From baked feta pasta to cottage cheese, the past few years has seen a multitude of viral food trends surface on social media channels like TikTok, often leading to impressive amounts of consumer engagement.

A 2023 survey by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) that asked 1,022 Americans found that 42% have come across food and nutrition-related social media content in the past year. Exposure increases among the young; 71% of Gen Z had come across such content, compared to only 22% of Boomers. Just over half (51%) of all respondents said they had tried a new recipe as a result of social media content.

It is not unusual for food-related content to have hundreds of millions of views and likes on social media. On TikTok, for example, the hashtag #cottagecheese has a whopping 1.2 billion views on TikTok, up from 470 million in July.

But do these online sensations increase real-life food sales? Watch the video below to find out!