By Samantha Padilla, Sept. 13, 2022
After graduating from Cal Poly Pomona in 2016, Adrian Danganan became a social media influencer who creates “foodie” content on his social media platforms and shares his food experience with his friends and followers. With 37.9k followers on Instagram and 235.3k on TikTok, Danganan has reached several social media users with his “aesthetic” food content.
His journey all began during his time at CPP, where Danganan was enrolled in a communications course, COM 4465 Online and Social Media, where students were encouraged to select a topic they were passionate about and create a blog about their specific interests. This is where Danganan decided to launch an all-Filipino food blog and talk about the culture and meaning behind each traditional dish.
“There’s something communal … there’s more to it beyond just eating the food,” said Danganan. “There’s the family and friends that’s around you with it.”
After Danganan graduated from CPP, he decided to continue the food blog but expanded to food in general, specifically the food in Southern California.
In 2017-2018, he created an Instagram account to go along with the blog and began to post more food content, such as photos, gaining lots of attention and followers.
“It was a while back, but I think it was at Pizza Hut or Little Caesars. They had like a bacon-crusted pizza,” said Danganan. “I think one of the Hadids, Gigi or Bella Hadid, had tagged or commented on my post, and I couldn’t believe my photos were getting to her … she’s a pretty big deal.”
Danganan decided to take a full bite into the Instagram world, focus his time on creating more content there, and slowly stopped regularly posting on his original food blogging page.
While he created his Instagram account, several other people were also creating food content, and it was competitive for a while until he decided to switch things up. Danganan decided to start filming content in front of the camera to engage his followers and create a personal connection with them.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, the famous video-sharing platform TikTok gained a more significant following,now that everyone was more active on their devices. Danganan shifted his focus, and began creating content on TikTok, and decided to switch his type of content.Danganan is well-known for his ramen videos and enjoys filming anything that has to do with noodles. Here’s where Danganan reached a wider audience and following.
Danganan shared that sometimes followers see him in public, recognize him, and mention how much they love his videos.
“It’s something new to me,” said Danganan. “I still don’t know how to process it.”
From starting his journey for a class to a hobby to creating a platform that he enjoys working on is something Danganan didn’t expect the outcome to be at all.
“Be authentic, be your true self on social media,” said Danganan. “There’s nothing that really beats being yourself.”
He graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a major in Communications in Multimedia Journalism in 2016. Danganan was also part of the Poly Post as a staff writer, section editor and during his last year, he was editor-in-chief. He was also involved in the Filipino club called Barkada but mainly spent most of his time working on the Poly Post.
Danganan mentions how his years at CPP helped him become the person he is today, and his communication degree and Poly Post experience helped him build the platform he made.
Although Danganan has encountered several obstacles, that hasn’t stopped him from reaching his desired goals.
“There’s a lot of mean people out there, whether they’re people you know or people you don’t know. Sometimes it feels really personal whenever I read something that isn’t favorable,” said Danganan. “It can sometimes be really demeaning, and it might take a toll on you. Just do your best to know that these trolls are just out there to get out.”
As for now, Danganan continues to post food content on all his platforms and enjoys what he does as he gets to enjoy delicious food.
For more information, visit his Instagram @eatwithadrian or TikTok @eatwithadrian.
Feature image courtesy of Adrian Danganan
