I was not hungry a minute ago. 

Then I opened Tiktok…

Now I need a sandwich from a restaurant I’ve never heard of, a matcha that I’ve never tried, and a desert that cost $22. 

So I have to ask: Did Tiktok just tell me what to eat? 

When to fuel my hunger? 

Food has always be influenced by media. Cookbooks, magazines, Television shows, commercials and celebrity chefs all play a part in telling society what foods are popular. 

But Tiktok makes it feel different. 

Instead of a food critic telling me what restaurant to go to, it is a random person in their car or at the back of the restaurant saying: 

YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS! 

And suddenly I want to go and experience the food myself. 

A restaurant could have been operating for years without me even knowing. Then one person takes a 30-second video of what the food looks like, how the atmosphere is.

We’ve seen this happen with restaurants, drinks, recipes, grocery-store products, and whole food trends.

One week no one is talking about something.

The next week, it’s everywhere.

Research published in 2026 addressed TikTok’s effect on young people’s food behavior and discovered that virality, influencer reviews, entertainment, social influence, and viewers’ relationships with creators can affect food preferences and behaviors.

Which makes me wonder how much of what I think I want to eat is actually coming from me.

If I see someone pull a huge cookie apart and say that it is the best thing they have ever eaten, I’m already thinking of how it smells.

I haven’t tasted it.

I haven’t even smelled it.

But somehow my brain has already decided it’s delicious.

That is the power of food media.

It does not have to feed us to make us hungry.

It just has to show us.

And TikTok has intensified that and made it even more intense because the content never really stops.

You watch one restaurant video.

Then another.

Then a recipe.

So then a grocery haul.

And then somebody says, “what I eat in a day.”

Then a video about a new restaurant.

Then suddenly you’re thinking about food you weren’t thinking about before you opened the app.

The algorithm learns what we watch.

If we interact with food content, we get more food content.And the more we see food content, the more normal it becomes to constantly think about what we’re going to eat next.

But there is another side to this.

Social media does not only tell us how to eat.

It tells us what food is worth eating.

There is a difference.

A normal bowl of pasta could taste great. In slow motion, a bowl of pasta with melted cheese being pulled apart.

That is content.

A regular cup of coffee is just coffee.

But it is a drink with layers, whipped cream, flowers and a cute café in the background?

Now it’s an experience.

Food has become something we consume with our eyes before we consume it with our mouths. And sometimes I think that is why viral food can feel so exciting.

We’re not just buying food.

We are buying the experience we saw online.

We’re buying the chance to say, “I tried that place too.”

We are participating in the trend.

And perhaps that’s one of the reasons why it’s not just that I’m craving foods I had absolutely no interest in five minutes prior.

And perhaps TikTok isn’t only showing me what people are eating.

It is teaching me what I actually want to eat.

And honestly?

Im probably going to go get that sandwich.