By Emma Nguyen
People have always been able to make their own meals from scratch. Whether it was baking cookies or collecting your own vegetables to be put in a salad, it is not uncommon for people to create homemade meals. But imagine making your own cheese, butter, and bread for a simple grilled cheese sandwich or making cereal from scratch. Popular TikTok creator, Nara Smith, has gone viral for her absurd recipes.
Nara Smith is a 23-year-old German model who has gone viral for her unique homemade meals including recipes for bubble gum, ice creams, and even cereal. She often makes dishes for her husband, Lucky Blue Smith, and her young children who also have gained traction due to their unique names; these names include Rumble Honey, Slim Easy and Whimsy Lou. Not only does she create these courses all from scratch, but she does so in extravagant ball gowns and designer outfits.
While these recipes can seem absurd, how hard can they be and is it really worth creating all your own meals from scratch? I tried making the popular cereal Cinnamon Toast Crunch from scratch using Smith’s recipe and deciding whether you can really tell the difference between homemade and store-bought.
The process was surprisingly simple compared to other complex recipes Smith had published on her social media. I used the recipe in the PopSugar article, “Is Nara Smith’s Homemade Cereal Worth the Time? I Tried It So You Don’t Have To”, by Nicolette Baker. The recipe calls for a mixture of rice flour, pastry flour, cane sugar, baking soda, oil, water, cinnamon and monk fruit sweetener which I was able to obtain relatively easily at my local grocery store (except monk fruit sweetener).
Once the mixture was created, I rolled out my dough onto a large baking sheet and baked it for around one hour at 250 degrees. I then chopped my cereal into small squares which looked relatively similar to the original product.
After trying both, I realized that the homemade version did not taste very similar to the original. It was much more grainy and felt more like granola. It also reminded me of Scooby Snacks. The original is much sweeter but still has that classic cinnamon taste that I love.
After reflecting on my experience, I came to the conclusion that the original version still reigned supreme. It was much less work and still was very tasty. But if you have some extra time and ingredients on your hands, the homemade version is still a fun experience that still results in a delicious snack!
