Search Engine — “A Dubai Chocolate Theory of the Internet” Host: PJ Vogt | Guest: Ryan Broderick (Garbage Day, Panic World) | Released: August 22, 2025

Overview

This episode unpacks the viral phenomenon of “Dubai Chocolate”—a pistachio-filled confection from the UAE—and uses it as a lens to examine how consumer trends spread on the internet, particularly via TikTok and other Chinese-influenced social shopping platforms. Through an insightful, playful conversation with internet culture chronicler Ryan Broderick, PJ Vogt explores broader questions: How do digital products become ubiquitous almost overnight? What distinguishes today’s “attention economy” platforms from their predecessors? And what does it mean that so much online video content has become, in Broderick’s words, “pornographic”—not sexually, but in its pure focus on raw stimulation and desire?

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Dubai Chocolate Phenomenon

• Origins

  • Invented in 2021 by Sarah Hamuda, an engineer in Dubai, while she was pregnant and craving foods. She combined chocolate with pistachios, tahini, and kunafa to create a chocolate bar filled with green pistachio cream.
    • Quote: “She kind of imagined this idea of, like, combining chocolate and pistachios and tahini and kunafa, which is like a Middle Eastern dessert, basically.” — Ryan (06:43)

• How it Went Viral

  • The product was sent to influencers, such as Maria Vihara, who recorded herself eating (and dripping gooey pistachio cream) on TikTok — making the treat trend globally.
  • The first viral video was from 2023, where the green filling’s striking appearance caught viewers’ attention, regardless of whether it was appetizing or off-putting.
    • Quote: “She’s letting it all drip and ooze out of her mouth like some kind of dog. It’s awful. I don’t like looking at this.” — Ryan (08:21)

• The Role of Visuals in Virality

  • Video-centric platforms prioritize visually striking foods. If something isn’t “satisfying” on video, it likely won’t trend.
    • Quote: “The fact that you bite into this chocolate bar and it oozes out...is the marketing. The marketing is literally baked in.” — Ryan (09:42)

2. What Makes Internet Food Trends Take Off?

• ASMR & Food Content

  • The popularity of “pull apart” shots and ASMR food videos amplify “gooeyness” and surprise as features—same formula that made mozzarella sticks viral.

• The Mukbang Effect

  • Watching thin, conventionally attractive influencers eat enormous desserts fits into a genre called mukbang (originally Korean—combines “eating” and “broadcast”).
    • “You’re watching this super, super skinny, fit, beautiful person eat junk food in their car because that’s not possible...It’s not possible to live that life and stay that way.” — Ryan (12:39)

• Online Video as Pornographic Stimulus

  • Videos are consumed not for stories but for the stimulation they provide—whether it’s food, slime, or satisfying destruction—mirroring pornography in prioritizing sensation over narrative.
    • “We’ve reduced video content on the Internet to raw stimuli.” — Ryan (15:24)

3. TikTok and China’s Influence on Consumer Culture

• TikTok Is Social Shopping, Not Just Social Video

  • Unlike American social platforms, TikTok (inspired by China’s Douyin) is fundamentally an engine for social shopping, built to create viral demand for products sold on-platform.
    • “TikTok’s the reverse [of YouTube/Instagram]: if we can get everyone to make ads, then those ads can become culture.” — Ryan (22:36)

• The Pipeline: Product → Influencer → Viral Trend → Mass Adoption

  • The goal isn’t just to spread culture, but to turn viral moments into direct sales via TikTok Shop and similar features.
  • TikTok is less about “influencing culture” and more about “influencing you to buy the same product and talk about it.” (21:12)

• Direct E-Commerce Integration

  • TikTok Shop’s seamless buying experience makes every video a potential commercial.
    • “Imagine if Instagram ads were then taking you to an Instagram store that you could just buy from.” — Ryan (28:13)

4. American vs. Chinese (and Global) Internet Culture

• Frequency and Scale of Product Virality

  • While America has periodic “earthquake” moments (Dubai Chocolate, Stanley Cups, Labubu), countries with more aggressive social shopping have constant trend churn.
    • “In China and Brazil and other Internets...consumers are just rushing to and fro because the trends there are not about like a hashtag joke...It’s also about products going viral at a much higher rapidity.” — PJ (31:03)

• Cultural and Economic Factors

  • China’s rapid shift from rural to online society, coupled with its dominance in manufacturing, fuels a style of hyperconsumerism American companies can’t readily match.

