Gen Z foodies are making their mark on social media

As TikTok and Instagram bring about new ways to interact with food, two college students share their unique pathways as content creators.

Everyone has an opinion about food.

As social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok made photo sharing and video editing more accessible and efficient, people have shown growing interest in posting what they cook or eat on a daily basis.

During 2020 when most Americans were homebound because of the pandemic, food-related content like the viral sourdough trend skyrocketed on TikTok, as creators were eager to demonstrate their ability to innovate. This deviates somewhat from the platform’s original focus on dancing and lip syncing, but has resulted in an incredible amount of user-generated content and seems to have influenced people’s food choices.

Emily Rener, a freshman at the University of Southern California, saw the opportunity to grow her brand on TikTok and changed her personal account to a business one at the end of last year. Her charcuterie business is called Sophisticated Spreads which provides beautifully-designed cheeseboards and artistically presented grazing table services.

Photo courtesy of

@sophisticatedspreads / Instagram

"If you scroll back into my beginning videos, it was just me messing around, totally with no intention for anything to ever go viral," Rener said.

But after posting a video explaining what people may think charcuterie boards look like and how hers could be different, she made the decision to shift gears because the video generated over 300,000 likes and almost 3 million views.

Rener said most of her success as a small business owner should be credited to TikTok, where the algorithm allows her to reach a global audience. While the professionally looking Instagram page is all about the visuals, Rener said she has more freedom to showcase her personality and have some fun with storytelling on TikTok, where her followers love to see her “day in the life of a USC student” type of videos that are not business related.

According to food journalist Tien Nguyen, the relationship between the audience and content creators has become more personal in today’s media landscape. “It makes you feel closer to the person who is creating that content. And it lends credibility to the work they do,” said Nguyen, former senior food editor at LA Weekly.

A similar sentiment applies to Mandi Mikasa’s experience with Instagram. As a food blogger, she writes reviews on signature dishes and restaurants in Los Angeles, and her posts quickly hit hundreds of likes because of her authenticity.

Photos courtesy of Mandi Mikasa

From sushi burritos to butternut squash ravioli, Mikasa tries to feature a variety of cuisines on her blog hoping to provide exposure to different types of food. "A lot of the popular food accounts have pasta, pizza on repeat; while that gets tons of likes and engagement, that’s just not what I’m going for," she said.

Being half Japanese and growing up in Hawaii, Mikasa feels fortunate to have experienced diverse cuisines at a young age. However, she is frustrated by the fact that people might have no idea of what spam musubi is, which is her favorite food of all time.

"Food doesn’t always bring people together but I think it does promote understanding, and then gives you the pathway towards that understanding," she said. “It’s kinda up to you to take that pathway. But at least it’s there. At least the door is there now."

Nguyen also felt left out before she started writing about food and culture more than a decade ago. Searching for Phở restaurants, she would encounter stories and reviews that seemed to target a white audience only. But as a Vietnamese person who grew up with the dish, Nguyen wanted to bridge that gap by sharing her experience with Phở.

Nguyen said the explosion of diverse cuisines on social media is a powerful way to impact cultural literacy around food.