Weekly Internet Roundup: Rage-baiting Food, Entertaining Nepo Babies, and Transatlantic Tipping Discourse

Hello, it's yet again time for a summary of the silly things that have captivated our attention online recently. You'd better be hungry, because it seems like the internet couldn't stop talking about all things food related this week. In a way that only it knows how, it managed to tackle this topic in ways both diverse and rather aggravating. I'm sure you can't wait to see what all the fuss is about. 

New Coppola Just Dropped

Filmmaker Sofia Coppola grounded her daughter not too long ago. How do we know this? This nepo baby icon in the making did a whole cooking tutorial TikTok about it, much to the delight of the internet. She's called Romy, and she informed us that the reason for this punishment was because she tried to charter a helicopter on a parental credit card to see a camp friend. Things only got more unhinged from there, as she showed off dad Thomas Mars's Grammy, informed us she had no idea what an onion looked like, and sent her babysitter's boyfriend off on a quest for more ingredients for her pasta. It's a tough job giving fellow Coppola Nicolas Cage a run for their money in the hilarity department, but she did it well.

The $140 Question

I thought it had been too long since there had been some annoying international social media rivalry, so it was perhaps inevitable that it was going to blow up in the most boring of ways this week. The conversation du jour for Twitter has been the topic of tipping, and the very different opinions that Americans and Europeans seem to have on it.

This exhausting discourse cycle started when server @madison_tayt complained that she had waited on a large table of Europeans, and only received a 10% tip for a $700 check. Many fellow Americans were inclined to be sympathetic, but Europeans (especially British people) were less so. 

USA Twitter pointed out that no server or bartender could survive on their paltry base wage alone, and then most of Europe argued that it was an unfair charge to put on customers who could already be feeling financial strain. After all, America is a place where everyone from landlords to, allegedly, doctors have attempted to add a mandatory tip onto the extortionate prices they already charge. What followed was a bunch of people getting increasingly mad at hypothetical scenarios, and each side accusing the other of being mean and stupid. So, just like any social media argument that has ever happened. 

When hospitality staff don't get paid enough, it's vital for patrons to make up the difference. It's also wrong that this has to happen. It's also wrong that when service sectors guilt customers into permanently increasing extra expenses instead of having better employee rights, both tip givers and receivers lose out in the most cynical and stressful of ways. Pointing this out takes away the fun of the transatlantic mud slinging contest, though, so we better just leave 'em to it.

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Hungry Twitter User Scorned

We've had a full three course meal of TikTok/Twitter food outrage over the past few days. Numerous women have starred in content that has done a fine job of making people mad, and all for different reasons. First up, obvious engagement bait account @foodsfuns3 whipped people up into a frenzy with its unbelievable pasta recipe. Involving blitzing up spaghetti to make a different, worse looking noodle, the tutorial angered many who fell into its gag-inducing trap. 

Round two arrived in the form of a chef who had made a response video to those who accused her of not properly seasoning her food, leading to an extensive debate about what counted as flavoring in a dish. Apparently fresh garlic tastes like nothing without its dried counterpart being used at the same time.

To round it out with a little something sweet, a lady decided to film her dramatic reaction to trying sushi for the first time, creating a reaction that picky eaters are probably going to take a long while to recover from. Good job, everybody, for cultivating three separate strains of edible anger over the past few days.

Congress Isn't a Corecore Fan

As mentioned last week, the US government is getting increasingly antsy over TikTok's Chinese ownership. So much so, in fact, that CEO Shou Zi Chew had to attend a congressional hearing yesterday to defend the app's privacy practices. While proceedings didn't look like they were a lot of fun for Mr. Shou Chew, TikTokers and internet observers had the time of their lives watching out of touch congresspeople share ‘worrying’ clips from the platform and generally mocking the entire spectacle. 

If there's anything we can take away from this, it's that the people who rule us don't understand the youths, and the youths make no bones about decrying it. It would really be nice if the government would stop doing things that make TikTok creators post cringe in the Capitol.

And so ends another few eventful days of social media discussions. It's time to digest, and look forward to another week's worth of ridiculousness next week. See ya round!