, for now. Some content creators, including the army of those who make and share cooking and food videos, are shifting their focus to YouTube, and others are just waiting out the legal mess. But one thing is certain: The widespread freak- out over the site going dark for good is just another indication of its cultural influence. TikTok might be the home of goofy dances, dubious health advice and mukbang galore — but it has also changed the way many people cook. Emily Contois, a professor at the University of Tulsa who studies food media, noted that the platform’s pop- ularity surged during the pandemic, when many people were cooking more than ever. It quickly became a desti- nation for people seeking inspiration, community — and novelty. “Food culture’s saturation and ex- citement and enthusiasm had reached a particular boiling point on food Instagram,” she said. “That pitched into something even bigger once food TikTok took off within that context of lockdowns and the pandemic.” “The virality of TikTok seems more potent,” she says. On the platform, food trends acceler- ate at the speed of light. Before social media, it might have taken months or even years for a dish to become trendy. Think of chicken Marbella from the 1982 Silver Palate Cookbook, which eventually became one of the decade’s “it” dishes. Your mom might have heard about it from a friend, or tried it at a dinner party and then purchased the book herself — a process that seems positively glacial these days. “That was like Paul Revere,” laughs Joanne Molinaro, who began posting in 2020 under the handle the Kore- an Vegan and now has nearly three million followers. “Now multiply that by a billion — not only is the communi- cation faster, it’s reaching an exponen- tially larger audience. You have this compounding of reach that is absolute- ly unimaginable.” The torrent of “you’ve gotta try this” dishes means some cooks are exper- imenting more. Even in its earliest mediums, food media was always about entertainment, not just teaching. Plenty of people read cookbooks with- out making a single dish from them or binged Barefoot Contessa episodes while eating takeout. Even Instagram can feel like a gallery of beautiful food that we’re simply meant to ogle. But TikTok’s mimetic emphasis — where users riff on each other’s creations, whether it’s a dance or a recipe — means people are actually making many of the dishes that go viral. “There’s a community aspect, where lot of people coming onto the platform to not only consume content, but to also to act in some way,” says Margot Dukes Eddy, a partner and head of social at digital agency Acadia, which advises clients on TikTok strategy and produces content. Of course, not everyone is on TikTok to participate. A study last year by the Pew Research Center found that about half of all American adults on the site have never posted a video themselves. Still, TikTok does not prize slick production values or perfect lighting, meaning anyone could, in theory, be- come a TikTok star — or at least make videos people want to watch. Food writer Adam Roberts has been on just about every platform: He started his blog, the Amateur Gourmet, in 2004, he’s written cookbooks, and is now on Substack, Instagram and TikTok, and even has a novel coming out this spring. To him, making video content is freeing in a way that writing isn’t. “It’s pretty liberating — you don’t have to proofread or worry over your sentence structure,” he says. “You just have to make sure the food looks good and that you don’t sound like an idiot.” Sure, some of the food content on TikTok is of the stunt variety. You’ll find people dumping piles of spaghetti onto their tables, or cooking steak in a toilet tank. And there are esoteric subgenres — elaborate cake decorat- ing or sushi making, for example. But some of the most viral food videos have involved simple recipes and basic techniques that users say are actually helping people learn to cook. T IKTOK’S short-form format means recipes have to be stream- lined. Many videos feature pared- down instructions and a minimum of ingredients — and often, cooks who aren’t taking themselves too seriously. Some might bemoan how the plat- form caters to our ever-shortening at- tention spans and the lack of detailed, precise recipes that can help guide home cooks to success. But Roberts notes that users are learning something even if it comes in 30-second bites. “Complex recipes and techniques are simplified for the most distracted of distractible audiences,” he says, “And basic cooking precepts — salt early and well, get things really brown — have become more common- place.” At the very least, Roberts said, TikTok has “made us more visual in how we plate and serve food. Whether it’s baking feta with cherry tomatoes or flipping a perfectly crisped tah- dig out of a pot, any home cook who watches cooking videos on TikTok has a good sense of what makes food look alluring.” Many also say TikTok’s wide-casting algorithm and rapid scrolling feature has meant people are coming across the cuisines of other cultures. Birria tacos, dalgona coffee, salmon-rice bowls with Kewpie mayonnaise have all had moments on the platform. “I think it has exposed people to lots of different kinds of cuisines, different kinds of people, lots of different ways of eating,” Contois said. Molinaro notes, too, that the plat- form’s cultural grab bag and the lack of gatekeeping means culturally signif- icant foods can be misrepresented. Re- cently, she saw a TikToker use paprika to season kimchi, which horrified her. “That sort of stuff is really problemat- ic, because you’re passing yourself off as an expert to people who know not a thing about kimchi,” she says. But she likens the exposure to how online dating broadened her romantic horizons. Before she tried finding a match on apps, she had a very specific type. But she ultimately fell for a guy — an Italian-American white guy who’s a professor and a piano player, as she described him — who was nothing like what she thought she was looking for. “I never would have come across him if I hadn’t opened myself up to online dating, and it’s the same thing with food,” she said. “There are so many different kinds of cuisines that I just would not be exposed to in my daily life had it not been for something like TikTok.” — The Washington Post EMILY HEIL EVOTO University of Tulsa professor Emily Contois studies food media and says TikTok’s popularity surged during the pandemic, when people were cooking more than ever. TIKTOK The Korean Vegan’s chestnut and vegan sausage pull-apart stuffed biscuits. Coke courts nostalgia with Orange Cream flavour COCA-COLA Orange Cream is sched- uled to go on sale Feb. 10 in the U.S. and Canada. It will be sold in regular and zero-sugar varieties. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. said Monday that it developed the soda, which mixes cola with orange and va- nilla flavours, in response to growing consumer demand for the comforting, nostalgic flavour. Orange cream — first introduced with the Creamsicle ice cream bar in 1937 — has enjoyed a recent re- naissance. Olipop, a probiotic soda, in- troduced an orange cream flavour in 2021. Carvel reintroduced its Orange Dreamy Creamy ice cream last year for the first time since 1972. Wendy’s also debuted an Orange Dreamsicle Frosty last spring. Coca-Cola has been experiment- ing with new flavours to help keep customers engaged with its signature product. In 2022, it launched Coca-Co- la Creations, a series of limited-edi- tion Coke flavours in colourful cans and bottles. Coke added hints of coconut, strawberry and even Oreos to the drinks. The company introduced raspber- ry-flavoured Coca-Cola Spiced last February, saying the offering would be a permanent addition to its lineup. But the company abruptly pulled Co- ca-Cola Spiced off the market in Sep- tember, saying it would be replaced with a new flavour this year. Coke said Coca-Cola Orange Cream won’t be a permanent flavour but would remain on sale at least through the first quarter of 2026. In an interview last year, Coca-Co- la’s North American marketing chief, Shakir Moin, said it used to take the company at least a year to develop a new product. But it’s trying to move more quickly. “Consumers are moving faster. The market is moving forward faster. We’ve got to be faster than the speed of the market,” he said. — The Associated Press DEE-ANN DURBIN SUPPLIED Joanne Molinaro is a TikTok influencer who blogs about food. ACADIA Margot Dukes Eddy is a partner and head of social at digital agency Acadia. SUPPLIED TikTok cook Adam Roberts runs a blog called the Amateur Gourmet. ARTS ● LIFE I FOOD ;