March 11, 2020 was a day that changed the lives of the entire UMass Boston community. Students and staff packed up their things and went home, believing we would be returning shortly after spring break. As we know now, that turned out to not be the case. 

During these unprecedented times, people were encouraged to stay at home and only leave the house if necessary. This quarantine took a toll on people from all around the world: mentally, emotionally, and physically. But it also redirected our lives to an extent; it made us value more important things. It made us more connected than ever and made us reflect more on our goals in life. It encouraged us to not only pick up old habits that were once dropped in the past, but it also encouraged us to pick up new ones as well. With more and more people being stuck at home with nothing to do, we have turned to social media apps more than ever, providing us with some sort of distraction/entertainment. One of these apps being TikTok. 

If you haven’t heard of TikTok, it is a social media app where people can do almost anything. They can dance, act, debate, give advice, or even cook all in 60 seconds or less. So basically, it’s a more modern-day version of Vine. With the rise of the pandemic, more people have turned to this app as a source of entertainment, but also, to learn.

Millennials and Gen Z’ers are known to take the easier and quicker way out whenever possible. Therefore, paying $20 plus for a $5 meal sounds a lot more appealing than taking time out of our day to go grocery shopping and prepare the food ourselves. 

 This is where TikTok comes in. Despite its criteria for keeping their videos short, creators find unique ways of incorporating their recipes into their videos. These tik toks provide viewers with step by step directions on how to make certain foods, leading up to the final product all in the span of one minute. Starting with something simple like Dalgona, the whipped coffee that blew up everyone’s newsfeed at the beginning of the quarantine; to something a little more complex, at least in terms of cooking like spicy vodka penne pasta.
 

Some of the greatest Food TikTokers in my opinion: 

• The Golden Balance: A creator that takes some of people’s favorite comfort foods like sushi, steak, and spicy chicken sandwiches, and transforms them into a healthier version of themselves. With the same amount of delicious taste, but less guilt. Plus, it helps that he is quite the charmer. 

• Goodeatswithtati: This creator helps her audience come up with affordable food recipes, perfect for college students, or people who don’t want to waste a lot of money on groceries. 

• Eitan Bernath:: An 18-year-old food creator, who also made an appearance on the food network. He explores the different cuisines from all around the world. 

• Sulheejessica (Jessica Woo): Last but certainly not least, the queen of lunches. She puts all of the other lunches to shame, with her inspiring notes, and creative ways of cutting up her fruits and sandwiches. 

So, the next time you’re at a family gathering and people start going off about how social media is ruining our lives, and nothing good comes from it. Just woo them over with some of the simplest food recipes and tell them, to their surprise, that you learned that from TikTok.