“Matcha tastes like grass.”
“Then why did you buy it?”
“FOMO, I guess?”
In urban society, food isn’t just about fueling your body with energy. It has shifted to become a symbol of wealth and status. Food hunting, fancy brunches, overpriced coffees and pastries are now the sought-after lifestyle. Some go to great lengths to travel and queue for hours for a Bukit Bintang shawarma or a chocolate cake served in a bowl that goes viral. We often spend a large amount of allowance or salary to afford this norm, even though it may not necessarily be in our tax bracket. More often than not, we gaslight ourselves into liking certain viral foods or beverages because the cool kids love them and we don’t want to miss out.
To highlight, food influencers have substantially contributed to the shift in food consumption trends and have immensely changed the way we perceive food. While splurging at hip cafes and upscale restaurants remains popular, home cooking has also gained significant traction. In fact, cooking at home has become the most popular form of influencer content on social media, surpassing fashion and beauty, which previously dominated. This offers a breath of fresh air from the excesses of consumer culture.
Source: Feger (2024)
Kepada Khairul Aming, Saya Buat Jadi!
This tagline has surely resonated well with us Malaysians. Local food content creators like Khairul Aming often take a culturally rich approach by associating food with hospitality and communal eating, emphasizing Malaysia’s tradition of Kenduri and the importance of bonding with family and friends over shared meals. His Ramadhan series “30 Hari 30 Resepi” has been very popular for its versatility and convenience, saving people from the headache of deciding what to cook for suhoor or iftar. The influence this series had was tremendous, often causing fresh ingredients to sell out at local supermarkets whenever he featured them in his posts. Netizens even jokingly suggested that he should warn local supermarkets in advance about what he was going to make so that they could stock up.
Malaysian food content creators should also be credited for upholding the heritage of traditional delicacies, such as kuih muih and lauk kampung, by making them more accessible—especially to the younger generation, who often perceive these dishes as complex to prepare. Their videos typically follow a similar pattern of being condensed into 2-minute, high-resolution clips with an endearing, relatable or funny narrative. These creators leverage their social capital to cater to a wide demographic, including students and individuals from various socioeconomic backgrounds by offering practical recipes that are both affordable and easy to recreate. This creates a sense of community as the audience shares their own experiences of trying to recreate the dishes, some flushed with pride for their success and others laughing at their inevitable failures. It is a heart-warming scene where people form connections beyond screens to celebrate traditional food and culture, which is truly our pride and joy.
Can you make Ozempic from scratch?
Nara Smith has become the internet’s queen of making food from scratch. The beautiful model teases her audience by following very meticulous, time-consuming recipes whilst being dressed in extravagant thousand-dollar designer gowns and full glam makeup in her home kitchen. Her videos range from making ordinary dishes like cinnamon rolls or meatballs to complex treats like bubblegum or coke, something that is arguably not worth the hassle to make by yourself. In line with her penchant for whisking food from thin air, her audience often humorously requests that she make Ozempic from scratch, a medication used for type 2 diabetes that is currently gaining popularity for causing weight loss among Hollywood celebrities. Moreover, Nara often subtly rage baits the audience by saying something implausible at the start of her videos, like her toddlers woke up craving cereal for breakfast, so she decided it would be easier to prepare cereal from scratch.
We know that the narrative she sells is likely for show (though not impossible), but her incredibly aesthetic and picture-perfect content compels us to play along. Nara has portrayed homemade cooking as therapeutic and effortless rather than burdensome which inspires her target demographic of young adults to opt for the former, which is cleaner. However, since her content is highly curated for entertainment purposes, it is unlikely that it truly reflects her daily routine. Is it really plausible that she has that much time to spare to make a single meal whilst being a model and a mother to three children? More broadly, there is a recurring trend of associating food with wellness amongst other lifestyle influencers too, often revolving around strict ‘clean eating’, gut health and high protein meal preps. All in all, although this shift is inherently better, some audiences may feel inadequate and struggle to attain this level of perfection because of certain limitations like time and resources.
In conclusion, both local and international food influencers have made a significant impact on consumer culture, albeit in different ways. Consumer trends are heavily influenced by their content, often sparking phenomena driven by the fear of missing out, as people seek to maintain social connections that food provides. Moreover, the adage “you are what you eat” holds true, as the food we choose to consume reflects our values and identities. Ultimately, food should be cherished not only for its sustenance but also for the cultural and social significance it carries.
References
Feger, A. (2024). Cooking is the most popular form of influencer content on social media. [online] EMARKETER. Available at: https://www.emarketer.com/content/cooking-most-popular-form-of-influencer-content.
Schulz, M. (2024). Nara Smith and the new era of influencer marketing. [online] Vogue Business. Available at: https://www.voguebusiness.com/story/fashion/nara-smith-and-the-new-era-of-influencer-marketing
