Spending 30 yuan to eat grass fodder, nearly 3 billion people watched on the Internet, foreign university canteens have become the new traffic code

International students have attracted a lot of attention by sharing their campus life, especially the food culture of university cafeterias, which has become a new traffic code. From the simple plates in Korean university cafeterias to the sumptuous buffets in American universities, to the characteristics of university cafeterias in countries such as Dubai and India, these contents not only satisfy netizens' curiosity about foreign food, but also unexpectedly become a shortcut for international students to develop their own media. This article will explore the phenomenon of international students becoming popular by shooting videos of university cafeterias, and analyze the cultural differences behind this phenomenon, the psychology of netizens, and the opportunities and challenges for the development of international students' self-media.

"I wonder if these things are eaten before meals? Or after meals?".

On July 7, Cheng Yoooooo, a celebrity with tens of millions of fans on the Internet, raised a "soul-searching question" after experiencing dinner in the cafeteria of Seoul National University in South Korea.

The 25-yuan plate includes a small dish of leeks, a small portion of kimchi, 5 small pieces of meat, a bowl of soup, and a portion of rice. At first glance, it can be described as a "small dish meeting". This video has received more than 400,000 likes, and the related topic #韩国大学餐堂25份的晚餐# directly topped the Douyin hot search list.

In the comment section, netizens from South Korea with the same IP address shared the same food, while others who were just watching the fun posted their own sumptuous dinners in domestic canteens for comparison. There were also enthusiastic netizens who reminded her, "Don't take too much meat, which is limited in South Korea, or you may be condemned."

Because last month, "Grass Gate Grass Sister (doctoral student in Busan)" who was studying in South Korea exposed a notice in the cafeteria of Pukyong University, which severely pointed out in three languages, Chinese, Korean and English, that a Chinese woman had taken more than the limited amount of meat, which sparked heated discussions across the Internet.

Although Pukyong National University later apologized and clarified that it had no intention of discriminating against Chinese students, this incident has put Korean university cafeterias in the spotlight, and domestic netizens' attention and curiosity about foreign university cafeterias have reached new heights.

The popularity of many canteen vlogs of international students in South Korea has skyrocketed as a result. The topic #韩国大学食堂# on Douyin has been played more than 2.2 billion times . Related international student accounts such as "Richard Will Not Land (Grass Catering Brother)", "ka sauce", "Kimchi Smecta", and "Ningguta's Sister Ta (Korean version)" have exploded. Although the number of fans is not large, many videos have received hundreds of thousands of likes.

After seeing so many Korean cafeterias, netizens also like to see the cafeterias in other countries' universities for a different taste, like the various cooked potatoes and undercooked rice in European universities, the various curry-flavored foods in Indian university cafeterias, or the fancy buffets in American university cafeterias, where a condiment area is even more sumptuous than the main meals in Korean cafeterias.

Apparently, watching Chinese students eating in cafeterias around the world has become a new pastime for this generation of netizens.

1. 3 billion people watched the video online, and Korean university cafeterias became the traffic code

What can you eat with a 30 yuan budget?

In the study life of blogger "Richard Will Not Land" in South Korea, this is almost the price of a meal in the cafeteria, 5,500 won, about 29 yuan, which includes three or five kinds of kimchi to choose from, one or two limited meats, a bowl of soup, and unlimited rice and vegetable salad.

This kind of diet is very different from his hometown in Jilin, Northeast China. After all, the video of all-you-can-eat self-service lunch boxes in Northeast China for just over ten yuan was once popular on the Internet, and meat could be eaten in unlimited quantities.

"Richard Will Not Land" went to study in South Korea in the first half of last year, majoring in sculpture. He is currently studying at the Seoul Women's University, which is said to be ranked among the top three in South Korea. Gender is not a factor in admission for master's degree students and above.

In April 2023, "Richard Will Not Land", who had just arrived in South Korea, began to use video to record the school's 5,500 won buffet lunch. Looking around, there were several kinds of kimchi, paired with carbohydrates, occasionally limited meat, and a large bowl of vegetable salad made from shredded cabbage, purple cabbage, and carrots.

