Explore more stories from Arts Access.
After she propped her iPhone up against a baby blue tumbler and scrawled her recipe on a paper towel, Northlake resident Alissa Nguyen began filming her latest recipe.
It鈥檚 not the kind of high-tech set-up you鈥檇 expect from Nguyen, also known as , a food influencer with over 2 million followers on TikTok. But it鈥檚 how she鈥檚 made viral videos like her sushi bake, a creamy, spicy umami casserole of salmon and rice that can be scooped up in dried seaweed wrappers.
鈥淚 just tell people measure until your ancestors tell you to stop,鈥� Nguyen said, as she covers a raw salmon filet with a generous coating of garlic and paprika. Oh yeah, and don鈥檛 forget to add some 鈥渂lackity-peppy鈥� also known as black pepper.
Nguyen鈥檚 quirky vocabulary, catchphrases and cartoon villain-like laugh are beloved by her followers. It all started when she slipped up one day into the casual way she interacts with her family. That includes her husband or who the kids call apa. He鈥檚 the 鈥済aming鈥� part of her handle for his love of video games and frequent appearances as the back of a head or arm in videos. Tired of being a different version of herself on camera, she started letting her personality show.
鈥�I'm like, 鈥榊ou know what? I'm just going to leave it.鈥� I'm not going to try to change the way I talk.鈥�
These days, 鈥渞elatable鈥� is a buzzword that many influencers know is part of a winning formula to grow a platform. But after the high-end ingredients, perfect technique and magazine-like aesthetics, how relatable are they?
Nguyen springs past that conversation. Most days, she鈥檚 in front of her camera in sweatpants and a t-shirt, no makeup and her hair thrown back in a ponytail. Nguyen held her 1-year-old Adam as her 4-year-old AJ ran and screamed in the background. When she burns her food, she doesn鈥檛 edit it out. She also doesn鈥檛 use caviar, truffles and ridiculously expensive cuts of meat in every dish.
鈥淚 just like that my style of content is not perfect and that's kind of like my branding,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o sometimes, my head will be cut off and it's just how it's going to be in the video.鈥�
30 MINUTE SUSHI BAKE猡碉笍 Makes 3-5 serving 1/2 lb salmon, seasoned to preference 1/2 lb imitation crab, shredded & cut into smaller pieces 3 oz cream cheese 1/4 cup Japanese mayo 1 TBSP sriracha 2-3 cups cooked rice 2 TBSP rice vinegar Furikake / shredded seaweed 1. Season salmon to preference. I seasoned mine with garlic powder, salt & black pepper. And then airfry at 400 for 9 mins. If your salmon is thicker, you may have to cook more 2. Then shred salmon and add it into your shredded imitation crab. 3. Then add the rest of your ingredients: cream cheese, Japanese Mayo & sriracha. Combine well and set aside. 4. Combine 2-3 cups of cooked rice with 2 TBSP rice vinegar. Mix well. Then pour rice into an oven safe dish and flatten it/ create an flat - equal surface. 5. Top the rice off with shredded seaweed or furikake. I used 3 seaweed sheets 6. Then top your rice + seaweed off with your salmon mixture and spread it evenly 7. Bake at 380 for 10 mins (broil for 2-3 mins optional) 8. I served my sushi bake wrapped in seaweed. I also like to at cucumbers and/ or avocados into the wrap but I didn鈥檛 have any鈽癸笍 Bon App茅tittites
Nguyen鈥檚 on-camera confidence seems effortless, but the food influencer said her content wasn鈥檛 always so carefree. She started posting to her Gaming Foodie account in 2019.
Back then, Nguyen said she tried to be a 鈥渃ookie cutter mom.鈥� She woke up around 2 or 3 a.m., before the day鈥檚 chaos, to carefully script and record her voice overs. But she noticed her channel wasn鈥檛 growing.
The turning point for her channel came in 2021 when she moved from California to Texas for her husband鈥檚 new job. Without her family nearby to help with childcare, Nguyen was forced to embrace the messiness of everyday life. One day, she just hit 鈥渞ecord.鈥�
鈥淚 just included everything in my video,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be loud. They鈥檙e going to be saying 鈥榤ommy, mommy, mommy鈥� every five or ten minutes. People actually loved that because they鈥檙e like, 鈥榊ou know what? This is what I want to see, because it鈥檚 just the reality of being a mom and cooking.鈥欌��
Nguyen said the move helped her stop comparing herself to other creators in their 20s and 30s who don鈥檛 have young children.
Shifting her content to be 鈥渢he haggard mom鈥� actually helped her social media platforms take off with a surge in followers and brand deals.
