TikTok Food Trends Have A Bigger Impact On The Planet Than You May Think

There's no denying the fact that TikTok has forever changed the way we go about preparing our favorite foods. The video sharing platform has become the hub for food hacks, copycat recipes, and viral food trends. For goodness sake, TikTok taught us how to make pasta chips, pancake cereal, boozy beverages, and the best coffee known to man — that's right, Dalgona coffee. It's hard to imagine a time before #FoodTok. However, new research from Uswitch suggests that a majority of these popular TikTok food trends are greatly contributing to the rising increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

For many years, climate organizations and experts have been warning us that our planet's greenhouse gas levels are too significant for our atmosphere to handle (via NRDC). This has resulted in hotter temperatures, melting ice caps, and longer, more destructive fire seasons. To help people make "climate-conscious decisions" when it comes to what they eat, Uswitch researched the TikTok trends that contribute the most and the least to greenhouse emissions.

According to Uswitch, 25% of greenhouse gas emissions come from food, which means switching up what we eat can make a substantial difference. In order to find the highest and lowest emitters, the company figured out "how many grams of carbon dioxide equivalent (gCO2e) each meal produces." Based on Uswitch's findings, the most eco-friendly food trends to come from TikTok were spicy pickled garlic (83 gCO2e), corn ribs (289 gCO2e), and acai bowls (354 gCO2e). On the flipside, foods emitting the most greenhouse gas included cheeseburgers (5,768 gCO2e) and mozzarella sticks (2,346 gCO2e). Other notable mentions were feta pasta (1,929 gCO2e) and the famous breakfast sandwich (1.506 gCO2e). Of the TikTok drink trends, Dalgona coffee (905 gCO2e) had the highest emissions while an almond flat white (134 gCO2e) was the lowest.

To put this in perspective, Uswitch noted that the highest emitter they found across the board produces over 14 times the amount of greenhouse gas a car emits after one mile. If you're interested in cutting down the amount of CO2 you emit, Uswitch recommends calculating your carbon footprint as a first step.