Wacky food trends have always been a thing (side-eyeing whoever thought it was a good idea to stick vegetables in jelly in the ’70s and call it a salad). Still, with the advent of the internet – and short-form video apps like TikTok in particular – they’ve become more frequent and far-reaching than ever before.

There’s been pesto eggs, butter boards, cucumber salad, glazed skin smoothies, chilli crisp everything – and now, there’s sweet potato and cheese. Yep, if you’ve been on TikTok in the last month or so, you’ve almost certainly seen at least one person eating a roast sweet potato stuffed with a hunk of cheese. And if you paused on that video for more than three seconds in a fit of confusion and/or curiosity, your algorithm was then likely taken over by literally hundreds of people eating the same combination.

A total yam sham.Credit: TikTok/Aresna Villanueva

I like to think I’m not easily swayed by peer pressure or fleeting trends. I mean, I never once said yes to cigarettes or drugs when I was in high school – and sure, I was never really offered any, but you know, I would have said no. Yet there’s something about these viral food trends that gets me. Maybe it’s all the moaning influencers do when they’re eating. I’ll have what she’s having, and all that.

So........

© The Sydney Morning Herald