“With TikTok now, and now all of the other social media companies are following suit. It's really every video stands alone. And unless you're hooking the person in the first three seconds, your video is not being shown to anybody. So, teaching somebody how to do something or being an expert in a certain area doesn't stack up against people that are throwing cheese in the middle of a wok or squirting, you know, a sauce all over.”
BBQ Nation · Food & Beverage · October 2026
Asked whether a lot of online cooking content tries too hard, the barbecue cookbook author and influencer agrees and blames the platforms. The feed rewards the attention grab, he says, not the expertise.
Transcript
…the expander and the walk and all of that. So, there's one chapter that I call Can You Really Do That with an Egg? I think is the name of the chapter. And I talk about using, I create recipes for all the different add-ons in there. So, there's some stir-fries. Oh, that's fun. I like that. Yeah.
Speaking of that, Chris, when you look at things, whether it's online or in a book or something, do you ever think that the lack of practicality in some of the things that people are putting out there? Um, sometimes I think they try a little too hard. That's my thoughts.
Yeah, I agree. And it's part of the challenge of what I do on the social media influencing aspect of my job and my life is with the advent of TikTok, you know, with TikTok now, and now all of the other social media companies are following suit. It's really every video stands on a loan. And unless you're hooking the person in the first three seconds, your video is not being shown to anybody. So, teaching somebody how to do something or being an expert in a certain area doesn't stack up against people that are throwing cheese in the middle of a walk or squirting, you know, a sauce all over. You know, it's how do you capture somebody's attention?
We're going to take another break. We're going to come up, uh, come back, wrap up the show with Chris Sussman, the barbecue Buddha. Chris has not volunteered, but he is going to stick around for after hours. So, uh, we're going to torture him there. But don't change the channel. We'll be right back.
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