TV stars and social media creators are coming together to bring cooking tips to TikTok LIVE. The advice will be dispensed through a cook series that will pair TikTok notables with familiar faces from the Food Network.
The series will be broadcast across the @foodnetwork, @tiktok, and @tiktoklive_us accounts. Each installment will pair a creator with a Food Network personality for a review of viral recipes and general kitchen etiquette.
The first episode of the series will have viewers seeing red.
Food Network’s TikToker team-up will kick off on July 8, smack dab in the middle of the summer. To celebrate, the first pair of collaborators will pay homage to a classic warm-weather fruit. Tournament of Champions winner Antonia Lofaso will join creator Jose El Cook to share some recipes involving tomatoes.
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Antonia and Jose will discuss a handful of tomato-themed courses, ranging from starters to mains. Viewers will be able to participate by voting in polls, sending their questions to the chefs, and buying food-themed gifts in the chat.
Food creators are breaking into mainstream culinary discourse
TV stars like Gordon Ramsay have long thrived on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. In recent years, however, the close-knit community of digital-native gourmands has come to rival the stable of chefs who are known for their appearances on channels like the Food Network.
Guga, for example, got more than 3.4 million views with “The Biggest Food Battle in YouTube History.” And Nick DiGiovanni‘s social media exploits got so popular that he got his own Food Network show. Meanwhile, MasterChef — the franchise that launched DiGiovanni’s media career — unveiled a special edition of the show centered around creators.
TikTok has gotten in on the culinary creator revolution. After hosting a Future of Flavor event earlier this year, the video app is forging more connections between famous foodies from varied walks of life.
For TikTok, food content also contains a commercial element
TikTok users love watching their favorite food creators, but they also use the app to buy new items for their kitchens and pantries. On TikTok Shop, brands like PepsiCo and Mars are rolling out new products and connecting with Gen Z foodies.
TikTok Shop Head of Food Amanda Parker recently told Food Dive that TikTok trends compel brands to innovate on the platform. “That cycle — from content trend to quick commercialization to longer-term product development — is fundamentally changing how food and beverage brands think about the speed of innovation, the source of innovation and line extension opportunities,” Parker said.
At launch, the Food Network-TikTok collab lives on the periphery of that ecosystem. But if consumers dig the recipes the show delivers, a connection to commercial activity won’t be far off.
