AI Summary
5 min readWhen every recipe has to sell itself
“Beany leaky greens with Greeky Rampy Beans.” That tweet, posted by comedian Carly Merusi in 2024, went viral because it nailed something millions of people had noticed but couldn't name: recipes online have converged on a sameness that's hard to escape. They're described with words ending in -y — creamy, jammy, lemony — and they tend to use globally sourced ingredients like miso, gochujang, and harissa. Cookbook author Ruby Tandoh, whose new book All Consuming examines how we eat now, joined NPR's It's Been a Minute to explain how the internet reshaped our palates, why we're drinking multiple "silly little drinks" simultaneously, and what it means when cooking becomes a performance of identity rather than a way to feed yourself.
Why every recipe online sounds the same
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:38) **The "Leeky Beany Greens" Tweet as a Cultural Artifact** - Host and guest read a viral tweet parodying the cliché, adjective-heavy language of modern online recipes, setting up the episode's central question.
- 2 (02:19) **All Taste is Socially Prescribed** - Ruby Tandoh explains that beyond basic biology (e.g., cilantro aversion), nearly all food preferences are shaped by social environment and identity.
- 3 (04:06) **How Algorithms Created "Creamy Leeky Beany" Recipes** - The move from cookbooks to online platforms forced every recipe to market itself, leading to an explosion of sensory adjectives to stand out.
- 4 (06:11) **From Trusted Voices to "The Stew"** - The episode contrasts the old model of trusting a single author (like Nigel Slater) with the new model where a recipe's virality (like Alison Roman's "The Stew") builds a brand.
- 5 (07:12) **Globalization and "Twist Culture"** - The widespread availability of ingredients like gochujang and miso, combined with the need to stand out online, has created a culture of constant culinary fusion.
- 6 (09:50) **The Hegemony of American Food Culture Online** - Tandoh argues that online food culture is primarily American, even for global audiences, driven by a fascination with and constant marketing of U.S. food.
- 7 (14:53) **The Era of "Silly Little Drinks"** - The episode explores the explosion of specialty drinks (kombucha, fiber sodas, protein waters) as a new category of consumption with no upper limit.
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Show Notes
They're described in lots of words that end in y – creamy, jammy, lemony – and they tend to use lots of globally sourced pastes like miso, gochujang and harissa. The luscious photos and videos that accompany them border on erotic. But how did this become the norm? What has the internet done to our palates – and what do today's tastes say about us?
To find out, Brittany is joined by Ruby Tandoh, cookbook writer and the author of All Consuming: Why We Eat the Way We Eat Now.
For more episodes about food culture and how we eat, check out:
It's healthy to eat your feelings. Here's why.
Is your city shaped by yuppie taste?
The heavy weight of diet culture
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