Alissa Nguyen, aka Gaming Foodie, is a Northlake resident and food influencer with over 2 million followers on TikTok. She films her viral recipe videos using a simple setup and incorporates her quirky vocabulary and catchphrases, as well as her husband’s love of video games. Nguyen began showing her true personality on camera and her followers love her for it according to a Dallas Morning News article. In it they say,
“After she props her iPhone up against a baby blue tumbler and scrawls her recipe on a paper towel, Northlake resident Alissa Nguyen begins filming her latest recipe.
It’s not the kind of high-tech set-up you’d expect from Nguyen, also known as Gaming Foodie, a food influencer with over 2 million followers on TikTok. But it’s how she’s made viral videos like her sushi bake, a creamy, spicy umami casserole of salmon and rice that can be scooped up in dried seaweed wrappers.
Nguyen’s quirky vocabulary, catchphrases and cartoon villain-like laugh are beloved by her followers. It all started when she slipped up one day into the casual way she interacts with her family. That includes her husband or who the kids call apa. He’s the “gaming” part of her handle for his love of video games and frequent appearances as the back of a head or arm in videos. Tired of being a different version of herself on camera, she started letting her personality show.”
Nguyen’s confidence on camera appears effortless, but she admits that her content wasn’t always carefree. She used to script her voiceovers, but her channel didn’t grow. After moving to Texas in 2021, she hit “record” and started embracing the messiness of everyday life according to a Texas Standard article. They say,
“Nguyen’s on-camera confidence seems effortless, but the food influencer said her content wasn’t always so carefree. She started posting to her Gaming Foodie account in 2019.
Back then, Nguyen said she tried to be a “cookie cutter mom.” She woke up around 2 or 3 a.m., before the day’s chaos, to carefully script and record her voice overs. But she noticed her channel wasn’t growing.
The turning point for her channel came in 2021 when she moved from California to Texas for her husband’s new job. Without her family nearby to help with childcare, Nguyen was forced to embrace the messiness of everyday life. One day, she just hit “record.”
Nguyen cooks to keep her family alive and finds recipe videos boring. She prefers comedic skits or news segments, but loves filming recipe videos that are relatable and easy to watch after a long day.
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