Since he felt that carbohydrates tasted uncomfortable when eaten with carbohydrates, he would fill the largest compartment on his plate with vegetable salad, pile it into a small hill, and chew it with a crunch. For this reason, netizens nicknamed him "Grass Brother."

"Richard Will Not Land" readily accepted this title. Not only did he put the three words "Grass Brother" in his account name, but he also fixed the opening line of his videos from August 2023: "I am the guy who eats grass in a Korean girls' school..."

He eats at this 5,500 won cafeteria almost 5 out of 7 days a week. At first, he cursed at all kinds of kimchi and grass, but later he became calmer after getting used to it. He can even eat salad without adding salad dressing and without changing his expression. In his own words, "Imagine yourself as a rabbit, and you can eat happily."

In more than a year, although "Richard Will Not Land" lost nearly 20 kilograms in South Korea, it has gained millions of fans on the Internet, including 1.136 million fans on Bilibili, nearly 900,000 fans on Douyin, and 634,000 fans on Xiaohongshu.

He has more than 100 videos on Bilibili, each of which has been played over a million times, with the most popular one having nearly 9.5 million views. He has also been a constant hit on Douyin, with a cafeteria video posted on July 3 last year receiving nearly 480,000 likes.

"Richard Will Not Land" is not the first blogger to photograph Korean university cafeterias, but his popularity has prompted more Chinese students studying in Korea to photograph and record cafeteria meals.

For example, "Master Yun_", who studied at the same Korean girls' school as "Richard Will Not Land", also followed in the footsteps of Cao Liao Ge and started to broadcast food in the cafeteria. He posted many cafeteria videos, and his popular Douyin videos received over 10,000 likes.

He would occasionally run into Brother Cao Liao in the cafeteria, and because of this connection, many netizens left comments jokingly saying "You and Brother Cao Liao are in the same prison."

"CaoLiaoGun CaoLiaoSister (doctoral student in Busan)" who exposed the controversial notice of Pukyong National University was also influenced by CaoLiaoGun and started taking pictures of the cafeteria. The description of her account reads "The backbone of CaoLiaoGun (official certification of CaoLiaoGun)."

There are also many accounts that have gained a certain amount of traffic by filming Korean university cafeterias, such as "Liu Wenjie", who has 387,000 Douyin fans and whose most popular video has received 540,000 Douyin likes; "Three Spoons of Rice", which has 78,000 Douyin fans, has a video that has received nearly 200,000 likes, etc.

Although most cafeteria videos look similar, with a few kinds of kimchi, two or three staple foods, and even the limited quantities seem to be a unified "traditional custom" in Korea, it does not stop netizens from watching one after another with great interest.

As of now, the number of views of the topic #韩国大学餐堂# on Douyin alone has reached 2.24 billion times.

According to the data tool of Xiaohongshu under Xinbang, the total number of views of the topic #韩国大学餐堂# is nearly 380 million, and the number of views of the topic has increased by 24.1 million in the past month. In addition, many related videos on platforms such as Bilibili and Weibo have exceeded one million views. This topic is becoming a traffic code, and the total number of views on the entire network is estimated to be nearly 3 billion.

2. Can the “canteen bloggers” that have emerged in universities around the world become a shortcut for international students to create their own media?

After seeing too many Korean university cafeterias, netizens like to visit university cafeterias in other countries from time to time to change their taste.

For example, a "foodie female college student" studying at Northwestern University in the United States would share a $12 (about 87 yuan) cafeteria buffet , which includes spicy chicken baked macaroni and cheese, roast chicken, seasonal vegetables that are more fragrant than those in Chinese restaurants, Parmesan cheese sandwiches, beef patties, French fries, pizza, muffins, etc., as well as a variety of dessert choices. On average, each video on Douyin receives thousands to tens of thousands of likes.

In the comment section, some netizens lamented that "this should be the best diet for international students", and some Korean international students took the initiative to post their own kimchi bibimbap for comparison.

