TikTok food trends: Cloud bread, dalgona coffee & pancake cereal rise amid COVID-19

18 May 2021 --- TikTok’s top food trend is cloud bread, according to new data from Jack and Beyond. The social media platform’s arm for food trends, FoodTok, has risen in popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with many more consumers sharing their kitchen skills since spending more time at home.

“With more and more young people turning to social media as a source of inspiration for recipes, it is important to think about what this can do for the food industry as we know it,” Sophia Zimmer, head of customer service at online cake shop Jack and Beyond tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

“Social media is always growing, and the content that is put on there is forever increasing too. The rise of FoodTok has been exponential, so we can only assume that this will continue to grow bigger in the future too.”

The “new normal” in food culture
Social media platforms such as FoodTok give more people the chance to think about new, exciting, and even sustainable food and recipes instead of sticking with what they already know. 

With restaurants closed and most of us being forced to cook ourselves, more people experimented in the kitchen and sometimes surprising themselves with what they could do. 

Social media platforms give more people the chance to think about new and exciting food and recipes.“Now that things are beginning to reopen, there might be some people that would still prefer to cook at home as it has become the new normal,” she outlines. 

“Seeing someone cook something on social media can inspire others to do the same thing, as instead of using expensive, and sometimes unattainable ingredients, those on social media try and make everything that bit easier,” notes Zimmer. 

Bite-sized impactful content
The success of FoodTok is attributed to the fact that TikTok’s 15-seconds to one-minute videos are quick and easy to watch and share. 

“As the markets change and target audiences become much more aligned with this, we predict online food sites to be more likely to embed recipes straight into their articles and angle articles around them much more,” explains Zimmer. 

“We also believe that more traditional parts of the F&B sector will try to incorporate new ingredients, recipes and ideas based on these in-demand videos into their businesses.”

Influencer seal of approval
Influencers and celebrities back many trends, and there’s no denying this can bump a recipe or idea up to newer heights.

Commenting on what the crucial drivers are for food trends, Zimmer says they have to be cheap, easily accessible for all, and even better when backed by the seal of approval from celebrities. 

“For example, Gigi Hadid is the brains behind the iconic vodka pasta, which comes in 17th place in the FoodTok trends. Once people realize that they can cook their favorite food, advertised by their idol quickly and for less money than they thought, it becomes a huge hit and shared in the millions.”

“Gigi Hadid’s video went viral early last year, and it’s now featured in thousands of TikTok videos, and the trend has been viewed over 46 million times.”

Cloud bread rises
In 2020, home bakers took to the kitchen, and with more time on their hands, consumers got creative with baking. Online searches on “how to make bread” reached their highest peak over the last five years in March last year. 

Responsible for keeping consumers all entertained in the kitchen during the pandemic, the cloud bread was viewed 3.2 billion times in the last 12 months.

The cloud bread concept is unique because it is a fluffier alternative to regular bread. In some instances, food dye can be used to create the ultimate cloud effect. 

Other inspiring food trendsPancake cereal and dalgona coffee have been viral food trends since 2020. (Credit: Stefan Csontos)
TikTok has repeatedly inspired other food trends – pesto eggs have taken the world by storm with over 44 million views on the social media platform, Jack and Beyond has revealed. 

In second place is every caffeine addict’s dream, the whipped or dalgona coffee. Similar to its successor, the drink only uses three ingredients and reportedly is like drinking a “coffee cloud.”

With nearly three billion views (2,842,215,600), the caffeine delight is sure to be a tasteful alternative to your regular coffee breaks at work. 

Pancake cereal claims third place. The mini sweet treats have endless possibilities with toppings like golden syrup, Nutella or yogurt – evidencing why the #pancakecereal has over one billion views (1,603,147,600) on TikTok. 

A recent newcomer to TikTok, feta pasta takes fourth place. A simple hack that involves baking a block of feta cheese with some cherry tomatoes in the oven has had 1,057,300,000 views on TikTok and has been described as “the perfect weeknight pasta dish.” 

In December, FoodingedientsFirst revealed TikTok’s viral food trends of 2020, which already highlighted pancake cereal and dalgona coffee. 

Each of these trends are in line with Innova Market Insights’ tenth Top Ten Trend of 2021: “Age of the Influencer.” The market researcher emphasizes the increasing role that social media has in driving purchasing decisions, which paves the way for new and unique branding strategies. 

By Elizabeth Green