Can I eat like an influencer?
That's the question I set out to answer this week. And who else to mimic but one of the most popular food influencers out there right now?
For anyone who doesn’t know, Emily Mariko is a popular food, fashion, and lifestyle influencer. She currently has 7 million followers on TikTok and 332K followers on Instagram. By far, her most popular video on TikTok is of her salmon rice bowl.
After salivating from her videos for weeks, I began to wonder if it was possible to eat like Mariko when you don’t have access to a stove, or good-quality ingredients like she does. Specifically, when you’re stuck eating trashy food from the dining hall, can you make it aesthetic?
With my busy schedule, I decided to try it for one day. But after looking at Mariko’s diet, I decided to let myself have a few cheats.
Breakfast
Most days, Mariko just has two eggs, over-easy, along with two slices of toast, spread with jam or cream cheese. She also adds a sriracha drizzle to her eggs, and sprinkles them with what looks like Everything Bagel seasoning. For a drink, she has a cup of coffee. Here, I used my first cheat-I brought a jar of Everything But The Bagel seasoning from home.
I wasn’t feeling that hungry, so I only had one egg and toast. As you can tell, I put way too much jam on my bread, and the drizzle isn’t as pretty as hers. But other than that, I think I did a pretty good job!
Lunch
For lunch, Mariko frequents salads. The base is usually a leafy green, and then the toppings vary. For mine, I chose to go with a baby spinach base, along with chopped apples, cheese (I had these in my fridge), and my second cheat, chopped, toasted pecans. I drizzled Italian dressing on top of it.
Dinner
When it comes to dinner, Mariko usually eats leftovers, or something that includes meat. I grabbed some food from the dining hall, and heated up another cheat-some Pumpkin Bisque soup I bought from Trader Joes. I put my final cheat on top-roasted pumpkin seeds.
And that was it! With a little finagling, it is entirely possible to eat something close to what Emily Mariko does using just food from the dining hall.