"Fresh Taro and Barley", who is studying abroad at MIT , took a picture of the $11 (about 80 RMB) buffet in the MIT cafeteria. It looked like beef, ribs, chicken, pizza, pasta, French fries, etc. were all available for purchase. She simply skipped the salad that "Brother Caoliao" had as his staple food.

There are also some niche and uncommon canteens in foreign universities.

For example, in "Ron's Magic Kitchen" , he studied abroad in Dubai, and all he shared was what he ate in a 60-yuan meal in the cafeteria of Dubai University. Because the meat content was too high, he also jokingly called himself "Meat Brother" to contrast with "Grass Brother".

"Li Zishuo in India", who is studying at Jawaharlal Nehru University in India , shares all aspects of his life as a student in India, but videos related to the school cafeteria are the most popular. Compared to other videos, which have an average of a few thousand to just over 10,000 likes on Douyin, videos related to the cafeteria can get several times the number of likes, with a single video even reaching nearly 100,000.

The reason is very simple. The Korean side dishes and limited meat have attracted a lot of attention. In the minds of netizens, Indian university cafeterias and Korea are a "perfect match". Li Zishuo mentioned in the video that there are many vegetarians in India, and meat is only served on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The most classic dish in the cafeteria is "potato stewed curry".

The editorial department of Xinbang found that the canteen, a daily life theme, has gradually developed into a popular vertical category in the past two years, and has also become a starting point for many international students to enter the self-media industry.

Once upon a time, the classic vlog topics for international students were daily classes abroad, cultural landscapes that were different from those in China, or natural beauty. Difference and worldly experience have always been one of the important reasons why international students' content has an audience.

Nowadays, as more netizens have the opportunity to travel abroad for vacation, the differences in their understanding of humanities and natural scenery are narrowing, and the threshold of netizens is constantly being raised. More new things need to be brought out to arouse their interest, and overseas university canteens that only students can enter have naturally become a breakthrough.

According to Xinhong data, more than 66% of the accounts participating in the #韩国大学餐堂# topic are amateurs, and many of them have begun to check in and update the cafeteria content every day to accumulate the first wave of traffic for the account.

Many similar creators have sprung up on Douyin like mushrooms after rain.

For example, "Dr. Smecta Li Yu" is studying abroad at Seoul University. He started operating a Douyin account in January this year. His first video was shot with the theme of "Challenging the Worst Canteen Food in Universities Around the World". So far, he has released 52 videos, each of which is related to the Seoul University cafeteria. Now it is the 74th day of the challenge, and the number of fans has accumulated nearly 10,000.

For international students who want to operate a personal account, taking photos of the cafeteria of the university they attend has become a cost-effective way to start an account with low barriers to entry and high traffic.

If you succeed in exploring this method and accumulate account traffic, you will have the opportunity to develop your personal IP and successfully achieve commercialization.

Just like "Brother Caoliao", his account has received a lot of advertising cooperation, such as Guyu Light Sensitive Water, Lifen Electric Toothbrush, Mao Geping Caviar Mask and so on.

According to the data from Xinbang, he receives an average of 3-5 business orders on Douyin every month. There are no business order notes on Xiaohongshu recently, and the average price of a single video is shown to be 35,000 yuan.

However, for international students, although this path has a low threshold and is easier to get started than other forms of self-media, it also faces some controversies and challenges.

The popularity of "Richard Won't Land" to some extent coincides with the complaints of domestic netizens about Korean food containing too much kimchi and too little meat. However, his alumni pointed out that one can eat a lot of meat at another cafeteria on campus for around 5,900 won (31 yuan).

However, if we change to a canteen with more meat, we might not have the current traffic and effect.

Moreover, the school career of most international students will eventually come to an end. Based on this, some have tried to "explore" university canteens in different places, and have developed a vertical canteen exploration account. Others have tried to post some daily vlogs, but their traffic performance is far inferior to canteen videos.

International students can eat at the canteens of overseas universities, but they may not be able to eat there for long. If they want to continue to develop their personal IP, in addition to the luck of a hit product, they may need to think of more breakthroughs.

Author: Truffle, Editor: Xiaoba