By Gabriela Baron
Filipino cuisines were among the most popular in TikTok and Instagram, according to an analysis.
The analysis, conducted by Chef’s Pencil, looked into Instagram data from February 2022 through March 2023, while TikTok rankings were based on the number of all-time views reported on the platform in March 2023.
“Platforms such as Instagram and TikTok have also become drivers in the food industry, turning amateur cooks into veritable superstars who have their videos liked by millions across the world,” Chef’s Pencil wrote in a report.
“There’s no denying the power and influence of social media on trends in the food and restaurant industries,” the international magazine also noted.
Korean food became the “all-time darling” of the TikTok crowd, totaling 15 billion views.
Followed by Chinese (13.4 billion views), Mexican (7.6 billion) views), Indian (7.4 billion views), Italian (7.1 billion views), Japanese (6.80 billion views), Thai (2.3 billion views), Filipino (2 billion views), Vietnamese (1.9 billion views), and Turkish (1.3 billion views) cuisines at second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eight, ninth, and 10th spots, respectively.
“Given that TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, and with a big chunk of its active users based in China, it’s no surprise that Chinese food is incredibly popular on the platform,” Chef’s Pencil noted.
The magazine attributed the popularity of Korean food with the rise of Korean culture in the media in recent years–from K-pop music to drama series.
Meanwhile, Italian food emerged as the most popular cuisine on Instagram with over 2.9 million number of tags.
“Just think about it: what do you crave when you’re stressed, having a bad day, or want to treat yourself? We think it’s likely that your answer will include either pizza, pasta, gelato, risotto, and other popular Italian foods,” Chef’s Pencil further wrote.
It is followed by Indian (2.24 million tags), Japanese (2.21 million tags), and Mexican (1.1 million tags) at second, third, and fourth places respectively.
Also included in the top 10 were cuisines from Korea at fifth (962,000 tags), China at sixth (820,000 tags), Thailand at seventh (752,000 tags), Greece at eight (321,000 tags), Vietnam at ninth (238,000 tags), and Turkey at 10th (222,000 tags).
Filipino food, meanwhile, was named the 11th most popular food in Instagram with 219,000 tags. -ag
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