Eating with your eyes: the digital-sensory induction strategies of Chilean-Palestinian foodie influencers

There has been a recent surge in the sharing of food practices across the virtual table – such as cooking and recipe videos on Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms – particularly among diasporic communities who are physically and symbolically separated from homeland foodways. How is the migrant culinary sensorium translated for digital contexts that seemingly contradict the local, economically disinterested, and embodied qualities of co-present commensality? To answer this question, we analyze the Instagram profiles, posts, and follower interactions of Chilean-Palestinian foodie influencers. We argue that these influencers deploy digital-sensory induction strategies– audiovisual techniques that invite followers to imagine textures, aromas, and flavors – for diverse ends: to entertain, advocate, advertise, and educate. In doing so, they cultivate an online sensory regime that sustains and reconfigures the practice of diaspora.