Brothy rice, Courtney Cook’s soy sauce eggs, Logan Moffitt’s cucumber salad; if you’ve been anywhere on TikTok in the last couple of years, it’s very likely that you’ve come across at least one of these trends on your FYP. I’ve noticed that every few months, there’s a new Asian-inspired dish that goes viral on our feeds. It makes sense — Asian cooking is absolutely delicious, but an issue comes when the virality of a new Asian dish causes much of the traditional culture surrounding the food to be lost.
The issue with Asian cuisine as content.
While it’s undeniable that exposure to Asian cuisine is positive, as we always want to share and teach others about different food cultures, it’s extremely important that the exposure to many Asian meals is done authentically in a way that truly honors the culture.
As Edvasion, a YouTuber who often makes content about online influencer culture and East Asian aesthetic trends, argues in his video about this phenomenon, Asian cuisine being prioritized as viral content results from a harmful rebranding of the meal as an “aesthetic trend” rather than as a real cultural tradition.
A dish such as “brothy rice” has existed within Asian culture for thousands of years as a comfort meal, but its emergence on social media as a trendy new dinner idea rebrands a common Asian meal as an aesthetic trend. Even though “brothy rice” has existed in Asian culture for years, whether as congee in Chinese culture or canh in Vietnamese culture, it’s only accepted when a popular food creator such as @cookwithcourt_ makes it in an aesthetic way. Much of the cultural significance and familiarity of the dish is forgotten, and in a sense, it becomes gentrified for the wider audience of primarily non-Asian people.
The same problems are shown with Courtney Cook’s soy sauce eggs and Logan Hoffitts’s cucumber salad. These dishes were traditionally associated with lower class east Asians, but the moment they were popularized by two, non-asian creators, they became associated with its trend instead. I remember waking up every weekend to the smell of my mom’s congee wafting through the house, and seeing something so nostalgic and meaningful being broken down into a trend for social media minimalizes much of what congee means for Asian people.
Historically, many Asian people have been chastised at schools and workplaces for bringing often “smelly” foods into lunch. As described by Michelle Ewton in her blog entry comparing food culture in Asia and the United States, the way people are taught in terms of their respect for food is extremely different. Respect for food in Asia is deep-rooted in the act of not being wasteful, whereas there’s a lack of respect for food in the United States as millions of pounds of food are put to waste each day and certain foreign foods are labeled as “gross” until it trends on social media.
With this constant trend of Asian food being rebranded in a more western way to appeal to social media audiences, it presents the primary issue at hand, which is the double standard on Asian food. As these dishes are “tiktokified,” or turned into a viral trend to spread all over our feeds, the actual history and value of the meal is disrespected. You’re not appreciating the actual dish and where it comes from, you’re praising the trendy and aesthetically pleasing version of it that’s plastered on our feeds.
How can we positively share Asian food on the internet?
Sharing other food cultures online all ties back to one simple thing: respect. Rather than changing the names of traditional dishes or altering the recipes to be more “aesthetic,” keep it true to how it’s typically made. Respect the recipes and the cultural values of the foods, and show viewers how it was meant to be tried.
Food can be a way to learn about each others’ cultures, but we must be sure that culture is not being erased or diminished when it’s shared. Instead of reinventing dishes as “brothy rice” we can make videos about Chinese congee or Vietnamese canh, and instead of saying “Courtney Cook’s soy sauce eggs,” we can just call them soy-marinated eggs.
Overall, I think it’s obviously great that Tiktok and Instagram have taken such a liking to many Asian foods, but instead of following whatever trends on social media, there should be more research into these dishes so they’re tried how they’re meant to be tried. Trust me, authentic Asian food is always the way to go.