ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 NEWS/FEATURES 13 People & Places Tech Antidote to bland life TikTok videos spice up ‘home cooking’ NEW YORK, May 16, (AP): From sourdough to feta pasta, much of the last year at home has been food- focused. And one driver of these delectable fads is the social media platform TikTok. Many people have embraced cooking during the pandemic, when they’ve been home, bored, looking to try something new. TikTok was ready to fi ll the gap as a foodie paradise, and has seen more than 15 billion food posts. “It’s my bedtime routine,” Lori Jackson, 54, of Lynn, Massachusetts, said of watching TikTok cook- ing videos. “I’ve taken ideas I’ve seen on there and made them.” One of the burgeoning Tik- Tok celebrity chefs is Harry Heal, a 26-year-old who lives in Dubai. Heal has a distinct baritone, an English accent, and has garnered about a million fol- lowers in the six months he’s been posting cooking videos. He isn’t a chef by trade, though he learned some cooking skills when working in the French Heal Alps as a teen. “From then on, I have been a huge cooking enthusiast and loved being in the kitch- en,” Heal said. His most viral video — 13.3 million views — is a Valentine’s Day dish with seared chicken breast, roasted garlic, sliced mushrooms and cream. Like This image released by Netflix shows Ewan McGregor in a scene from ‘Halston,’ which premiered Friday. (AP) most TikTok videos, it’s set to music and has the feel of something professionally crafted. Tri Phan of Arlington, Virginia, has amassed 1.5 million followers since he began posting workout and healthy cooking videos in November. The 23-year- Fashion old, who is working on his master’s degree in data and business analytics at American University, often does two versions of his content, one in English and one in Vietnamese; about 60 percent of his followers are Docu focuses on fashion designer’s reinvention Vietnamese, he says. Learn “When I fi rst started, it was me wanting to share with the world Vietnamese cuisine, Vietnamese food,” McGregor back with force as Halston he said. “Now I want to take this TikTok further to re- ally help people learn to cook healthy meals that they NEW YORK, May 16, (AP): Imag- could eat and they could eat for the rest of their lives.” ine, if you will, a galaxy far, far away Phan’s love of cooking came despite being told by where the one-name fashion wonder Gucci celebrates its 100 years with his traditional mother to stay out of the kitchen. “My Halston dresses Obi-Wan Kenobi in mom never wanted the only boy in the family to be in something fabulous from the swinging the kitchen,” he said. ’70s. exhibit on Michele code-breaking “And because of that, I always wanted to cook.” Ewan McGregor can. Sort of. Now that he’s TikTok famous, he says his mother McGregor is in the unique position FLORENCE, Italy, May 16, (AP): of beauty,” Michele told reporters doesn’t quite grasp what that means. “She’s like, ‘Oh, This image released by ABC shows of being the sole person — on this Alessandro Michele has radically Thursday in Florence. good job, son. Very good. But your fi nance major, Caleb Kennedy performing on the planet anyway — who might care, shifted Gucci codes and chal- He said the campaign, featuring how’s that going?’” singing competition series ‘Ameri- considering his dual roles as the Jedi lenged fashion norms in his 6½ Hari Nef, Petra Collins and Dakota About one year ago — somewhere near the “Ti- can Idol,’ in Los Angeles that aired master and the fl amboyant designer, years as creative director of the Johnson walking through a field of ger King” phase of the pandemic - a whipped coffee May 9. Kennedy has dropped out of the latter the subject of a new Netfl ix brand founded by Guccio Gucci as wildflowers, proved conventional drink made the rounds on the internet, starting its viral the singing competition after a video miniseries and the former a Disney+ a travel bag company in Florence fashion world wisdom wrong by journey on TikTok. The drink originated in South Ko- circulated showing him sitting next to “Star Wars” installment that has the 100 years ago. creating “an absolutely up-to-date rea, where it’s called a dalgona coffee. All it required someone wearing what appears to be Scottish actor on set in Los Angeles. To mark the centenary, Michele female imagery.” was instant coffee, sugar and hot water to construct a a Ku Klux Klan hood. Kennedy, ad- “It would be much more comfort- has curated an exhibition in the Gu- “If fashion and the fashion mar- luscious-looking beverage