Welcome to Small Talk, a series where we catch up with the internet's favorite Extremely Online individuals offline.
TikTok's food content spans quite a range. "What I eat in a day" videos, both serious and meme-driven, collect billions of views, while aesthetic cooking videos (from influencers like Emily Mariko or the guys that cook out in the middle of the forest) drive food-related internet trends.
For many people, these videos are fun to watch but they present largely unattainable culinary realities. Sometimes ingredients are hard to find, and complex recipes might be difficult for novice chefs. Or, as is the experience of many Americans, locating affordable food in general is a daily struggle.
TikTok creator Marissa "Sunni" Rudd's food videos aim to help those who don't have the ability to cook extravagant, ingredient-diverse meals. While some creators show off pricey Wagyu beef or papaya yogurt bowls, she shares potentially life-changing recipes for low-income families who rely on government assistance to feed themselves and their children. As a new mom who's currently studying for her master's degree at New York University, she finds the time to share daily, accessible recipes with those who might need them the most.
Rudd's TikTok account, @justsunni, currently has more than 45,000 followers. It's a dedicated space for sharing helpful information and recipes that benefit users of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). For those unfamiliar with the WIC program, the government benefits are provided to eligible lower-income people who are pregnant, postpartum, or have infants and children up to age 5. The program differs from other food assistance programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which gives money allowances that allow users to purchase a variety of foods at an array of grocery and convenience stores, and even farmers' markets. Unlike SNAP, WIC benefits can only be used to purchase select food items approved by the National WIC Association.
The WIC program's shopping guides are published by each state and are updated periodically. The limitations of each list can be frustrating and leave mothers scrambling to find more ways to incorporate the approved foods, Rudd explained to Mashable in a call. That's where her TikTok account can help. She offers WIC-friendly recipes for delicious, varied meals and works to destigmatize government assistance programs. Her recipes include breakfasts, lunches, dinners, healthy snacks, and even a WIC-approved Thanksgiving.
Mashable spoke with Rudd about her TikTok account, her WIC cookbook, and what you can find if you scroll a little deeper on #FoodTok.
Mashable: When did you start your TikTok account?
I started my TikTok a while ago, like during the pandemic [in] early 2020. I really started engaging on TikTok once I found out that I was pregnant, because I needed to find a community of people who understood what that experience was like.
Did you start posting these WIC-friendly recipes right away?
I started vlogging and talking about motherhood. I was doing pregnancy updates, and asking questions, and just kind of interacting with my pregnancy mom community. And then I applied for WIC, because I'm in school and I have a very tight budget.
On WIC, you have all of these lists of approved items that you can buy. And not all of the stores in New York stock those items, or make them easily accessible. So then I started creating recipes and started creating cheat sheets on how to find those items, and what to make with those items. Like, when you're down to your last dollar and you only have your WIC card, what are you gonna make?
What was that first recipe you shared that took off?
I think I was making breakfast. I made a scramble with like fried potatoes or something. And the TikTok moms were like, "Oh my god, that's amazing. You need to keep going!" So I just kept doing it. People asked me for lunches and dinners, because those can be more complicated on WIC. You do get a lot of breakfast options, but utilizing those breakfast options to make lunch and dinner is sometimes complicated. So then I started getting really creative.
Your account is really interesting to me, since #FoodTok is a huge thing. Probably half of my For You Page is food videos, but they're so aspirational or inaccessible. Your account seems to try to be the opposite. It's addressing a problem.
My goal with all of my content is to make it as accessible as possible.
When I go to my grocery store, I'm gonna just get the regular produce, and anything that's more exotic… those just aren't in my neighborhood. I try to stick to things I can just get from a little corner store down the way. You can get creative with really simple items, and I think that's really exciting. My mom did that a lot growing up because she was a WIC mama, so I'm kind of taking after her in that way.
As a new mom, how do you find time to come up with your recipes?
I'm creating new [recipes] every week, but a lot of them are just things that my mom made or my nana made. Also, I was a vegetarian for a while and you don't really get any protein on WIC. You get tuna and salmon, but only some people get that, so a lot of [the recipes] are vegetarian. You have to be creative in that way, and I find that's not something everyone knows how to do.
