Five popular food trends on Instagram and TikTok you can try at home
by Sabrina Gutierrez
Food has always been a treasured way to bring people together. In the age of social media, people connect through food by posting about over-the-top dishes, beautiful restaurant interiors and hidden food truck gems. There are social media influencers who have made careers out of eating their way through the most adventurous and decadent dishes on the planet.
Apps like Instagram and TikTok expose millions of users to new food and restaurants across the world. However, the stay-at-home orders and social distancing rules of the previous year have made it difficult for people to connect over food in person. With limited dining capacity at restaurants, people have turned to TikTok and Instagram to share their food journeys as a way to reconnect in these socially-distant times.
As we all spent more time at home in the last 11 months, new food trends seem to pop up almost daily. Below are some of the most popular food trends that sent Instagram and TikTok into a frenzy in the last year and are easy enough to try at home:
Birria Tacos
A traditional Mexican dish with many variations, birria is meat, usually goat or beef, slowly stewed with spices and chiles. The result is deliciously tender meat and a rich fatty and spicy broth. One variation of birria, quesabirria tacos, exploded on Instagram and TikTok in 2020.
To make the tacos, you must first make birria. Once the birria is cooked, dip a tortilla into the broth and place in a hot pan or griddle. While the first side cooks, cover the other side in cheese, meat, chopped onions and cilantro. As the cheese starts to melt, fold up the tortilla into a delicious, cheese-dripping taco. This dish isn’t complete without dipping the taco directly into the broth.
The hashtag #birriatacos has over 77,000 entries on Instagram and over 304 million views on TikTok. Although this dish can be made at home, many restaurants and food trucks have offered this dish long before it became a trending topic on social media. Supporting local businesses by ordering birria and sharing the experience on Instagram and TikTok is a great way to keep local businesses going.
Whipped Coffee
Dalgona coffee, or whipped coffee, gained internet fame early on into the 2020 lockdown but still continues to be a food trend today. The trend is so popular that one company is selling whipped coffee kits for those who want to enjoy the drink every day.
Whipped coffee is made by whisking together instant coffee, sugar and boiling water. The process can be lengthy by hand, but the product should result in a thick, frothy cream. You then pour the cream over a glass of ice and milk.
On TikTok, the hashtag #whippedcoffee has over 2 billion views. If drinking coffee isn’t your thing, you can still participate in the whipped coffee craze by purchasing a Bath and Body Works candle inspired by the popular drink.
Tortilla Hack
Kicking quesadillas up to the next level, TikTok and Instagram users have been sharing their variations of a now-viral tortilla hack. Cutting a slit halfway up the tortilla, you divide the tortilla into four sections, with each section topped with a different ingredient. Fold the tortilla into fourths, griddle it up and voila! — layers of tortilla and toppings conveniently folded together for easy munching.
There is no limit to the toppings you can use: eggs, avocado, cheese, sliced turkey, peanut butter, blueberries. You can make it sweet or savory, or both, if that’s your thing. For the more adventurous types, there are also many international combinations to try. This trend such a hit, even some pro foodies have shown their love for this hack.
The hashtag #TortillaTrend has over 3 billion views on TikTok. The world may never go back to making quesadillas the same way again.
Baked Feta Pasta
One food trend on TikTok is so in-demand, some people are having a hard time finding the main ingredient at their local grocers. Baked feta pasta, or “TikTok Pasta,” is exploding on social media for its simplicity and deliciousness. The recipe is straightforward: Cherry tomatoes, a slab of feta cheese, basil, olive oil and spices bake together in the oven. Once the feta is nice and melty, just mixed in some cooked pasta.
TikTok users have shared different variants of the recipe, including one with strawberries. The Baked Feta Pasta craze didn’t start in America however; Finland experienced the baked feta craze in 2019. On TikTok #bakedfetapasta has 60 million views. Because the dish is so easy to make, it’s likely to stick around as a pasta staple.
Tea Bombs
Tea is having its moment on social media with the rise of Tea Bombs. Tea Bombs are globes of sugar or chocolate that, when melted in boiling water, release tea, herbs, flowers and other add-ins. The tea can come in any form: loose leaf, powdered chai or in a tea bag. In addition to being flavorful, the bombs themselves can be works of art covered in glitter or colored like stained glass.
The bombs are simple to make. First, melt sugar into a liquid. Then coat the inside of silicone mold with the melted sugar. Next, fill one half of the mold with tea and other ingredients. Seal the two sides together and enjoy by dropping in a mug of boiling water.
The hashtag #teabomb has almost 6 million views on TikTok and over 5,000 posts on Instagram. Tea bombs aren’t the only “bombs” to take over social media — bath bombs and hot cocoa bombs have also gone viral. Only time will tell what other items will be reinvented as a bomb.
With the ongoing pandemic, food trends have become more accessible and easy to try at home. TikTok and Instagram have provided a way for people to bond over food even in the most challenging of times. As restrictions lift, restaurants will most likely draw back business by providing social media-worthy food items and innovations. For now, people will continue to get creative with food experiences from their own kitchens.
