That weird 'What I eat in a day' trend from 2023 actually started in a specific college town

I read a deep dive that traced it back to a student at UC Irvine who posted a super detailed, 7-minute video of her meals (like, weighing her cottage cheese) in 2022. The algorithm picked it up and the whole 'aesthetic food diary' format blew up from there. Anyone else remember seeing that original account before it got huge?

3 comments

3 Comments

josephbutler1mo ago

Totally, @jamesfox has it right about the weird local shortages. My cousin went there and said the dining hall lines got insane because everyone suddenly wanted the exact same plain grilled chicken and steamed broccoli combo from that video. It was like a whole campus trying to eat from the same meal prep container.

jamesfox1mo ago

Wasn't there a whole thing about how the cottage cheese weighing video accidentally started a cottage cheese shortage at that one campus grocery store? I read that the store had to put a limit on tubs per person because so many people tried to copy her exact brand and portion. It's wild how one super specific video can set off a whole trend where everyone starts filming their plates from above. I guess the algorithm just really latched onto that super measured, almost clinical style of showing food.

thomas_palmer25d ago

Yeah, the part about everyone wanting the same grilled chicken and broccoli is exactly it. I see this all the time now, not just with food. One person does something very specific, it gets popular, and then suddenly everyone is trying to copy the exact same brand or item. It creates these weird little shortages for the most random things.