There is no doubt about it: Social media has revolutionized the food business. Scrolling through endless food porn on Instagram picked up a craze that is now fully spread with Tiktok, which has turned everyone into a 15-second chef.
That too can be a problem. Today, everyone is expert in everything, without proof.
On the one hand, the intense love for food on social media has sparked interest in the culinary world, but at the same time, classically trained chefs are concerned that the advent of short-form ingredients is making the art of cooking “trivial”. Ask the co-organizers of the new “Iron Chef” on Netflix, Alton Brown and Kristen Kish – but that doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate what social media has done for their business.
“We became rock stars,” says Kish. “Chefs have become rock stars.”
With the explosion of cooking shows in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the food genre of television has made social media mandatory for Jane Z for millennials. After all, Brown is one of the godfathers of cooking TV, having spent 20 years in the food network, and Kish burst onto the scene after winning “Top Chef.” Generations of viewers have learned to cook by watching celebrity chefs like them, and today, new generations are learning from TikTok – teachers are not really chefs.
Kish says that shows like “Top Chef” and “Iron Chef” started happening “Reshape what food and food competition looks like.” She adds, “Unknown up-and-comers were given a platform to showcase what they liked, and it was always about the food. The food came first and then the story. It gave us the platform.” The hole was filled, so the story became a complete picture of heart and soul, not just sitting on a plate. “
That said, the two stars of “Iron Chef” are not the biggest fans of TikTok. We can explain, but it’s more fun to let Brown and Kish do everything – here, in this emotional conversation. Diversity She is full of laughter and emotion.
Media – How have television and social media increased public interest in food?
Alton Brown: Well, I think the food is on its own A form of media that is universal and forms the connective tissue between people. There is no one I can think of who is anti-food. Everyone loves to eat. Most of us find comfort in eating or cooking together. Even if we don’t, we like to watch it. With every extension of contact in the human area, be it Instagram or TikTok or whatever, the food will end. But this is not surprising because food is one of the few things that binds us. And there are so many different forms of media, we really want that.
At what point did you start to see the change from the popular food on television to the social media?
Gray: I got into it because I was directing TV commercials and I was cooking in my spare time, and one day in the late 80’s, I started thinking, “You know, I think food media is going to be another big thing. Should do. ” And then in the early 90’s, I wanted to make TV shows about food and go to cooking school. I got it right.
Kristen Kish: [Laughing]
Gray: I think every generation has to find its own way. My generation, we got into food because our parents or grandparents might have cooked it. Before my generation, it was Julia the baby. Now, we have a generation that is fully taught by the people of the media. People have told me, “You know, I do this because you were the first generation on TV to really cook for everyone and teach me how to cook.” But I think TikTok was actually a game changer, though it started from Instagram.
What do you think of TikTok?
Gray: The weird thing is, making food more popular is not the only place I go. There is a lack of human contact.
Kish: Well, I think TikTok, basically short-form 15-second content makes you feel like you can do it because it makes it seem easy. And maybe the recipe is easy. But if you cut 50 steps, something always seems easy.
Gray: It also demeans the way we cook, which I think is potentially detrimental because we have a whole generation of people who think cooking is like putting nuts in ice cream or something like that.
Kish: This is really annoying. There was talk of a ground-up cabbage salad. How does that happen ?!
Gray: Because it can be sent in 15 seconds.
Kish: But it is basically cabbage with an herb green dressing! She made the herb Colesla! We have been making herbal kolesla For how many years
Gray: Umm, since I was 8?
Kish: Like, how does it happen?
Gray: Because generations go by where they have enough isolation from the original source material where they think they invented everything.
Kish: They’re like, “Wow, that looks good.” You ass, I cooked that food when I was lazy for so many years!
Gray: And now you know what it feels like!
Kish: It’s exciting. [Turns to Variety reporter] Why do you love cabbage salad?
I never made it.
Kish: Oh, you really knew what we were talking about! [Laughing]
I waste a lot of time watching food videos on TikTok.
Gray: [Laughing]
But I’m unique to my generation, and love to spend time cooking. Sitting in the kitchen calms me down and I cook for hours. I’ve always loved it. And I agree with you – cooking with TikTok seems a lot easier and much faster, but it’s not really that fast.
Gray: It tries to bring cooking to the level of social media consumption, which means, “I can consume this video in 15 seconds, so I can cook this food in 15 seconds.” Right? There is no reality. That’s a complicated thing.
So, TikTok has brought a lot of interest in food and you would think it would be more interested in programs like “Iron Chef” which is a good thing. That said, what’s the harm in that?
Kish: Well, at first I didn’t think it was difficult for me. My work is not difficult. Cooking is not difficult. But what I do is an art. And how I do it, I take great pleasure and pride in that process. And if that process is completely zero and zero at a certain point because no one understands the efforts, then the diners at the restaurant don’t understand what’s going on. They don’t appreciate the restaurant process. They don’t understand why chicken is $ 40 – well, that’s because it took 10 hours to salt and then five hours to smoke.
In fact, maybe I should do the opposite of TikTok, and stream live live cooking to see how long things take. Do you think people watch it?
Gray: I look at it. I will watch your chicken soak for 10 hours.
Kish: Thank you very much. And So I can charge more to watch it!
Gray: One of the scary things is that technology is inferior in itself. Is What is the right and wrong way to cut cabbage for Slavs? Well, not really, because it’s a dish that isn’t incredibly technology-driven. However, there are many things. So it’s not just that people like Kristen and I are sad because we’ve spent years learning how to make carrots look the same every time. That is, once you start to decide that it doesn’t matter because it takes a lot of time, well, then maybe having a relationship doesn’t matter, maybe raising a child doesn’t matter – maybe a lot of things are important because it takes so long. 15 minutes or more than 15 seconds. I think we are afraid of the insignificance of craft.
And I think “Iron Chef” looks magical – it’s like, “Oh my God, how do they do that?” This creates a market, while completely eliminating the other. This is a complicated business.
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