The transition to apartment life can be a daunting experience for many students. On top of the heavy workload that accompanies attending McGill––the prestigious academic institution we all know it to be––students are faced with balancing perhaps the most strenuous task of apartment-living: Cooking for themselves. Perpetual dissatisfaction with one’s meals seems to be a rite of passage for university students. For those surviving off freezer-burned bagels and cheap coffee for breakfast, followed by a box of Kraft Dinner every night, precarity makes the fulfillment of all the recommended food groups unfortunately out of the question. 

For many already busy students, the reality of an unfulfilling diet satisfies the palate, or is simply unavoidable due to financial constraints and skyrocketing food prices. However, for those looking to create slightly more complex and nutritious meals while remaining within the confines of a student budget, they face a more tedious and stress-inducing experience. Luckily, a new and increasingly popular solution to this issue has emerged: Recipe videos on TikTok that teach university students how to cook quick, healthy, and oftentimes affordable meals with just a single swipe. This side of the app is more popularly known as “FoodTok.” Aspiring student chefs can say goodbye to the cookbook, with its inaccessibility and high prices, and hello to a new, more democratic online era of cooking.

One of the biggest constraints preventing university students from unleashing their full culinary potential is time. After all, figuring out which meal to prepare after a lengthy day of classes or endless hours studying at Redpath is often one of the last things a McGill student wants to do. Through the app’s design, users are shown seconds-long snippets that are interesting, entertaining, and informative. Users are guided by short, easy-to-follow recipes that cater to beginner cooks. Here, the structure of TikTok provides a crucial service: It allows overwhelmed and overworked students not to think. 

This online cooking explosion ensures that those with little-to-no culinary experience have the opportunity to whip up high-quality, michelin-star level meals in the blink of an eye. Want an under-25 minute meal idea? Hop on TikTok and take your pick of delicious meals ranging from creamy pesto pasta to chicken chow mein.

Another issue facing today’s student chefs is the high cost of food—whether this involves eating out or grocery shopping. Fortunately, many of the TikTok cooking posts emphasize cooking on a budget. The high cost of food affects almost all students whether they are funding part or all of their college or university education, as home cooking is no longer a viable means to affordable and healthy food. TikTok videos exist for every possible budget, advising viewers about what to buy and where to shop for healthy bargains. 

For college students, many of whom are living away from home for the first time in their lives and are inexperienced in the kitchen, this sense of community among student chefs is particularly helpful. The TikTok cooking community lets participants share their creations, ask for advice, and learn from others, creating a supportive cooking network. This community acts as a constant source of culinary inspiration and innovation, encouraging students to step out of their comfort zones and try new recipes and techniques. Even celebrities contribute to “FoodTok” to share and popularize their creations––any FoodTok frequenter is familiar with Gigi Hadid pasta and Dwayne Johnson’s famous coconut banana pancakes.

It turns out, cooking and other independent responsibilities don’t have to be as overly complicated as they’re so commonly painted out to be. Online cooking recipes have ushered in a new culinary culture in which students can create easy, affordable and delicious meals, and for that, all university students have TikTok creators to thank.