Baked feta pasta and mug cakes: TikTok food trends explode in Australia
Young foodies are bypassing celebrity chefs and cooking shows, taking their cues instead from social media app TikTok where food gets weird, wild and extremely viral.
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If you’ve found yourself making baked feta pasta or pancake cereal in the past 12 months, you can probably blame TikTok.
TikTok food trends have exploded in Australia, seeping into kitchens across the country as teens and 20-somethings turn to the social media app for food inspiration.
In 2020 alone, Aussies viewed two billion cooking videos on the app, which unlike
Instagram’s picture-perfect dishes, is where food gets creative, communal and weird.
Viral recipes, cooking challenges and hacks are now so big on the site, there are TikTokkers dedicated to debunking “stunt food”, said Sydney burger king Ali Chebbani.
“You see a lot of food on TikTok and you never know if it’s true or not,” he says.
“Like a massive deep-fried mozzarella ball? That’s border stunt food because no one’s going to eat a whole block of mozzarella.
“But if you see a nice pasta recipe, you obviously want to try it out and it does get that momentum behind it. Because of the For You pages, everyone’s able to see that one video and get on board.”
The 21-year-old from Punchbowl, who runs food truck Chebbos Smash Burgers, is one of Australia’s top TikTok food influencers.
A year after launching his burger-making video page @chebbo, he had amassed 580,000 followers, including some of the world’s top food creators.
He’s since given up a budding bank career and burgers are now his full-time job. He credits the app for helping perfect his trade and grow his business.
“I’ve grown so much and a lot of it is just by watching other creators and, you know, doing my own research and it’s just taken me down this path that I never would have gone,” he said.
TikTok has taken food off a pedestal, he said, and made it accessible to the masses, who can learn a recipe in a 15-second video then try it at home.
His Aussie burgers — filmed and made in his backyard — get tens of thousands of views, as do his versions of Big Macs and Popeye Chicken, which he makes from scratch.
“A lot of the ingredients and the dishes that I use, they’re very normal, nothing’s too expensive, everyone’s seen a lot of it before,” he said.
“It shows people that you can do it. Every day I get at least five DMs (direct messages) from people showing me what they’ve cooked. It’s amazing I’ve been able to have that much of an impact.”
TikTok food trends and challenges, where you try to recreate a viral dish, blew up in 2020 when COVID lockdowns saw millions stuck at home.
Birria tacos, a Mexican LA street food, became a global obsession and Sydney IT worker Julia Nguyen was on board — so much so, she translated it into a business.
Ms Nguyen, 25, began making and selling the crispy, cheesy tacos dipped in broth from home last year with friends David Tran and Kevin Tran.
Demand grew so big, they opened a store, Chololo, in Fairfield in January this year. Not only did their food inspiration come from TikTok trends, but the app drove much of the buzz behind their business.
“My first two videos (of our tacos) on TikTok got 70,000 views,” Ms Nguyen said. “It definitely helped the business grow.
“Although we were trying to promote our products via Instagram, it was TikTok that actually carried customers across for us, it’s insane just to see the magic of social media.”
More than a quarter of Australia’s youngest Generation Alpha and about 20 per cent of Gen Zs now use TikTok.
But, like all social media apps, not everything on there is good for them. The site is flooded with food designed purely for likes including extreme junk food, sugar-laden energy drink cocktails, fatty processed foods and millions of dishes with zero nutrients.
Clinical nutritionist Sally Joseph said food and mood went hand-in-hand and, after a year when youth mental health issues have surged, some TikTok recipes were a worry.
“I’m seeing as a clinical nutritionist in my practice, a lot more children with mental health conditions that we just didn’t see to the same extent one generation ago,” she said.
“A big reason for that is what they’re putting into their mouths.”
She said foods pushed on TikTok that were low in nutrients and high in sugar, bad fats, artificial additives and processed ingredients were terrible for physical and mental health.
“We need to be really careful with these kids not to get caught up in the food fad frenzy, so they’re actually able to look down on their plate and go, hang on a minute, what is this meal actually made up of?” she said.
“The biggest thing to remember with food is that it contains information which the body then assimilates to form new cells. It shapes how you feel and function, how you think as well as how your energy levels are, and how you sleep.”
A good rule of thumb, she said, was to pay attention to ingredients — the fewer items coming from the fridge or grown in the ground were a sign it’s a recipe better watched than eaten.
“The more foods you’re pulling out of a packet, that’s a real indicator and a red flag for you’re getting further and further away from a whole food, real food diet that’s nutrient dense.
“What’s visually stimulating on apps is not necessarily good for you.”
TIK TOK’S BEST FOOD TRENDS
BAKED FETA PASTA
Toss two punnets of cherry tomatoes, a few cloves of garlic, a block of fetta in olive oil in a baking dish, add salt and herbs of choice. Bake until softened, then stir in cooked pasta shells and fresh basil.
TORTILLA WRAP
Savoury: Warm a tortilla then slice one edge to the centre. In each quarter placed: sliced chicken schnitzel; strip of bacon and sliced avocado; sliced tomato and red onion; hot sauce and cheese. Fold each quarter onto the other until you have a stacked quarter. Grill and eat.
Sweet version: Substitute Nutella, strawberries, sliced banana and peanut butter. Fold and grill
BAKED OATS
Mix ½ cup oats, 2Tb vanilla protein, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ cup almond milk, 1 Tb maple syrup, ½ tsp vanilla extract. Add handful blueberries, transfer into ovenproof dish, top with more blueberries, bake 200C for 20 minutes, top with nuts and honey
PANCAKE CEREAL
Make a pancake batter, spray a griddle and spoon tiny pancakes and cook and flip. Transfer to a cereal bowl, top with maple syrup and banana.
OTT version: topped with mini Oreos, mini marshmallows and chocolate milk.
NATURE’S CEREAL
Throw a handful of fresh berries and pomegranate seeds into a bowl and top with coconut water. Easy as that.
LAVA MUG CAKE
2Tb soft butter, ¼ cup sugar, 2 Tb boiling water, combine, add 2Tb cocoa powder, ¼ cup self-raising flour, 4 squares dark chocolate, microwave 1 minute Eat.
CREAM CHEESE PEPPERS.
Small capsicums hollowed out and stuffed with cream cheese and seasoning, from corn chips to chopped salami.
WHIPPED COFFEE.
In a small bowl whip 2Tb instant coffee, 2Tb white sugar and 2Tb hot water into a creamy froth. In a glass, add ice and milk, then pour whipped coffee mixture over the top (this will probably make two coffees depending on how strong you like it).
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