TikTok - Become a Food Star in 60 Seconds

[weinoo]

Evidently, it's all the rage. 

So who is watching these, and more importantly, who is making any of these "recipes?"

 

Quote

 

Within 24 hours of posting his first TikTok, however, he had accrued tens of thousands of followers. Mr. Bernath, whose demeanor is bright, upbeat and approachable, began sharing short, easy-to-make recipes that other beginner cooks and his teenage peers could make at home. The videos took off.

 

“TikTok is the biggest thing that happened to me in my career, and honestly the reason why I am where I am today,” he said.

 

 

Career?

 

TikTok, the Fastest Way on Earth to Become a Food Star

[Anna N]

11 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Career?

I’d say if you’re pulling in six figures that qualifies as a career!

[weinoo]

15 minutes ago, Anna N said:

I’d say if you’re pulling in six figures that qualifies as a career!

 

The way this is stated...

 

TikTok is the biggest thing that happened to me in my career,

 

Sort of makes it sound like (to my ears and eyes) there had been a long, storied career involved.

[Katie Meadow]

 

“TikTok is the biggest thing that happened to me in my career, and honestly the reason why I am where I am today,” he said.

 

I thought that was hilarious! Gen Z livin' large! Can't wait to read that kid's autobiography, due out any day now I'm sure. And where are you today? In your parents' kitchen taking pictures of yourself and reflecting on your storied ten minute career. Don't forget to thank your mother; it was only yesterday you were you were being SV'd in amniotic fluid.

[Kerry Beal]

Love that line ‘SV’d in amniotic fluid’

[weinoo]

3 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Love that line ‘SV’d in amniotic fluid’

And my mother used a Thermapen!!

[gfweb]

11 hours ago, weinoo said:

Evidently, it's all the rage. 

So who is watching these, and more importantly, who is making any of these "recipes?"

 

 

Career?

 

TikTok, the Fastest Way on Earth to Become a Food Star

he's 19 y/o

[Steve R.]

As an admittedly older cranky guy, I'm having trouble deciding whether he's too young to know enough to do this or old enough to know better and shouldn't have done it.

[Katie Meadow]

Be kind to Gen Z even if their sense of entitlement and confidence seems off kilter. They are growing up in dangerous times. And they are a major voting block, the most diverse one yet. 

[weinoo]

25 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

Be kind to Gen Z even if their sense of entitlement and confidence seems off kilter. They are growing up in dangerous times. And they are a major voting block, the most diverse one yet. 

 

Sure - but don't feed me this bullshit at the same time...

 

Quote

“If you look at the primary people in traditional food media,” said Mr. Bernath, “they’re all classically trained or restaurant chefs. They have a ton to offer and a great amount of culinary knowledge, but I think what TikTok has done with Gen Z and teaching people how to cook, it’s just more relatable. The feedback I hear all the time is, ‘If this 18-year-old Eitan can cook this so effortlessly, then I can, too.’”

 

And expect me to think you're teaching anyone to cook by doing this...

 

 

 

 

[weinoo]

Basically, what they're "teaching," is how to become a TikTok "influencer."

[chromedome]

I can recall a time when my spaghetti sauce (which I was *very* proud of) included Campbell's tomato soup and canned, sliced olives. Obviously my tastes have evolved and I've acquired a lot of knowledge and skills in the intervening years decades, but it started with developing an interest in cooking as opposed to just eating whatever happened to be in front of me. If an enthusiastic (albeit self-interested) 19-yo can plant that seed in other teens or 20-somethings, well...so much the better for everyone.

 

To me the whole argument is very similar to the ongoing battle over school reading lists. Some teachers and parents are adamantly opposed to graphic novels/memoirs being on those lists (or Harry Potter, or sci-fi/fantasy, or whatever), while others (including me) argue that "for God's sake, if they want to read instead of staring at a screen, let 'em read what they want!" Let it be fun, let them be enthused, and then you can direct that enthusiasm. You can't steer a car that's not in motion, right?

 

I've taught cooking classes where the lightning-bolt moment for some of the students was a throwaway comment about how I augmented the kids' boxed mac & cheese when they were younger. It wasn't what I was shooting for, but that was what resonated for those people in that moment. It's all grist for the mill.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

A favorite toddler food in our house was "marble meatballs" which = 1/2" ground round balls in Cambell's tomato soup.    Decent if not perfect nutrition, and said toddler is an accomplished eater and home cook.   

[chromedome]

It occurs to me belatedly (in furtherance of my previous argument) that even on this forum, in this company, we have a thread for "absurdly, stupidly basic cooking questions."

[gfweb]

51 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

A favorite toddler food in our house was "marble meatballs" which = 1/2" ground round balls in Cambell's tomato soup.    Decent if not perfect nutrition, and said toddler is an accomplished eater and home cook.   

 

We served "snots and tots". Big favorite they recall with glee.

Don't ask.

[heidih]

I don't care any more than I do  about Instagram influencers. I don't watch and do have admiration for their initiative. Better than the feeds I've heard about that are nothing but a parade of "selfies". Hopefully they don't get totally inflated heads and crash& burn with this stuff as the peak of their lives.

[gfweb]

I think food network has tried a few influencers. Nothing stuck because there was nothing there

[weinoo]

On 5/31/2021 at 2:56 PM, chromedome said:

I can recall a time when my spaghetti sauce (which I was *very* proud of) included Campbell's tomato soup and canned, sliced olives. Obviously my tastes have evolved and I've acquired a lot of knowledge and skills in the intervening years decades, but it started with developing an interest in cooking as opposed to just eating whatever happened to be in front of me. If an enthusiastic (albeit self-interested) 19-yo can plant that seed in other teens or 20-somethings, well...so much the better for everyone.

 

 

So everyone should be making macaroni and cheese like that kid?

 

My interest in cooking developed because I wanted to feed myself decent food, not because I saw some yutz on TV making horrible food.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

It's hard for me to understand the concept of "influencer".    Do they really influence?    How many real ;people actually do what they suggest?    To what extent do the people who follow reflect our national demographic?    Sorry I asked.   

[heidih]

Well it is a thing in a certain demographic. The unfortunate extension of the "selfie culture". The younger set I interact with do not, but it seems to exist somewhat strongly for many in an almost cultish way "I got X # followers". I find it disturbing but I am not the target demographic.

[chromedome]

12 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

So everyone should be making macaroni and cheese like that kid?

 

My interest in cooking developed because I wanted to feed myself decent food, not because I saw some yutz on TV making horrible food.

 

No, not everyone....but for youngsters who've only ever made the boxed kind, it's a step in the right direction. And "decent" food is a relative term, one we refine with experience. Gotta have a base to refine and build on, right?

 

As for the vapidity of these TikTok sensations, well...Sandra Lee did 15 seasons of Semi-Homemade,* opening cans and boxes and mixing their contents. There was clearly a market for what she did, and his tens of thousands of followers would (to my mind) demonstrate pretty clearly that there's an appetite for what this particular yutz on TikTok is peddling. Seriously, we live in a world where you can buy a PBJ in the frozen section of your supermarket; and where people are mind-blown to learn that you can make whipped cream from scratch (that's not hyperbole, I've had that conversation multiple times). If one excited kid can make six figures by showing other excited kids some really rudimentary cooking techniques, then more power to him, and I hope he invests it well.

 

TL;DR version: (shrug) Just don't follow him. Clearly neither of us is his demographic.

 

(*and she was Cordon Bleu trained!)

[weinoo]

You seem to be bending over backwards to say how wonderful it is that there is this methodology for getting people interested in cooking.

 

I am simply saying that if this is the outlet, and not just related to cooking, we're doomed.