TikTok is the wild west of the food media world. It’s less professionalized than Instagram and YouTube, and it holds the promise of virality from the very first time you post. So we wondered: What actually makes a food TikTok go viral? To find out, we consult Bettina Makalintal, a food journalist and culture critic, and Professor Emily Contois, who studies food on Instagram. Then we get advice from a TikTok star: Joanne Lee Molinaro, aka The Korean Vegan. Armed with tips and tricks from the experts — and a pecan pie — can Dan reverse engineer his own viral TikTok?

If you’re the type who likes to flip to the end of the book first, you can watch Dan’s TikTok right here. //

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Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.