If you’ve been scrolling through your TikTok For You page during the past 2 weeks or so, chances are you’ve seen a viral video of a woman making a salmon rice dish causing an internet frenzy. The dish itself only consists of about six ingredients: seaweed, avocados, Kewpie mayo, sriracha, and the main ingredients, salmon and rice. We can thank 29-year-old Emily Mariko for this trending Asian cuisine.
Mariko is a lifestyle influencer who shares a love for food and fashion, residing in the Bay Area in California. Emily is no stranger to the internet—she has been posting on her YouTube channel for almost a decade amounting to 336k subscribers. While already having a large following on YouTube, Mariko’s following on TikTok skyrocketed her amount of subscribers over the years. Since posting her iconic recipe on TikTok on September 21, 2021, Mariko has surpassed 3 million followers on the platform, and we can see why.
Not only are her recipes delicious and deemed easy to make, but her minimalist kitchen and fun and trendy athleisure make her videos enjoyable to watch. As well as the use of ASMR, created by the dicing of vegetables, the closing of kitchen cabinets, and the sound of the Sriracha squeezing out of the bottle, creating a peaceful experience from sensory pleasure. If you’re like us and are further interested to follow along with Emily, we recommend subscribing to her weekly newsletter on Substack, “Emily’s Life Plan for the Week,” where you can follow her meal plans and grocery lists.