Generally I just go to my fridge and see what I have, because the majority of what I buy and what I utilize are WIC items. And so I'll just pop in the fridge and be like, "OK, what are we making today?" And I'll just record it in real time.
I saw someone comment that they didn't even know you could get things like tuna on WIC benefits. You also provide a lot more clarification and information about the program with your followers.
Yep, that's the majority of my comments. I try to go down the WIC list and use the items that aren't so obvious. Because lots of people know that we can get beans, and cheese, and eggs. But not everyone knows that you can get tofu. Or not everyone knows that you get tuna sometimes, or you can refashion squash into chicken fingers, or things like that. Fried mushrooms can work for a lot of different things. Also, WIC doesn't give you flour. So a lot of the time, I do crushed cornflakes as a breading option — that's another one.
And also making [the list of approved foods] stretch because you have a limited budget. For produce in New York, we get US$43 for the month. So finding different produce that's on sale, that's seasonal, that you can prepare and store — maybe freeze, to use and make it last throughout that month — is also challenging.
Wow, I had no idea those kinds of items weren't included. There seems to be a lot of missed information.
I'm so passionate about this, because I've lived it. I'm living it right now. And my heart aches for people who don't have the answers readily at their disposal, so I try.
WIC mamas feel for other WIC mamas. So lots of times other followers or other people coming across the video will respond to people who have questions, so I don't have to answer them all directly.
Do you have a cooking background? What's your favorite recipe?
[These are] all things I've come up with on my own, but nothing is [done by] myself. I'm a combined effort of everyone who's ever loved me, you know? This is my mom, and my grandma, and the people in my community. [It’s the result of] other videos that I've seen, and other moms who have commented on my posts.
My favorite recipes are those that feel cozy to me. One of the easiest recipes that did well was a grilled cheese and tomato soup. It's so cozy, and it was fall and it made me think of my Nona. So many people love it and can relate to it. And it's not something that you immediately think of when you think of WIC products. Some people didn't even know that you could get tomato paste or any tomato-based, canned products. So it was really informative. It was fun. It was heartwarming.
Outside of your page, I don't see a lot of conversations or accounts talking about WIC and other government assistance programs. Do you think that's related to a sense of shame?
I think a lot of it is shame related. You don't see a lot of people talking about food stamps all the time, or giving resources on TikTok for that in a popular, engaged setting. And I have a lot of moms that comment on my posts. They say, "Oh my gosh. I was on WIC at this point, but I was too afraid to talk about it" or "I was too ashamed to even apply in the first place."
How do you accept help when it comes if you feel like you're going to be shamed by your community for even admitting that you needed help at one point?
I get extremely hateful comments probably every day, saying, "If you can't afford to have kids, don't have them," or calling me a welfare queen. When we talk about government assistance, how are you framing that for the people in your community? Because maybe you've overheard something that was derogatory toward people who take advantage of government assistance. And now that subliminal message is in the back of your mind, and it's getting in the way of you accepting the help that's there for you.
How do you accept help when it comes if you feel like you're going to be shamed by your community for even admitting that you needed help at one point?
So you're destigmatizing the need for WIC or other government assistance.
Yes, absolutely.
You've also mentioned a cookbook...
I'm finalizing a whole cookbook, which I'm really excited about. I'm hoping to drop that before the new year. That is my goal.
There are two different versions of it right now. The first one is going to be an e-book. It'll just be a downloadable link from my link tree that's in my bio. My 2022 goal is to release a hardcopy. I'm meeting with some people right now to make that happen. That one will have a section that has gluten-free options, gestational diabetes options, and different things that I ran into when I was creating recipes while I was pregnant, because people who are pregnant have very specific kinds of dietary restrictions sometimes.
That's amazing. With both the cookbook and your TikTok account, who do you hope your content reaches? What should they take away?
I hope that anyone who needs to see it comes across it...and they come across the WIC mama community. I hope they come across that name and feel empowered by what they find.
And further, I hope that the National Association of WIC comes across it and reads the comments and sees how limiting it can be for some mothers, and they make changes accordingly. Because this has turned into a little voice of the people, and I hope that they take advantage of the fact that it's right there in front of them. [The National Association of WIC] actually reached out to me, so I'm gonna be meeting with them. There are ideas in the works.
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