01 Jul 2025 The TikTok food craziness

Why does some food and drink go viral on TikTok? Here’s news of the latest item to spark social media hoopla….

With hundreds of thousands of views across TikTok, an unlikely new offering, a strawberries and creme sandwich from M&S, has gone viral since it launched recently, coinciding with Wimbledon.

The high-end retailer is charging £2.80 for the ‘game-changing’ limited edition Red Diamond Strawberry & Creme Sandwich. It’s filled with fruit and light whipped cream cheese on fluffy sweetened bread and is inspired by Japanese ‘sweet sandos’, also known as fruit sandwiches.

The east Asian nation’s fruit sandwiches originated from the pop up of fruit shops opening near major train stations and business districts in the early 1900s.

As these businesses grew, many began to open cafes to allow the public to access luxury fruits at a reasonable by incorporating them into dishes such as parfaits, shortcakes and sandwiches.

Back to Britain…. The BBC reports that there have also been more than 50,000 searches on Google for the unusual new treat, with it featuring in the top ten trends and more than 37,000 likes in 48 hours on the store’s original Instagram post.

It also reportedly quickly became M&S’s best-selling sandwich.

What is it about food fads on social media that make them so appealing?

If an influencer with a huge following posts about a new product, this can help it go viral. In the case of the Dubai chocolate bar, food influencer Maria Vehera filmed herself trying it for the first time in a post that now has more than 130 MILLION views and just over seven million likes.

Then there’s the case of Dua Lipa (left), the singer – who has been playing sell-out stadium gigs across the UK this summer – has more than 11m TikTok followers who have loved her curious drink concoction which includes diet cola, pickle juice and jalapeños and a lot of ice! 

People just can’t seem to get enough of sharing food and drink trends on social media!

Trends emerge incredibly fast on TikTok and can shift weekly or even daily. If a celebrity jumps on a trend it can go viral pretty quickly – usually thanks to their massive fan base engaging with and sharing the content.

Trends can include a whole host of topics with the most popular ones being fashion and food. The hashtag #trendingfood has more than 37,000 videos on TikTok and 128,000 posts on Instagram. Clickbait captions are also used to grab your attention and create a sense of intrigue. They entice you to watch the content and can lead to higher viewing figures.

As for sandwiches and strawberries, these are both foods that people can relate to. This unusual combination could make people feel a strong emotional reaction – especially in the UK where we don’t associate sandwiches with desserts. It’s these reactions which can make people share posts about them – which is how trends begin.

We can also relate to eating sandwiches, so if something is familiar to us, we’re also more likely to share it, based on a 2020 study by the University of Leeds. It also helps that this is a time when strawberries and cream will be on people’s minds more than usual as we hit Wimbledon season and this food combination is closely connected with the tennis championships.

A sweet recipe for viral videos

Emotional Appeal – Emotions play a big part in making videos go viral. Videos that make the viewer feel a strong emotion are more likely to be shared. And who doesn’t feel happy or get enjoyment from watching videos about delicious food?

Relatability – If the topic of the video is something lots of people are familiar with and can relate to, this will help the clip go viral too. And the taste of sweets and snacks is something most of us are more than familiar with.

Shareability – Having a video that people want to share with their friends, will go a long way to making it go viral. And so an eye-catching, engaging video of someone eating a colourful sando, ticks the box.

You can find out more about food and drinks trends that have got people talking on social media in this Other Side of the Story collection.

Source: BBC

Related reading:

How the food industry can tap into demand from viral TikTok trends

UK supermarket chains have cited TikTok trends as a key driver behind the soaring popularity of F&B products, presenting a timely opportunity for brands – if they adopt the right strategy. In recent months, several leading UK retailers, including Tesco, Waitrose, and Aldi, have acknowledged that viral TikTok recipes and ingredient hacks are creating surges in consumer demand.

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