Some people are watching the Olympics for Simone Biles. Some people watched for Stephen Nedoroscik, with his highly specialized pommel horse skills. And now, some people are watching for the chocolate muffin, which has taken over Olympic Village content on TikTok with its large chocolate chips and gooey, melted chocolate center.
While many athletes have shared reviews of the food in the Olympic Village, it was the Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen who popularized the muffins. Within a week, Christiansen has made 10 TikTok videos about the muffins — the most popular of which has over 10 million views as of this writing. In an interview with the New York Times, Christiansen said the muffins were the first thing he tried in the dining hall. "They're very rich, and I like that," he said.
Christiansen's videos, which sometimes feature the swimmer's face smeared with chocolate, have become a global sensation, with almost all of his muffin videos hitting views in the millions, and other athletes now also making videos about the muffins. Those of us on MuffinTok have since found ourselves haunted by the question: Who makes these muffins, and is there any way to eat one, without being an Olympic athlete?
On Wednesday, Kelin Carolyn Zhang shared a series of videos on TikTok in which she tried to track down the source of the muffins. This day-long deep dive was, she notes, a form of procrastination from her work as an independent designer.
Zhang first identified the "Decadent Chocolate Chunk Supreme Muffin" from Otis Spunkmeyer as a potential dupe, though commenters noted that they didn't quite match: The Spunkmeyer muffins have chips, but not ganache topping. The chocolate-hazelnut-filled muffins from Delifrance also seemed close but not quite: They have the chocolate filling but not the chunks, and no athletes seem to have mentioned the muffin having a hazelnut flavor.
Zhang finally landed on the muffins from the French producer Coup de Pates. Indeed, a representative for Coup de Pates confirmed to Eater via email that the muffins are the company's "Maxi Muffin Chocolat Intense." "We work exclusively with food service professionals, some of whom are partners of the Olympic Village," they said in an email, adding that the muffins can be found "in many countries around the world thanks to our clients and distributors." (Interested food service professionals can contact the company's export department, they noted.)
No comments:
Post a Comment