Since the lockdown at the latest, we’ve been doing it on TikTok and Instagram
But what initially sounds like a fun pastime also has its downsides – especially when it comes to the food waste that many of the recipes involve. We have summarized ten of the most bizarre food trends below and had food expert Dominique Ertl classify them in terms of their usefulness.
Dinner? Boring. “Girl Dinner” is a lot more fun, at least if you believe TikTok users. The concept: After a strenuous day, you prepare a simple, yet delicious meal. The classic: bread with cheese, some antipasti, plus fruit and vegetables. Could easily pass for dinner itself, right?
What do you imagine by a “butter board”? Anyone who answers “A board of butter” is absolutely right. Because on TikTok it is currently very trendy to spread butter on a board along with herbs and other ingredients and then scrape it off again with bread. Unfortunately, the whole thing is not really sustainable, emphasizes the food expert. The reason: As a rule, there are plenty of butter residues stuck to the board, which are either thrown away immediately or stored in the refrigerator and quickly become rancid.
The “Rat Snack” trend only emerged after the lockdown – and, unlike the first two trends, it can’t be taken literally. Because when Rat Snacking you don’t snack on an innocent rodent, you eat a quickly prepared meal that is usually made from different foods that together create a rather questionable combination. Typical examples: Feta cheese with capers or soup made from crumbled chips and vinegar. The problem: Many of the combinations are tested purely because they are bizarre – and if they are not liked, thrown in the trash.
Want a new coffee combination? Then TikTok is the right place for you. But in addition to tasty trends like Dalgona coffee, there are also combinations that won’t appeal to everyone. For example, an “Espresso-O” is exactly what it sounds like: a glass of orange juice with a shot of espresso. If you like it – and don’t want to throw the experiment straight back down the drain…
The “Barbie” hype continues even weeks after its theatrical release. And of course everything that has anything to do with the film appears in the color pink. With a little creative freedom, you can also conjure up pink dishes on your plate – like a pink Barbie pasta made from beetroot and feta that went viral on TikTok at the beginning of the summer. You can find the recipe for the pink pasta here.
What is colorful, wobbly and doesn’t really look appetizing? The so-called “Cloud Bread” has been making the rounds for several months. The food trend is a pastry made from egg whites, sugar, corn starch, a pinch of salt and plenty of food coloring. Thanks to the latter, the fluffy something appears in a wide variety of colors – everything from red, yellow to green is included. It is questionable whether the colorful tones contribute to the appearance of the pastries. What is certain, however, is that “Cloud Bread” recipes on TikTok receive tens of millions of views – even if the colorful creations probably often end up in the bin after being tested once.
Ice cream – but crunchy. Sounds strange, but it really works. The idea behind it is as simple as the preparation: Take a Fruit Roll-Up – a fruit gum from the USA – and fill it with an ice cream flavor of your choice. When closed, the fruit gum hardens in no time – and turns the ice cream roll into an ice-cold, crunchy snack. Warning: Danger of brain freeze!
The “Croissant à la Lafayette” isn’t necessarily a DIY trend, but it still shouldn’t be missing from the list of TikTok food phenomena. Because the croissant in question – filled with the most colorful fillings and garnished with a wide variety of glazes – is currently causing thousands of Internet users to make a pilgrimage to the New York bakery “Lafayette” to pay a whopping ten dollars for one of the sweet pieces after a long wait.
The “Nacho Table” is just as unimaginative as the “Butter Board”. The name says it all: aluminum foil is rolled out on the largest possible dining table. Then you spread lots of nachos on the surface, which are eaten straight from the table together with various dips. Ertl sums up a lot of fun that is neither sustainable nor clean.
The most sensible trend is probably the “Big Mac Tacos” – a modern adaptation of fusion cuisine in the form of an interplay of street and fast food. Tacos meet Big Mac with legendary burger sauce, a simple and equally delicious spectacle for the taste buds that regularly brings TikTokers millions of views.
TikTok has a lot of inspiration material for unusual recipe experiments. Nevertheless, one should not forget that “in some parts of the world, eating is becoming a lifestyle, while millions of other people are suffering from hunger,” says Ertl. The increasing food trends and the high food focus on social media platforms “show in a paradoxical way what abundance we live in,” says the expert. Her suggestion for a countermovement is a “Cook like Granny” trend. Ertl’s suggestion: “The next time you visit, just ask your grandparents for tips on how to waste as little as possible in everyday life. They will definitely have great scrappy cooking recipes ready.”
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