resembling a soft-serve ice vanced into the Top 5, apologized for able,” he told The Associated Press cci Garden gallery, on Florence’s ket want to continue to have a cream cone. The hashtag #whippedcoffee has amassed the video on Twitter and Instagram on during a recent interview on Zoom. “It Piazza della Signoria, that under- stage, there needs to be some sort more than 2.3 billion views. Wednesday, saying ‘it displayed ac- would all be in cashmere, you know, lines some watershed moments in of movement. That campaign, in a There’s a lot of variety on “food TikTok.” You tions that were not meant to be taken none of that heavy blanket material his era. Those include an advertis- very gentle and very poetic way, can learn to perfect a hamburger or ferment kimchee, in that way.’ (AP) ing campaign for perfume featuring gave space and voice to a world of stuff.” a transgender model, an all-Black very different femininity,” Michele make old-fashioned Japanese candy or fry frog legs. “Halston” has generated some heat cast for the pre-Fall 2017 campaign said. The video-only platform lends itself to cooking for McGregor and director Daniel Mi- and a lipstick campaign featuring Likewise, Michele said the cast- demonstrations, said Crystal King, a social media pro- nahan, both among the series’ execu- everyday faces in all their imperfec- ing of only Black models in the fessor at Boston-based marketing software fi rm Hub- Variety tive producers with Ryan Murphy. tions. 2017 campaign was at the time a spot. Other social media platforms have multiple fea- Halston’s niece, Lesley Frowick, The exhibition will be reproduced breakthrough, noting that “things tures — lots of text or static photos — that can divide along with other relatives, bashed in seven cities, including Shanghai, have changed in a dizzying and a user’s attention. TikTok, however, “sucks people in LOS ANGELES: Prince Harry compared Minahan’s passion project Monday Tokyo, Sydney and Seoul. very fast way in the last year.” really easily,” she said. “The format is simple, easily his royal experience to being on “The Tru- as “frankly, garbage” and “inaccu- The 48-year-old designer cred- The pandemic year has been a understood and it connects people into a global under- man Show” and “living in a zoo.” rate,” having seen nothing more than ited CEO Marco Bizzarri, who year of collaborations, including standing of food really quickly.” The Duke of Sussex said during a a trailer. Frowick, by phone from Cali- tapped an unknown Michele from with North Face, and Ken Scott and The vast array of content is a leading attraction of Thursday episode of the “Armchair fornia, said the family and the Halston the Gucci design team to take over Doraemon. A tie-up with Balencia- food TikTok, fans say. Many people, like Julie Vick, Expert” podcast that he contemplated Archives were not consulted. as creative director in January ga will reach stores later this year. a 44-year-old writer and college instructor in the Den- quitting royal life on several occasions 2015, with allowing him leeway to Gucci revenues rose 20% to 2.16 ver area, look there for new ideas. while in his 20s. He spoke candidly with Project go beyond the usual schemes driv- million euros in the first quarter of “The videos are a little mesmerizing at times,” Vick host Dax Shepard about keeping his ing the luxury business model. 2021 compared with the same pe- relationship with Meghan a secret and Minahan told AP he spoke to “No one would have wanted, we riod last year, Women’s Wear Daily said. “I’ve liked watching the tortilla ones, where peo- Halston’s brother, Robert Frowick, in ple put four different ingredients in different sections dealing with the UK media scrutiny. can say it, a transexual in the world reported. Harry thought his life was like the the late ’90s while developing the pro- of a tortilla and then fold it up and cook it in a skillet.” 1998 Jim Carrey fi lm “The Truman ject. Robert Frowick died in 2007 and Although they’re generally not hands-on, TikTok’s Show.” The fi lm tells a story about his widow disputes her husband was had a stable of beautiful muses and A- and was one of his bevy of models short videos do create interest in cooking skills, says Truman Burbank’s life being televised consulted. list friends, including Elizabeth Tay- dubbed the Halstonettes. Geeti Gangle, co-owner of Create a Cook culinary through hidden cameras while encounter- “I think everyone’s entitled to their lor, Liza Minnelli (played by Krysta The series is full of Halston snorting school in Newton, Massachusetts.