鈥�What I realized is people don鈥檛 like me because my imitation crab looks really nice and bright and red,鈥� she said.
They like her because they can relate to her. Jenny Bui, a wedding photographer, is a fan. She lives in the Wylie-Richardson area with her 4-year-old and one on the way.
Bui follows Gaming Foodie on Instagram, along with other food influencers like Dzung Lewis () and Tue Nguyen () and has tried many of Gaming Foodie鈥檚 recipes, from lemongrass pork to goi.
鈥�I liked following her because she's a mom. Like, I'm a mom, too,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o the way that she does the recipe 鈥� it's simple and quick to make.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;
Bui was scrolling through Instagram reels when she came upon Gaming Foodie鈥檚 account, which several of her friends already followed. She was happy to find Nguyen using ingredients Bui already had at home.
鈥�I saw one of her reels and it was one for a porridge and salad dish, it's a traditional food item but you don't usually see recipes for it online,鈥� Bui said. 鈥淪o I was like, this looks interesting, you know? After I looked at that video, you kind of get lost in a loophole of all the reels.鈥�
Nguyen鈥檚 life still looks a little different than other moms. She gets recognized while running errands or grabbing groceries. Viewers in Texas seem especially shocked because they don鈥檛 realize she recently moved to Northlake 鈥� one of the most Northwest suburbs of Dallas-Fort Worth.
All of the recognition has come as a surprise to Nguyen鈥檚 parents, like her father who recently joked 鈥榯his is the first time I鈥檝e ever had a celebrity cook for me.鈥�
Behind the 鈥楩oodie鈥�
Nguyen often shares Vietnamese dishes from her childhood, like chao. She was born in Vietnam. When she was four, her parents moved to Philadelphia and eventually settled in California鈥檚 Orange County.
Nguyen said her family was receiving housing assistance and food stamps but, thanks to her mom, she didn鈥檛 realize they were struggling until she got older.
鈥淒espite all the hardships and the struggles, she always made sure that we had food, whether it was something fancy like pho or something super quick and easy like spam, rice and eggs,鈥� she said.
Nguyen was her mom鈥檚 sous chef, cutting, peeling and washing. But her mom did the cooking. After she moved out and got married, Nguyen started cooking on her own. But that time helping in the kitchen paid off.
After 20 years in the kitchen by her mom鈥檚 side, Nguyen said, 鈥淵ou kind of learn how to cook yourself just by watching, you know?鈥�
Growing up, Nguyen wanted to be a teacher. She still can鈥檛 believe she鈥檚 sharing her recipes with millions.
But in her own way, Nguyen is teaching. She breaks down home recipes that reflect her Vietnamese culture and her husband鈥檚 Korean background. And as her followers have noticed, instead of following flashy food trends of the moment, she leans into home-cooked recipes like goi ga and gamjatang.
鈥楽tayed for the personality鈥�
Just like her recipes, Nguyen packs a punch 鈥� she鈥檚 just as likely to make you laugh as she is to inspire your next meal.
Followers tell the content creator 鈥渢hey came for the recipes, stayed for the personality.鈥�
She鈥檚 not afraid to clapback to haters, whether they鈥檙e criticizing her for not eating dinner with her husband or complaining that she鈥檚 not smiling.
鈥淚 have two kids. I'm not going to let user 456822 hurt my feelings for not having my hair brushed or whatever, you know what I mean?鈥� she said.
Other food influencers may proclaim their obsession with cooking or researching other recipes. Not Gaming Foodie. She doesn鈥檛 cook because it鈥檚 鈥渁 passion.鈥�
鈥淚 cook because it's something that I have to do to keep my family alive,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 can't go out to eat every single day in today's economy.鈥�
And she finds watching recipe videos kind of boring. This food influencer would much rather watch comedic skits, lip injection pranks or even news segments.
Don鈥檛 get her wrong 鈥� she loves filming recipe videos; she鈥檚 just being real.
That鈥檚 the charm of Gaming Foodie: she鈥檚 built a space on social media where viewers are much more likely to say 鈥渞elatable鈥� than 鈥淚 could never.鈥� Plus, after a long day, it鈥檚 easy to scroll through video after video that makes you laugh and salivate all at once.
That鈥檚 why Nguyen鈥檚 audience is willing to watch her cut off the burnt edges of her pork or walk out of frame with a 鈥測o, my baby is crying.鈥� She may have over 2 million followers, but Nguyen is just as weird and flawed as the rest of us.
Arts Access is a partnership between The Dallas Morning News and 四虎影院 that expands local arts, music and culture coverage through the lens of access and equity.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and 四虎影院 retain full editorial control of Arts Access鈥� journalism.
