Choose your pain, choose you fighter

The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as an important catalyst impacting health-related behaviors, particularly food patterns, with both positive and negative consequences. Finding the appropriate media channels to influence the consumption of healthy foods is crucial, according to a 2015 study by W&S Group. Currently, social media is growing as an effective tool for shaping customers' choices. Food bloggers played quite an important role in affecting people’s behavioral intention and attitude towards the influencer’s recommendation (Nathalia et al., 2016). Indonesia has numerous food activists and influencers who each have their own niche and agenda. Two individuals mentioned in the context are Dicky Senda and Olivia Tommy.

From a classroom to a community

Inspiration has the potential to manifest itself from a multitude of sources at any given moment. It could be when people sit on the park in one fine afternoon. It could be when individuals read a book in one no-pressure weekend. It could be when someone decides to get back to their hometown and do research. The last rationale occurred when Dicky Senda met the pivotal circumstance that served as his inspiration to establish Lakoat.Kujawas. 

Lakoat.Kujawas is a community based in Mollo regency, Nusa Tenggara Timur province, Indonesia. This community aims to be a space to preserve indigenous’ cultural and local wisdom knowledge for the next generation. One ultimate method is through a food lab. The community was founded in 2016, when Dicky decided to get back to her hometown, Mollo, to do research regarding his book’s production. Aside from finishing his research, he got inspiration to found the community. Dicky made the decision to resign from his position as a full-time teacher and transition into a full-time activist, with a specific focus on promoting and advocating for local culinary traditions. To be underlined, the initial stage of Lakoat.Kujawas' started with a community library before it became an integral part of the community at present.

A screenshot of Dicky Senda's content of #SehariTanpaNasi

Dicky actively disseminates content regarding local food, such as how to make sweet potato noodles or the reason why we should consider local food rather than city-centric food. As a young person, Dicky has successfully found his own niche through her sarcastic yet easy-to-digest narrative. One of them is his campaign about #SehariTanpaNasi, or #ADayWithoutRice. He typically shares pictures of his lunch or dinner, a set menu without rice. Besides that, he brings climate justice and food security issues to his content.

Several responses were obtained from his content, such as (1) "Every time I read the narration of Dicky, there is always a challenge for myself. Thank you, Dicky! When people ask me, “Did you eat?" I always say, “Not yet”, even though, in fact, I have eaten various foods but rice. Because here, no rice, no  life."(@teti.filemon_22), (2) “We here in Jakarta realize the importance of health and are looking for organic tubers. A local carbo is the best! Full of nutrition! (@wanda_hamidah)

Despite being classified as a micro-influencer and possessing a follower count ranging from 10K to 100K on the social media platform Instagram, the impact of Dicky on the culinary landscape of Indonesia should not be disregarded. His contribution is more than important to enhancing food security in Indonesia. Furthermore, he actively promotes his advocacy not only through his personal social media platforms but also by participating in various conferences and events. Some of them are the Makassar International Writers’ Festival, the Salihara Literary Biennale, the ASEAN Literary Festival, the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, and the Melbourne Writers Festival.

Dicky's advocacy recalls parallels with the series "Broken Bread," in which Roy Choi guides audiences through a comprehensive exploration of local cuisine and its broader implications. Similar to Roy, Dicky explores complex social justice concerns in Indonesia from a rural perspective, effectively utilizing food as a catalyst for positive change.

From a contestant to a chef

According to the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com), Master Chef Indonesia holds a prominent position among the most widely televised game programs. The program gets a rating of 8.4 out of 10. There are several factors that may have contributed to the success of the program, including the program's quality, the expertise of the judges, the talent of the contestants, and the strategic choice of running during prime time on Saturday and Sunday nights. Regarding the subject of the competition, there was one contestant named Olivia Tommy, who may also be referred to as Chef Olivia.

A screenshot of Olivia Tommy's content of healthy fried

 cauliflower recipe

Olivia was one of the participants in Master Chef Indonesia season 8 in 2021. She is not the winner; she got eliminated in the top 7 round. Following her participation in the Master Chef competition, Olivia started sharing culinary content via her social media platform, @olivia.mci8. Her primary content on her first debut was about Indonesian food. The content was generated using an audiovisual concept. Sometimes the contents were just the original content of cooking, while at other times she incorporated collaborative content including various food and kitchen utensil brands. Since April 2022, Olivia has been creating specialized content focused on tutorials connected to the making of low-calorie meals.

Some highlighted recipes that got significant reactions from the followers, including healthy dried cauliflowers (10.5K likes), parmesan chicken strips (7.6K likes), and shredded chicken with Fried Chili Sauce (5.2K likes). Additionally, Olivia routinely released a video series of her doing a home workout or gym session. In summary, Olivia advocates a healthy life through a city-centric lens. Consequently, Olivia reached 580K followers on Instagram as of November 8, 2023.

The main narrative that Olivia conveys through her content is that being healthy is easy to achieve. She shares the recipe, where the ingredients are easy to get and the steps are easy to follow. In order to voice her ideas, she is using a short audiovisual product as the output. One of her popular contents was a recipe for healthy fried cauliflower. Here are some takeaways from the content: Initially, the video duration is limited to a maximum of 30 seconds; furthermore, it contains concise text; and finally, the tutorials were characterized by their directness and conciseness.

A study from Statista regarding preferred types of content on Instagram

Olivia shows a keen comprehension of individuals' needs and characteristics. People nowadays are fond of funny, creative, informative, relaxing, and inspirational contents (Statista, 2023). Olivia’s content for some audiences is informative and inspirational, as commented by @dewiomega87: "Wow, it is interesting! It was a nice idea for my kid. He dislikes vegetables, but he likes crispy food. It can be a crispy veggie, then! and from @margarethzhang, “One of my favorites, #modbooster”. Olivia, with her huge audiences, has the potential to influence her niche about healthy lifestyles. As a professional chef, Olivia maximizes her potential, with a primary focus on food as her driving force.

The power of food influencers

Both Dicky and Olivia have come to the realization that food can serve as a platform for expressing their own agendas. Another shared characteristic between them is their ability to optimize the best use of resources in the area around them. Dicky resides in the countryside, contrary to Olivia, who has her resources in the metropolitan area. In addition, speaking of their differences, Dicky’s narrative and content focus more on food security issues from the eastern area of Indonesia, along with graphic and text content; besides, Olivia's emphasis lies in promoting healthy lifestyles within cities, primarily utilizing audiovisual materials.

In a nutshell, both narratives and types of content have the potential to shape people’s perspectives regarding food. Firstly, the accessibility and simplicity of food can be different for anybody based on the context and location.However, in fact, local food is easy to find. Aside from that, it is worth considering the multiple benefits of choosing local food. People are able to take part in climate justice. How? Read here! Secondly, it is worth considering the multiple benefits of choosing a holistic and health-conscious lifestyle, which includes the consumption of nutritious food and regular physical activity. Choose your pain, choose your fighter, and prioritize the best!