Whether it's birthday cakes lavishly decorated with chocolate kisses and brittle or just a quick summer salad: When it comes to recipe ideas, you can always rely on the Internet.
Usually you don't have to search long, the recipes are reliably flushed into the social media feed.
While Instagram and Youtube have long been known as a cooking mecca with hashtags like “Foodporn”, the TikTok video platform, which is particularly popular among young users, is catching up and even compiling the latest culinary trends and instructions once a month.
Great cooking skills are usually not required: Since videos are presented on TikTok in a maximum of 15 seconds, most recipes are quick and easy to prepare, but sometimes seem a bit bizarre - we looked around the platform to see which recipe trends were worthwhile and which you can confidently keep away from your kitchen.
From Finland to the TikTok world
Probably the most famous TikTok dish to date is feta pasta - even if it presumably made its debut on Instagram. It should have started with a Finnish blogger in winter 2019: Jenni Häyrinen posted a recipe on her blog and Instagram channel “liemessa” under the hashtag #uunifetapasta. The simple recipe - ideal for beginners to cook - essentially consists of three ingredients: feta, tomatoes and pasta. First, the feta and tomatoes are braised in a baking dish in the oven, then poured over the cooked pasta and mixed together.
According to Häyrinen, the post received more than three million views - and that with a Finnish population of just under 5.5 million people. Picked up by TikTokers, the pasta recipe has also reached the rest of the world in recent months. In some supermarkets in the USA, even the feta is said to have been sold out. And the hype doesn't seem to have died down yet: At the beginning of May, the hashtag #FetaPasta on TikTok had more than 923.1 million views. In fact, the dish can be cooked just fine if you don't have time - but we recommend adding a little chopped garlic, a little chili and Italian herbs.
Another classic in the TikTok universe is the tortilla trend.
This is particularly celebrated on the Internet for its innovative folding technology, which some users believe has revolutionized the eating of tortilla wraps.
We have seen it ourselves often enough: Either the self-made wrap collapses when you eat, or sauces and the rest of the contents run across the palms of your hands.
This no longer happens to TikTok users - and to us -: First a tortilla is cut up to the middle and then divided into four pieces.
Each quarter is topped or coated with a different ingredient.
Finally, the whole thing is folded up quarter by quarter and "toasted" in a pan or sandwich maker.
Problem solved.
Extremely practical
The advantage of the tortilla wrap is that everyone can let off steam with the sauces and ingredients as they please. Whether sweet or savory - there are no limits to your own creativity. The completely practicable tortilla trend even beats the feta classic: the hashtag #TortillaTrend has been viewed over 4.4 billion times on TikTok so far.
On the other hand, TikTok dishes such as ramen lasagna or the so-called cloud bread fall under the bizarre category. On his TikTok channel @ramenkingivan, Ivan, an apparently big fan of Japanese noodles, posts all kinds of recipes with ramen. In the case of ramen lasagna, the conventional noodle plates are simply replaced by ramen noodles, which are usually found in instant noodle soups. The whole thing is then topped with ready-made tomato sauce and cheese. The ramen king sacked over 4.4 million hearts with his contribution. How many users actually re-cooked the dish remains unclear - at best, it convinces as uncomplicated and quick hangover food after a night of partying.