Ruby Tandoh Argues That the Keith Lee Phenomenon Isn't Anything New

"When Ruby Tandoh first embarked on the project that would become her new book, All Consuming, she envisioned it with the broadest scope possible: an authoritative tome about "the whole of appetite - physiological, evolutionary, social, you name it," she says. "I think this came from a really naive desire at the time to create something that would be beyond the trend cycle.""

"and contributing to the indie publication Vittles. With All Consuming, instead of distancing herself from trends in an attempt to transcend them, Tandoh has decided to lean closer into phenomena like the rise of TikTok's Keith Lee, the allure of the tradwife lifestyle, the abundance of boba in the United Kingdom, the fundamental misalignments of the modern cookbook industry, and other decidedly modern hot topics in food."

The project initially aimed to map appetite across physiological, evolutionary, and social dimensions, but shifted toward present-day relevance when attention turned to what people eat and encounter on their phones. The work examines contemporary food phenomena—viral TikTok cooks, tradwife appeals, boba proliferation in the U.K., and structural misalignments within the cookbook industry—to understand how trends shape appetite and identity. The method adopts proximity to current phenomena as a way to detach and critique them, arguing that food culture now permeates general culture because participation in food trends is widespread beyond professional chefs and food media.

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