Caviar, those small, black pearls of cured roe, were once considered an indulgence of the ultra-wealthy. But in a case study of influencer marketing, one TikTokker has transformed the delicacy into an everyday snack, something you sprinkle on a slice of bread … or even a Dorito.
Extremely online users who follow Foodtok will know that we’re talking about Danielle Matzon, a TikTok influencer who shares her lavish lifestyle with her more than 400,000 followers. As Bettina Makalintal points out in a piece for Eater, we can trace the current caviar TikTok trend back to a November video in which Matzon places caviar gobs of sturgeon eggs (with a pearl spoon) on butter-covered Fitness Bread.
The combination of high and low-brow cuisine is even more jarring in a later video where she celebrates 200,000 followers with a “bump” of $160 caviar piled atop a nacho cheese Dorito. The genius of Matzon’s videos is that her family runs Marky's Caviar Store — tins sell for as much as $800 — and so each video is a not-so-subtle advertisement for her brand.
@dzaslavsky Celebrating 200k with @Doritos & @markyscaviar 🫶🏼 #caviar #markyscaviar ♬ original sound - danielle
But Matzon’s reach is beyond that of a simple Marky’s ambassador. She has single-handedly established a broader caviar trend, driving TikTokkers, many of them young, to make their own tasting videos — even if they aren’t members of the richest 1%. If that sounds hard to believe, know that many of these tasting videos directly reference Matzon, with some TikTokkers even ordering from her family’s store.
“Danielle got me. That girl has me convinced that I’m gonna enjoy caviar and creme fraiche,” @juliageezy says in a popular video.
“I don’t have exactly what she has. I can’t really go out and spend $100 on some caviar, so I got the lumpfish version,” she continues, adding that it looks like “rich people toast.”
Whether or not it’s intentional, Matzon has effectively normalized caviar, transforming the $100-plus luxury good into what seems like a cheap dip . The difference, of course, is that Matzon can afford it.
@juliageezy The Caviar Queen got me @danielle ♬ original sound - Big Sis Julia