• The End State: Internet as Endless Mall

  • Chinese internet culture is described as “a shopping mall,” where socialization is deeply woven into commerce, and topics beyond consumer goods (e.g., politics) are intentionally sidelined.
    • “What if the Internet was a mall that could distract you from wanting to talk about why your town’s water is full of crap in it...” — Ryan (35:31)

5. What Does “Cool” Mean When Everything’s Quantified?

• Algorithmic Coolness and Gen Z’s Dilemma
  • For Gen Z, value and coolness are inseparable from visible popularity: everything has engagement numbers.
  • There’s no longer a reliable sense of “I found this obscure thing and that’s why it’s cool,” because coolness is instantly public and mass-quantified.
    • “How do you gatekeep in a world where the only value attached to things is popularity?” — Ryan (39:31)
  • The result: a desperate effort to signify identity with mass-market signifiers (Dubai chocolate, Labubu) rather than obscure finds.

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On mukbang and internet desire:
  “You’re watching this super, super skinny, fit, beautiful person eat junk food in their car because, like, that’s not possible...the word for this is mukbang.” — Ryan (12:39)

• On TikTok’s true business:
  “TikTok’s not competing with Facebook, it’s not competing with YouTube, it’s competing with Amazon.” — Ryan (24:46)

• The “pornographic” nature of all modern video:
  “We’ve reduced video content on the Internet to raw stimuli.” — Ryan (15:24)

• Coolness in the age of the algorithm:
  “In an attention economy...if you don’t tell anyone, it’s worthless.” — Ryan (40:15)

• On China’s perspective on free speech and internet priorities:
  “Yeah, we don’t have free speech online, but we don’t have Trump either. So that’s how they see it.” — Ryan quoting a Chinese tech executive (35:12)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:14] — Introduction of guest Ryan Broderick and his exploration of internet “Outer Rim” trends
• [06:40] — The origin story of Dubai Chocolate
• [07:45] — Watching the first viral Dubai Chocolate TikTok
• [09:00] — Explaining ASMR “pull apart” food videos
• [12:35] — Mukbang and the “aspirational” aspect of food videos
• [15:24] — “Raw stimuli”: Why online video is now more about sensation than story
• [20:24] — How Dubai Chocolate reached influencers and went viral
• [22:36] — The difference between TikTok’s approach and US social media
• [24:46] — TikTok is more akin to Amazon, not just Facebook/YouTube
• [28:29] — TikTok Shop: What buying looks like on-platform
• [31:36] — How constant product virality is more common outside the US
• [39:31] — “How do you gatekeep in a world where the only value attached to things is popularity?”
• [41:00] — Reflections on Gen Z’s struggle to define “cool” and culture

Memorable/Amusing Moments

• Both host and guest realize mid-conversation they are wearing the exact same shirt from Amazon. (03:02)
• PJ, bemused: “I will say...we were having this conversation while wearing, as we mentioned, the exact same shirt we bought off Amazon together.” (32:03)
• Ryan, who’s built a career chronicling web trends, admits he has never actually tasted Dubai Chocolate. (41:29)
• Sharp, self-aware exchanges about “theories” and aging out of internet culture:
  “I think I understand what’s going on, but also, I’m 35 years old, so I could be wrong.” — Ryan (42:03)

Structure of Dubai Chocolate’s Cultural Journey

1. Invention
   • Local idea born in Dubai
2. Seeding with Influencers
   • Sent to digital “taste-makers”
3. Viral TikTok Video
   • Influencer eating, visual “goo factor”
4. Algorithm Boosts and User Engagement
   • ASMR, aesthetics, and desire drive interest
5. Retail and Copycats
   • Shortages, rapid knockoffs, global adoption
6. Saturation as Signifier
   • Trend as “cool marker,” loss of obscurity

Conclusion

This episode is both a case study in how a single food product becomes a worldwide meme and a meditation on how the nature of internet culture is evolving. Dubai Chocolate’s story demonstrates the power of algorithms, sensory stimulation, and commercialization—and provides commentary on the deeper changes reshaping what it means to be “cool,” to go viral, or to find belonging online.

For further questions or a deeper dive, check out Ryan Broderick’s newsletter, Garbage Day, and his podcast Panic World, plus past and future episodes of Search Engine.