RECIPES GONE VIRAL
BY GABRIELLE CABANES ILLUSTRATION BY MIA PISHOTTI
Ever since the start of COVID-19, social media has produced a series of trends started by influencers and random creators relating to food.
Most people remember the renowned whipped coffee trend which took over TikTok at the start of the pandemic. Thousands could be seen taking their daily walk or watching “Tiger King” with a cup of milk covered by a strange mixture of instant coffee powder, hot water, and sugar.
After whipped coffee, the world continued to see several trends that made their way around households and had parents wondering if their child would burn the house down or actually make a recipe they could use for dinner. According to Toast Tab, a few other recipes to remember included the baked feta pasta where one would put whole cherry tomatoes and a block of feta in the oven covered with oil and spices and watch as the gooey cheese mixed with the bursting tomatoes.
Celebrities also influenced the trends. Gigi Hadid notably had a spicy vodka sauce recipe which consisted of heavy cream, tomato paste, and garlic among other ingredients. The pasta originally went viral in 2020 during COVID-19 when people had more time to try out new recipes in the desperate hopes of finding excitement around the house. According to The Drinks Business, Hadid even inspired brands like Heinz and Absolut to collaborate and launch their own version of the sauce which was released in April 2023.
More recently, a TikToker by the name of Tiffany Magee can be found creating plates of food which often include vegetables like brussel sprouts and hearts of palm accompanied with cottage cheese, mustard, and a sausage. The weird mixture of items has intrigued a lot of viewers, making them wonder whether this somewhat healthy assemblage of products is worth a try.
Yashvita Kanuganti, a sophomore studying linguistics and religious studies, said she remembers making the feta pasta with her friends but finding it to be not as good as what she had expected.
“I think we made it wrong, but it was really bland and low-key sour,” she said.
Kanuganti said she also remembers making the whipped coffee during COVID-19 and making batches in bulk to store in her fridge so she wouldn't have to make more of the whipped mixture every time she wanted a coffee.
She said she also found a lot of the trends also included people discovering products from other cultures that they had simply never tried before.
“The rest of them were just people discovering international foods and going crazy, which I was like, ‘This isn't a big deal, just like go touch some grass,’’’ she said.
Sami Lorenzen, a freshman studying biology, said some of the social media food trends she had tried included the whipped coffee as well as putting a piece of ice cream into a fruit roll up. She said she really enjoyed being able to share her experience with people around her.
“It was really fun doing them because then you can talk about it with your friends and be like, ‘Oh my god, did you do that?’” she said.
