The 29-year-old Japanese-American content creator is based in California and first gained popularity on YouTube before becoming one of the top content creators on TikTok. On her channels, she posts everything from simple recipes, to fitness tips, to style advice. If you’ve been on TikTok recently, you’ve most likely seen her visually appealing, aspirational lifestyle content. Mariko’s rendition of a classic Japanese lunch was featured on TikTok For You pages across the world. Her recipe includes leftover salmon and rice, soy sauce, sriracha, Kewpie mayo, avocado, kimchi and furikake, a Japanese roasted seaweed rice topping.
“As someone that’s avidly on food TikTok, I’ve seen many renditions of the Emily Mariko bowl,” said Maddie Mills, junior food sciences major. Mills and Allie Tortorella, junior psychology major, recreated the buzzworthy recipe for themselves. Mills and Tortorella got all their ingredients from Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s and made the simple recipe for dinner. “I wasn’t sure if I’d like it, however, I was pleasantly surprised at how it all came together so fast and delicious,” Tortorella said. Mariko’s recipe currently has over 75 million views. It’s is so simple it can be whipped up in less than 10 minutes.