If the pandemic never happened, Ali Z. may never have joined TikTok.
But by the time the short, dark January days arrived, she felt restless. Nearly a year in quarantine, her go-to hobbies – cooking, baking and playing video games – feel lonely. In particular, she misses cooking for friends and family. “It’s not fun if you’re just doing it alone,” Ali told me on a recent phone call.
In the midst of this reflection, Ali realized that her favorite video game involved the cooking aspect. Her hobby, Stardew Valley, which includes 74 recipes and even its own in-game cooking program, Queen of Sauce. At will, Ali scoured TikTok in search of accounts replicating the game’s creative menus with real ingredients. To her surprise, nothing happened — so Ali decided to become Queen herself, using the platform to search for online communities.
As @thaqueenofsauce, Ali’s first post has classic tried and true: her family’s chocolate chip cookie recipe. She spent about a week planning, filming, and editing the video in iMovie, gradually tweaking it to perfection. The clip showcases what will become hallmarks of her style: Quick close-ups explaining the recipe’s step-by-step, overlays of the game’s colorful pixel art, and a laid-back narrative. “Bored of finding your chocolate chip cookies in the trash?” she asked, pairing the audio with a piece of her game Stardew Valley the avatar is thrashing the trash can (a strategy to drop the occasional item). “This recipe can be helpful.”
“Within a day, it got 80,000 views,” Ali said. “It worked out, which I totally didn’t expect.” Since then, Ali’s channel has continued to attract fans, especially from within TikTok’s dynamic cozy gaming space. When we first spoke last May, @thaqueenofsauce had about 30,000 followers. Now, that number has grown to more than 55,000. “The feedback has been very positive,” she said. “Whenever you’re in the internet space, you expect that sometimes you’ll get negative comments streaming or little things that people don’t like. But I get almost none of it, which I think is a testament to Stardew Valley community itself. ”
How Ali’s Channel Impresses Viewers Stardew Valleyof geographic growth. First released in February 2016, the game is already on sale 500,000 copies within the first two weeks, rapidly growing to more than a million within the next two weeks. It was a surprise blow from first-time video game developer Eric Barone, who spent nearly five years working obsessively on every aspect of the game. The result is an immersive, quirky and sometimes gloomy world that simulates rural life. Are from StardewReleases, constant updates, rich content — including massive multiplayer options and new unlockable environments — continue to reward the most obsessive players.
Luckily, Ali’s easy approach to her channel isn’t unlike Barone’s notoriously grueling 12-hour workdays, which spare her the downsides of going viral. In the week after her first video went viral, Ali felt new pressure. “Once you have a group of people following you, that changes the stakes,” she said. But the second video was well received, and so was the third video. “Now I’m just happy with it.”
Ali’s TikTok joins a rich legacy of culinary cosplay. Professional cookbook author Chelsea Monroe-Cassel has built her career around recreating fictional recipes, publishing cookbooks based on Game of Thrones, World of Warcraft, The Elder Scrolls, Lord of the Ringsand many other fandoms (even including Stardew Valley). This month, Simon & Schuster will publish the bestselling cookbook by author Laurel Randolph The Simpsons Unofficial Cookbook, which includes 70 recipes inspired by the show. And in some cases, the authors even release official versions of their fantasy dishes — such as author Brian Jacques’ Redwall cookbook, with delicious recipes like Shrimp ‘n Hotroot Soup or Gooseberry Hall Fool your personified cast of otters, mice, and badgers.
